AJ Lucas Group was nominated for the APIA Safety Award under the “˜Unique innovation or initiative addressing a safety issue’ criterion for its proactive road safety campaign to address safety issues stemming from the increase in traffic from construction-related activities along APA Group’s 285 km Bonaparte Gas Pipeline. The program has proved to be a great success for the company and the safety of the surrounding community.
The Bonaparte Gas Pipeline project involved the construction of 285 km of 300 mm diameter high-strength steel pipeline running from the Wadeye Gas Processing Plant to the Ban Ban Springs delivery point station. The project was completed in late 2009.
Senator Mathias Cormann presented AJ Lucas’ Kevin Lester with the award. APIA President Peter Cox said that it was recognised prior to the construction of the Bonaparte Gas Pipeline that the local roads were neither designed nor built to cope with the required level of activity.
Mr Cox said “In recognition of this risk, AJ Lucas, in conjunction with APA Group and the Northern Territory Road Safety Branch, ran a very proactive Road Safety Campaign and established critical emergency response plans and infrastructure in the event critical emergency road response was activated.”
AJ Lucas’ Wayne Hargrave explains that the company identified that there was a very high potential for a motor vehicle accident to occur for several reasons:
- The very difficult driving conditions (mostly dirt roads, extreme dust, quite corrugated, water crossings, animals on roads);
- The increased traffic of long vehicles due to construction, and driving on often narrow roads not designed for such vehicles;
- High numbers of tourists towing caravans during the dry season;
- A relatively high accident rate on many of the roads to be used;
- Reports that a relatively high number of unlicensed and often intoxicated persons were known to drive on the roads in question; and,
- Knowledge that many of the roads passed nearby to Aboriginal communities where pedestrians were known to frequent the roads and were not used to high levels of traffic or such large vehicles using the roads.
“The extremely remote nature of the project also meant we had to be prepared to provide excellent emergency response treatment to anyone involved in any accidents should they occur, whether they involved project personnel or not,” Mr Hargrave says.
Program implementation
Mr Hargrave explains that the program was implemented as a co-ordinated strategy involving a co-operative effort between AJ Lucas, APA Group, and the Northern Territory Government Road Safety Authority. A committee was formed to look at a raft of safety measures that could be implemented to reduce the risk to as low as possible.
These included community consultation and agreement not to use certain roads for the delivery of pipe, as well as several
methods to raise awareness of the increased construction traffic in the area, including:
- Radio advertising campaigns;
- A series of very large signs that were placed at strategic locations;
- Printing pamphlets, delivered to local communities;
- Co-ordinating with the Road Safety Authority to engage the services of well-respected Aboriginal Liaison Officers, who went into local communities to educate them about the construction program and the safety measures being undertaken; and,
- Supplying and installing variable message boards in key areas.
Although not required by the Northern Territory Government or road traffic laws, AJ Lucas provided pilot escort vehicles to escort all pipe trucks through South Dorat Road to ensure the public was kept safe as the trucks navigated this narrow and winding road.
AJ Lucas undertook a continuing road maintenance program at great cost to the company to ensure that the local roads remained in good condition throughout the course of the project.
“We employed full-time traffic controllers to ensure that construction vehicles entering public roads were carefully controlled, and to maintain public safety,” Mr Hargrave says.
“Two fully-equipped 4WD ambulances, a 4WD rescue vehicle stocked with all kinds of rescue gear (including the jaws of life), and two fully qualified rescue paramedics were also provided onsite.”
Looking to future projects
Mr Hargrave says that AJ Lucas will continue to strive for excellence in safety and ensure all safety programs reflect the risks involved in the project.
“A very similar model has since been used on another remote pipeline project, with a few improvements,” he says.
“We have also since included the use of GPS tracking technology in all vehicles to monitor the speed of drivers and also to allow us to quickly locate any vehicle in the case of an emergency. We intend to further refine this system for use on future projects.”