Access Alliance Wins Gold Award
Access Alliance, who have been responsible for the upgrade and realignment of 63 km of Great Northern Highway between Muchea to Wubin, has won a Gold WorkSafe Award for their outstanding safety record and innovative safety practices. Access Alliance is a design and construct project delivered by Main Roads, Brierty and Aecom under a program alliance.
WorkSafe Commissioner, Nina Lyhne presented Alliance Manager, Mark Sutton and Safety Manager, Shannon Brierty with the award at ceremony on site on Friday 11 June.
Speaking at the Ceremony, Ms Lyhne said that it was difficult to achieve a Gold Award, particularly for Alliances as it usually takes companies years to build up good safety practices and alliances normally disband once the project is completed. However she said the Alliance had achieved a lot in a short time.
Also speaking at the ceremony, Main Roads Managing Director, Menno Henneveld, said that the upgrade project was very important as Great Northern Highway in its previous form was below the standard that would be expected of a National Highway.
"Given that the Highway was such an important route for servicing the booming Pilbara region and northern agricultural areas, motorists should be able to expect better," Menno said.
Menno also commented that this was Main Roads' second major rural road rehabilitation project under an alliance and our fifth alliance overall, which puts us at the cutting edge of road delivery methods.
At the launch of this alliance I commented that alliances offer numerous advantages. They create a team environment in which all resources are directed towards problem solving and innovation. They reduce duplication, limit risks, provide flexibility, encourage sharing of knowledge and create opportunities for staff development.
"We chose a Program Alliance specifically for this project. It’s the first Main Roads has undertaken. We chose this form of contract because of the opportunity it offered for quick delivery, but it has delivered far more," he said.
While an Alliance does present some challenges, in this case it brought together three organisations in Brierty, Aecom and Main Roads, to work as one in delivering the project.
The Alliance has delivered approximately $106M of work over 2 and a half years without any dispute and I was confident from the outset that, throughout project, all parties would strive to create the best possible work environment - one that is best for the individuals involved and for their skills development, as well as for delivery of the project.
11 Main Roads staff, including Engineering Cadets, have been part of the Alliance, with many staying from beginning to end.
The Alliance has provided a great opportunity for the development of staff with people taking higher roles such as designer to design manager, traffic manager to construction manager, quality manager to project manager.
It also exposed team members to the broader role that Main Roads plays in a project from its inception to its delivery.
More than 600 people have been inducted into the Alliance, with the workforce peaking at 250.
"Brierty is proud to have played an integral role in the Access Alliance project which has seen success all round." said Mr Crofts, Managing Director of Brierty