A lot of hands helping those that need hands – 200 participants build prosthetic hands. QGC One Team Forum, Chinchilla, Nov 22, 2017
Challenge
2016 was not a good year as far as hand injuries go. Easternwell experienced 5 recordable hand injuries during the year.
In 2017, Easternwell and QGC have worked in partnership to reduce the incidence of hand and finger injuries. This hard work has paid off. The Assist and Assure Program and a focus on the 5 “Hands Free” Rules has resulted in no hand injuries during 2017.
The challenge moving forward is to maintain the rage. How to keep the focus and re-invigorate thinking on hand and finger preservation?
Solution
On 22 November, 2017 QGC held a One Team Forum at Chinchilla. At this event, QGC brought together approximately 200 people from its Drilling and Completions contractors to discuss safety performance and future work outline. Companies present included: QGC; Easternwell; Schlumberger Land Rigs; SWMS; Halliburton; TCL; Neil Mansell Transport; Optimum Transport.
The final part of the event provided an opportunity to focus on hand and finger preservation. Easternwell partnered with QWGC to run a Helping Hands Workshop.
The workshop was facilitated by Easternwell’s Scott Atkinson. Scott had previously attended a train the trainer workshop conducted by Safer Together. Others who had previously participated in the activity provided a “Help Desk” to assist Scott in facilitating the workshop.
Result
Working in groups of five, with all participants’ dominant hand disabled, 40 prosthetic hands were built. Safer Together has partnered with the Helping Hands Program to donate these prosthetic hands to amputee land mine victims in the developing world.
The activity was extremely well received. QGC and Easternwell are confident that it has re-invigorated workforce thinking about hand and finger preservation. Working without the use of their dominant hand really helped participants experience how difficult their working life would be if they were to suffer a debilitating hand injury. It also provided an opportunity to reflect on the impact that such an injury would have on their life outside of work.
Kyle Koziol, General Manager, Easternwell has participated in the activity previously and provided Help Desk services on the day. He was impressed with what he saw. “Easternwell is proud to partner with QGC in delivering this hand safety awareness activity. We are always on the look-out for things that will help keep safety ‘front of mind’ for our workforce. It was great to see the enthusiasm in the room during the activity. I think everyone will be re-energised and re-focused as a result. Also, knowing that someone on the other side of the world is benefiting as a result – well that’s an amazing bonus”.
The activity also reinforced messages about the importance of the 5 “Hands Free” rules and how they must be followed to preserve hands and fingers.
Finally, many of the groups included members of more than one company. This provided an added benefit of allowing participants to get to know one another and promoted teamwork and understanding across company boundaries.
Lessons Learnt
- The activity is effective for a large number of participants. Although the optimal number to build a hand is 3 per group, the activity works fine with up to 5 people per group. This helps to manage the cost of the event.
- Mixing up the groups is a great way for people to get to know one another if the activity is being used as an ‘ice-breaker’.
- If you have company-specific messages (e.g. current number of hand injuries, initiatives to manage risks to hands and fingers) these can be incorporated into how the activity is facilitated.
Download the Case Study Poster here.
For more information about QGC click here.
For more information about Easternwell click here.
For more information about the Helping Hands – Hand and Finger Preservation Program click here.
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