Workplace Access & Safety presents safe design story at ARBS
The story of how the seemingly impossible task of accessing cooling towers safely on a 22-storey building in Brisbane’s CBD will be told by Workplace Access & Safety’s Carl Sachs at the ARBS 18 Conference in May.
As part of a refurbishment by Hutchinson Builders, the 310 Ann Street building was installed with four large cooling towers. The space and time constraints to install a safe access system seemed impossible. The access platforms recommended by the manufacturer were unworkable.
The solution was a redesign that shaved 28 per cent off the cost and provided uncompromised access to all the service points on the four large cooling towers. The cleverly designed access system has reduced the lifetime cost of maintaining the cooling towers and increased the lifespan of the equipment. At the same time, the risk of injury has been dramatically reduced with full compliance to AS 1657 and the Building Code of Australia (BCA).
Mr Sachs says Hutchinson Builders took a textbook approach to the project in line with Australia’s Safe Design of Structures Code of Practice, which demands designers eliminate hazards – whether in the construction phase or the decades of maintenance that follow – even before they are created.
Visit www.arbs.com.au to register for ARBS 18, which runs from May 8 to 10 at Darling Harbour in Sydney.
