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Boral, Hanson innovations showcased at awards ceremony

The awards are designed to promote innovation and best practice in the heavy construction materials industry and are intended as a vehicle for placing exceptional performers in the spotlight and showcasing the industry to Government and the wider community.
The awards were presented on 4 August as part of the 34th Extractive Industries Annual Dinner, hosted by the Victorian branches of the CCAA and the IQA at the Zinc Restaurant, near Melbourne’s Federation Square. The Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources, the Hon Michael O’Brien, conferred the Awards.
Boral Cement received the Environmental Innovation Award for the partnership between its Waurn Ponds cement plant, Shell and Mobil to use oil industry spent catalyst (clay and sand) as a raw material replacement in cement manufacture. This project has diverted 4000 tonnes per year of material away from landfill, reduced the use of virgin resources in the manufacturing of cement and provided cost savings to all parties. The judging panel remarked that this was “a great example of working beyond compliance to provide social, environmental and economic benefits to the wider community”.
Boral Cement also received the Health and Safety Innovation Award for its development of a new hydraulic hopper slide gate system. This device eliminates the high risk, hazardous manual handling activity of physically striking the slide gates with a three kilogram sledgehammer. The hydraulically operated slide gate system is operated from a control panel that allows the operator to easily adjust the feed rate through the slide gates from a single vantage point. The judging panel remarked that it was “impressed by how the solution significantly reduced risk in the workplace and its transferability across industries”.
In the same Health and Safety Innovation Award category, Hanson Construction Materials also received a commendation from the judging panel for its tramp metal plough, which significantly reduces the manual handling risks associated with removing waste metal from the conveyor belt, thereby producing cost savings and raising productivity. The panel thought that “this innovation was readily transferable across the industry”.
Brian Hauser, the director of the Victorian branch of the CCAA, congratulated the award recipients and declared that the CCAA’s Victorian branch looks forward to showcasing their achievements at the national CCAA Environment, Health and Safety Awards, which will be presented at the joint CCAA/IQA national construction material conference CMIC12 in Melbourne in September 2012.
The CCAA’s Environment, Health and Safety Awards for the Queensland construction materials industry will be announced at the inaugural Construction Materials Industry Dinner in Brisbane on 7 September.

Source: Cement Concrete Aggregates Australia (Victoria)

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