Best safety innovation from an engineer

Winner

Banyard Solutions

Shortlisted in the product category last year, Banyard Solutions’ e-permits system has triumphed this year as the judges thought it was such a fantastic method of working, it deserved to have its profile raised across the industry in 2005. As Banyard points out, to work safely in any area of a construction site it is necessary to evaluate and control the activity in that area – yet the most common form of permit, a paper-based one, is unable to spot potentially dangerous clashes of activity. Banyard’s e-permit enables a request for work to be checked online against other requests, and screens the operative’s competency and training record against the work they are requesting to do. This is all managed against the construction programme to keep all activities on schedule. The only thing you have to ask is: why isn’t everybody doing this?

‘Banyard’s e-permit enables a request for work to be checked online against other requests, and screens the operative’s competency and training record against the work they are requesting to do’

Runners-up

Amec

Working on the new control tower for Heathrow Terminal 5, it quickly became apparent to Amec that traditional methods of M&E installation were not going to cut the mustard. So the team put their thinking caps on and came up with the development of large-scale modularisation of the M&E services. This considerably reduces the site assembly hours and therefore the potential for accidents. And the process of installation on site is also inherently safer, as modules of services are interconnected at floor level and easily and safely lifted into place using strand jacks. The high-level plant room access flooring is incorporated into the modules with edge protection built in. As well as the time and cost benefits of reducing the build programme six months and cutting site labour 30-40%, safety is vastly improved - so it’s good news all round.

‘As well as the time and cost benefits of reducing the build programme six months and cutting site labour 30-40%, safety is vastly improved’

Rolton Group

This multidisciplinary engineering practice has formed partnerships with several of the automotive industry’s key players – and where the construction industry meets the even more dangerous manufacturing industry, there is potential for all sorts of problems. The need for Rolton to survey a busy foundry and gearbox plant for Ford posed a particular challenge, as foundries are notoriously hazardous to work on and even more so to survey. Traditionally these surveys are carried out during annual shutdown, but this is slow and not without risk. So Rolton introduced a three-dimensional laser scanner that could actually survey the foundry while it was in action, producing highly accurate data that was then turned into a computer model. This was interfaced with the practice’s CAD programs and used to design effective solutions. How times have changed …

‘Traditionally these surveys are carried out during annual shutdown, but this is slow and not without risk’