IADC Presents Safety Award 2017 in Marseille France

By Marsha Cohen 
Safety in the dredging industry has drawn continually more attention in the last decade and companies worldwide have instituted systems to increase worker safety. Compliance with safety regulations from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA) the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and other agencies is one aspect. The other side of the pursuit of improved safety is to encourage crews and management to think critically and seek innovations that arise from their own hands-on experiences. 
The Annual Safety Award from the Board of Directors of the International Association of Dredging Companies (IADC) grew from these efforts and is a direct way of rewarding safety awareness and innovation. Applications for the award are open to members and non-members of the IADC.
This year’s annual award was presented to Jan De Nul Group at the IADC’s Annual General Meeting held in mid-September in Marseille France. The Jan De Nul Group was recognized for its “transport of pipeline optimization” initiative. The method was developed at its logistic hub in Zelzate (Belgium) and has since been implemented on Jan De Nul’s projects worldwide. The award was presented by Frank Verhoeven president of IADC to Maarten Tronckoe transport supervisor at Jan De Nul Group initiator and inspirer of the initiative.
In its submission application Jan De Nul’s International Transport Department explained why they started an initiative to develop a safer way to execute the transport of pipelines. “On reclamation sites but also on logistics yards dredge pipes with flanges are being lifted by crane and transported with trucks. The old traditional method did not really take into account the securing of the load and this was mostly done with wooden beams and body parts under loads.” 
To make this process safer a new approach was needed. “This safety solution is about specially designed chairs (DHATEC cradles) that are secured onto the trailers for the transport of pipes. No manual adjustment of the wood is required and people stay away from the load. Furthermore the pipes are now being loaded and offloaded from the trucks with pipe hooks with lanyards. This also prevents people from coming close to the load and the need to climb over a stack of pipes on the truck. A spreader beam minimizes the weight of the hook for the pipe riggers. Also the lifting chains were replaced by soft slings to minimize the weight.” 
Christophe Leroy QHSSE manager at Jan De Nul Group explains how he and his colleagues work as a team to optimize working processes. “Together we think of new and improved methods. And if needed our engineers design it and our in-house workshop builds it.” This idea “was developed designed and tested by our own colleagues in the field. The team combined new ideas with various techniques available on the market which resulted in an overall safer process to handle and transport pipelines.”
All three new techniques – the use of DHATEC cradles modular spreaders and C-pipe hooks in combination with soft slings – improve the efficiency of the job safety conditions during the handling and transport of the pipes on land and both the safety and ergonomics for riggers. The DHATEC cradles are mounted on the truck platform adjusted to the pipeline diameter and with lashing straps the load is secured onto the truck. The C-pipe hooks are attached to a soft sling which makes it safer and ergonomically easier for the rigger to handle. Using a spreader beam the soft slings with attached C-pipe hooks are positioned optimally by using taglines so that the riggers can easily attach the load from the ground. This optimized process complies with the NBN EN 12195 standard regarding load security.

Frank Verhoeven (right) president of the IADC
congratulates Maarten Tronckoe transport supervisor
at Jan De Nul Group for their award winning
initiative.

The Jan De Nul Group has now implemented this DHATEC solution for lifting and transporting pipe globally using it on all logistic yards and on reclamations that entail a great number of land dredge pipes. According to the company feedback from users indicates that they feel much safer than using the old methods and the work is being carried out more efficiently. 
In 2017 IADC received a record number of submissions for its Safety Award. Thirteen different safety innovations were suggested from a variety of companies around the globe including Damen Shiprepair Royal IHC Next Ocean as well as IADC member companies Penta-Ocean Construction Co. Ltd. Hyundai Engineering & Construction (HDEC) National Marine Dredging Company Van Oord Boskalis Jan De Nul Group and DEME. 
The IADC Safety Award encourages the development of safety on the job and rewards people and companies demonstrating diligence in safety awareness in the performance of their profession. The award recognizes the exceptional safety performance of a particular project product ship team or employees and is open to all companies active in the dredging industry. There is no limit to the number of nominations that can be submitted by any one company. The procedure for submitting a safety innovation or initiative for the 2018 award will soon be announced.