Embedded WHSE advisor on a major mining shutdown

Sector: Mechanical services / heavy fixed-plant maintenance ·

Setting: A Tier-1 iron-ore port facility shutdown ·

Engagement: Embedded on-site WHSE advisor (secondment) ·

Focus: Critical-risk lifting and component change-outs

The challenge

During a shutdown at a major iron-ore port, a mechanical-services contractor had to change out some of the heaviest components on site — reclaimer, stacker and shiploader assemblies — under tight windows and high-consequence lifting risk. The work needed a WHSE advisor who could stand up rigorous risk control without slowing the crews down.

How we helped

HSEQ Logic embedded an advisor on site, working shoulder-to-shoulder with the change-out teams:

• Facilitated Critical Risk Assessment Workshops for each high-consequence package — the reclaimer centre-chute and luff-cylinder change-outs, the stacker slew-bearing replacement and the shiploader boom-pivot pin.

• Built fatigue risk assessments around the shutdown rosters and verified operator competency for specialised equipment.

• Authored the project quality management plan tying engineered methodologies to work instructions and hold points.

• Ran a structured incident investigation when a dropped-object event occurred, using it to sharpen controls immediately.

The outcome

The critical-risk workshops, quality plan and competency verifications carried the high-consequence packages through the shutdown. When a temporary attachment failed and a component fell, our investigation surfaced a genuinely useful learning: a drop zone has to account for how far an object deflects when it hits, not just where it would land straight down — a control now embedded in change-out rigging practice.

Why it matters

Real risk control happens where the work happens. Embedding an advisor on the tools — not in an office — is how high-consequence tasks get done safely and on schedule.

Rigorous where it counts, practical where it matters — on site, with the crew, under real shutdown pressure.

This case study has been de-identified; client and site details are withheld for confidentiality.