Injury inspires safety advocate

In the family: Ken Andrews (right) with son Kris both work for Coal & Allied.

Five years after an injury nearly claimed his life, a Bengalla employee has overcome adversity to become a staunch safety advocate, sharing his experience to encourage others to be safe.

Around midnight on 31 July 2004, Bengalla project technician Ken Andrews was working to replace a dragline dump sheave - the metal wheel above the dragline bucket through which the ropes feed.

When greasing a bearing, the grease nipple was blown out, followed by a torrent of grease, which hit Ken in the right eye at more than 100 times the pressure of air within a car tyre. Ken lost his eye in the incident and sustained cranial damage, and was rushed to hospital where he underwent 11 hours of surgery.

An investigation revealed neither Bengalla nor Ken was at fault. Once he had recovered, Ken was determined to turn a negative experience into a positive one to help his workmates.

“The injury impacted my family and me immensely,” said Ken, who until the incident had never had a lost time injury during his 34 years in the mining industry.

“For many people, such an injury would be something they would rather forget. But the last thing I wanted was for one of my colleagues and their family to go through the same thing we did.”

Ken began to talk to various groups across Coal & Allied about his injury and the importance of safety when working with high pressure fluids.

“Creating a safe workplace requires a considerable cultural shift,” Ken said.

“Each and every one of us must refuse to accept the chance of being injured as part and parcel of our work.

“We must each take responsibility for our safety and the safety of those around us, and make the best use of our tools such as Take Fives, safety interactions and job hazard assessments.

“Only then, by embedding safety into everything we do and creating a truly interdependent safety culture, will we come closer to eliminating injuries.”

Over the years, Ken has spread his safety message through toolbox talks and presentations, to every Coal & Allied site, three Queensland sites, and to numerous external organisations.

“If I can encourage just one person to be safer, and help prevent an injury or death, that’s enough for me,” Ken said.

Ken’s passion for safety has been instilled in his son, third year Coal & Allied apprentice Kris Andrews.

Kris’s hydraulic torque wrench safety innovation received the 2008 Albert Weeks Award for Apprentice Safety Innovation, as reported in Mine Matters February 2009

The invention – a handle that removes the operator’s hand from the line of fire when performing various tasks - has again been recognised, receiving a highly commended award at the New South Wales Minerals Council Awards in April.