Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/1029929
20 | OCTOBER 2018 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk • WATER COMPANY VIEW "The drop in incidents has been far more significant than we could possibly have imagined" THOMAS REEVES PRODUCTION BUSINESS LEAD – WASTE WATER RECYCLING (SOUTH) SEVERN TRENT " About two-and-a-half years ago, while I was working for our safety and assurance department, it became clear that utility service strikes were the number one cause of incidents across our supply chain partners and in fact added up to every other category put together. We decided to take action and set up the Service Avoidance Working Group (SAWG). "We formed a multi-disciplinary team with a member from each of our One Supply Chain (OSC) partners at the time – Amey, LOR, Barhale, Nomenca, MWH, Costain, Mott MacDonald Bentley and Morrison Utility Services – and set about determining some high-level objectives to not only significantly reduce service strikes but sustain a new level of outstanding performance. "We got themes around root causes and found improvement opportunities at every stage of the management system for how to try to avoid damage to services. We found ourselves embarking on a complete management system review looking at behaviour, equipment, data, training, investigation and lesson learning. "We created a dozen or more brand- new standards for each of those areas. The HSE's HSG47 guidance and the British Standards Institution's PAS128 were already integrated into what the OSC companies did, but we wanted to cherry-pick all the best bits that went over and above the legal basics to ensure best practice was shared and consistent. "Firstly, we agreed to report service damages in the same way so that we could get commonality around the different incidents that were happening. Secondly, we improved the training, taking all the best bits of practice from each company and, importantly, made sure it was done on a live site, rather than a classroom or a car park. "The other key part was assessing competence. The workforce within this project activity is transient and they use lots of contractors, so some people turn up, have their tickets and are allowed to be put to work straight away, but that doesn't establish whether they're competent. We introduced a live site check for competence within two weeks of them joining the business, as well as annual competence checks, re-certification training at no more than three-year intervals, and post-incident assessments with site teams before restarting work. "We also make use of free service information, including LSBUD, and mandate that everybody uses it. "Since introducing the SAWG, the drop in incidents has been far more significant than we could possibly have imagined. Across the OSC, we had been seeing 20 incidents a month; by the start of this year, that was down to around six a month. It's a dramatic improvement but, as long as we're still having incidents, it hasn't gone far enough. "Many of the incidents that occur now are own goals – hitting services we had identified using the CAT and genny but still put a digger bucket through them or damaged them on reinstatement at the very end of the job. The next phase of our campaign is designed to implement approaches to cut those out." Severn Trent formed a working group to investigate service strikes • VR TRAINING Anglian Water is currently in the pilot phase of a VR training programme that makes use of 360° images, videos, CGI features and multiple-choice questions to deliver targeted training across various subjects. One module takes the user from start to finish on a dig, including selecting the right PPE, proper CAT and genny use, and identifying hazards. "The whole module will be used to assess the competency of the workers both before and a er a live dig," VR programme manager Steve Havvas says. "Where we identify a lack of understanding, that will enable us to focus our physical training efforts." The Works: Utility Strikes