News

Esperance Bay Yacht Club, Esperance

Tuesday 24^th of October, 2023

The 28^th TRANSAFE WA Road Transport Industry Safety Forum took place on the picturesque shores of Esperance Bay. We had guest speakers travel from near and far to deliver their safety presentations and industry updates to an audience of like-minded people from the community and road transport industry.

It is always great to extend our reach and bring these events to regional communities, thanks to our event sponsors First Quantum Minerals, MT Data, and Southern Ports we were able to host the safety forum down in Esperance once again.

With plenty of time to continue discussions and connect with attendees at morning tea and lunch, our participants were able to walk away from the forum with a new concept, idea, or understanding.

A few key takeaways:

• 🚛 A percentage of the revenue raised from red light and speed cameras goes to Road Trauma Support
• 🚛 70% of crashes on our roads involved human error
• 🚛 CBH is celebrating its 90th Anniversary with over 3,500 members in the cooperative
• 🚛 Trains can take up to 1.5-2 kilometres to come to a full stop
• 🚛 The remote areas around the Esperance region can result in it taking up to an hour for emergency services to access incidents/accidents, especially those that occur on remote beaches

Starting our morning off we had Katya Wright from Alcolizer Technology who presented on Drug Deterrence Strategies in the Workplace. Having these strategies in place helps promote a safe, productive, and healthy workplace. Participants were also able to take part in demonstrations during the breaks using the digital drug testers.

View The Presentation: Alcolizer Technology – Drug Deterrance In The Workplace

Christine Smith from Injury Matters gave us an introduction to Road Trauma Support, which is a free statewide service assisting anyone affected by road trauma, regardless of when the incident occurred, or what level of involvement the person had. This service received high praise from the audience.

View The Presentation: Injury Matters – Introduction to Road Trauma Support

Tim Manning from CBH Group spoke of how the road transport industry plays an important role within the CBH network. In 2023, over 7 million tonnes have been moved around via road. Along with the increased wheat yield there have been increased road accidents with a number of contributing factors.

View The Presentation: CBH Group – Partnering For Safety

Founder of Get Up & Grow Consulting, Niomi Hurley delivered on the importance of psychological safety in the workplace, and how these practices once implemented can ensure not only a safer and more supportive workplace for employees but also improved productivity for the company.

View The Presentation: Get Up and Grow – Phsychological Safety In The Workplace

Sam Treleaven from AURIZON gave those in attendance a crash course on how the braking system on a train works, highlighting the inability of trains to stop in a timely manner and urged all road users to use more caution when approaching rail crossings.

View The Presentation: AURIZON – Train and Heavy Vehicle Interactions

As part of our Main Roads WA panel, we had Ainslee McAlinden deliver an update on the Goldfields Esperance Region. Covering a number of key areas within the region where upgrades and repairs will be carried out as well as proposed heavy vehicle bays. Ainslee also encouraged the audience to help be their eyes on the road and report issues using the GPS-SLK app.

Closing out our Main Roads WA panel was Rich Bain from Heavy Vehicle Services who ran us through the most recent signage trial that took place from October 2022 through to June 2023. This trial produced positive feedback from the general public and thanks to this feedback revisions were made to include the approximate number of car lengths. The intention is to implement these signs in early 2024.

View The Presentation: Main Roads WA – Replacement Long Vehicle and Road Train Signage

Rounding out the morning we had an impromptu Q & A with James Burton and Mark Rodrigues from MT Data, attendees were able to discuss all things telematic, from electronic work diaries to in-cab monitoring and external crash cameras.

Back into it after lunch, we had Dr Nick Mabbott from Beyond Midnight Consulting teach the audience about polyphasic sleep which involves the practice of sleeping over more than two sleeping periods each day. This can be beneficial for people with a nontraditional work schedule. He encouraged us all to stop before we get tired and to get 7.5 hours of sleep every 24 hours.

View The Presentation: Beyond Midnight Consulting – Polyphasic Sleep on the Road

Rob Alexander from Southern Ports gave us an infrastructure and operation update on the port of Esperance. Touching on the contributions they have made to the Esperance-Goldfields region and their upcoming projects for 2024. Rob highlighted how critical the road transport industry is in the supply change and discussed the recent improvements made to the port to help with the functionality and access for heavy vehicles.

Paul Gaughan from St John Western Australia closed out our afternoon with an informative presentation on the issues first responders are faced with in the Goldfields-Esperance region and contributing factors to these incidents. Some of their most challenging rescues are in remote areas where access is very difficult.

View The Presentation: St John WA – Transport Issues Goldfields – Esperance

iNSTRUCKTA! was on display hot off its appearance at the Esperance Show. Since the launch of the safety truck in January 2023, iNSTRUCKTA! has educated over 15,000 participants during the 34 events attended.