Category one – Best solution to an identified work health and safety issue
Simon Kirkpatrick, General Manager of Brisbane Motorway Services, invests time, effort and resources towards innovations in workplace safety.
Simon has introduced ‘creativity time’, where everyone is encouraged to brainstorm safety innovations that can be implemented within 12 months. This has created a positive workplace health and culture at Brisbane Motorway Services. Risk reviews and field exercises on recovering vehicles from motorways and freeways revealed risks that were raised during ‘creativity time’ resulting in Project Aardvark.
Project Aardvark is an autonomous recovery device for vehicles which are left abandoned or broken down on the side of freeways/motorways. It eliminates the need for a tilt tray operator to place themselves in any high-risk position where they are in danger during a vehicle recovery. Project Aardvark isolates the operator from the hazard, as it has the ability to adapt and fit a variety of vehicles and weights. This allows the retrieval and restraining of a vehicle from the roadside and securely docking it back with the tilt tray.
The autonomous recovery device was manufactured by Brisbane Motorway Services in collaboration with C2R.
