Wes Johnston – John Holland Pty Ltd

Category two – Best individual contribution to work health and safety

Wes is an engineer who used insight to develop and build a completely new piece of plant (mobile swing-stage gantry) that is a perfect example of risk elimination (the highest level in the hierarchy of control). It is a simple, single piece of equipment that solves a difficult engineering problem. It eliminates risks to maintaining jetty infrastructure, has global application and significantly reduces time, labour and other costs.

This project also reinvented the approach to the protective coatings used on the piles. Substantial risks were eliminated by wrapping the piles with a protective tape system, removing the risk to personnel associated with traditional abrasive blasting and painting.

Wes worked to solve the many challenges that developing a new piece of plant entailed (budgeting, commissioning, construction, licensing). He made sure that the new structure used best practice for risk elimination and reduction.

Wes Johnson