A UGL team in Queensland has been awarded a Very Best Award for safety for stopping work when a risk was detected. Whilst work was being conducted, gas monitors detected carbon monoxide (CO) and UGL employees stopped work, reporting the risk to a Supervisor.
CO is a poisonous, flammable gas that is colourless, odourless, tasteless, and slightly less dense than air. High concentrations of CO can lead to serious and fatal injury.
The client queried whether the CO levels were being set off by the smell of dirty water inside the area they were working in. The UGL Supervisors put safety first and did not resume work. The Safety and Health Representative Site Emergency Response team was called in to investigate.
The team opened up all service hatches and found smouldering coal inside another section of the area they were working in. The smouldering coal was circulating through and causing the monitors to detect high CO levels. This was then washed out and removed from the area.
Safety underpins everything we do, and Justin Vaughan, Roy Sparrow, and Beau Dodd ensured the safety of all of our UGHL employees was put first. When an alternate theory for the monitors going off was given to them, they maintained the stop work authority until the root cause was found and rectified.
Justin, Roy and Beau have been awarded a Very Best Award for safety for upholding UGL values and keeping their colleagues safe at work.