John Russell summarizes his work managing a construction upgrade project at Bryngwyn in South Wales. Some key points: - They used a magnet on a pole to easily pick up nails, reducing safety risks and back injuries from manual collection. This simple solution led to other improvements. - Through positive reinforcement and good examples, they inspired a strong safety culture. This led to filming a safety DVD on site that is now used widely. - The project achieved zero accidents and high quality work through accountability and pride in safety. The magnet started a culture that engaged subcontractors and clients in their safety goals.

1. • My Name Is John Russell I Am A Black &
Veatch Construction Site Manager.
• Thank You To All The Judges For Nominating
Myself For The Original Award. It Was An
Honour And A Pleasure To Be Asked Back
Today…….

2. SCOPE OF WORKS AT BRYNGWYN
Llandeilo, South Wales
£3.6 Million Upgrade Which Supplies 55,000
Customers In South Wales And Surrounding Areas
Plus Parts Of Swansea
Works Involved Civils Upgrading Of Pipe Work,
Above And Below Ground, Mechanical &
Electrical Upgrade Of The Plant & Equipment.
All Works Were Carried Out While The Plant Was
In Operation

3. WHAT WAS OUR PROBLEM WITH
NAILS ON SITE?
• During The Civil Construction Of The Tank Bases & Walls Which Were To Be Poured. I Found
During My Daily Safety Inspections With The Sub Contractor Foreman ,That There Was Quite A
Significant Amount of Nails Lying Around After The Shuttering Was Removed.
• Although The Guys Were Trying To Brush Them Up, I Noticed Picking Up Nails Is Not Easy, Picking
Them Up Was Pretty Difficult. To Say The Least.
• So After A Safety Briefing We Decided To Try A Magnet On A Pole To See If It Would Make Life Any
Easier , And We Found That It Was Much easier To Lift The Nails.
• We Had A Tool Box Talk With All The Operatives On Site And Decided To Place A Magnet With A
Bucket Strategically All Around The Site Where Shuttering Or De-Nailing Was To Be Carried Out.
• When Any Concrete Was Poured From Then On And The Shuttering Was Removed The Nails Were
Picked Up And Placed In The Bucket With The Magnets.
• A Simple Solution That Has Lead To Greater Things , As You Will See In Future Slides .
• You Will Also See In My Next Slide Suprisngly How Much Time Is Lost In Our Industry Due To
MUSCULLAR SKELLITAL DISORDER (MSD)

4. • WORKING DAYS LOST TO MSD S
• The estimated number of working days lost in 2013/14
due to MSDs was 8.3 million.
• The estimated working days lost in 2013/14 due to
MSDs affecting the back was 2.8 million. On average,
each person with a back disorder took 12.3 days off
work. This equates to an average loss of 0.11 days lost
per worker which is unchanged from 2011/12.
• The industries with the highest estimated prevalence
rates for back disorders (averaged over the years
2010/11-2013/14, with no ill health data in 2012/13)
are; Specialised Construction

5. Benefits From The Action Of Using The
Magnet & Pole On Bryngwyn
• Reduced Risk : From Back Ache & MSD
• Reduced Risk: From Someone Standing On A Nail Which Can Cause
Serious Injury.
• Quality Issues: The Nails Become Rusty And Mark The Concrete And Can
Eventually Find Their Way Into The Plant Pumps & Pipes During
Commissioning.
• Project Time Saved: It Takes A lot Longer To Pick Up 200 individual Nails By
Hand… ! Stooping Down, Causing Back Ache…! & Muscle Pain… !
But By Using Something As Simple As A Magnet On The End Of A Pole,
Apart From Saving Injury To The Operative, It Saves Time On The Project
During The Installation And At The Back End During Commissioning.
• No Punctures: On Site Which Can Cause Problems With Rubber Tyres On
Machinery & Delivery Vehicles Causing Unnecessary Time Wasting And
Reducing The Risk Of Having To Change Tyres On A Busy Site.
• The Magnet On A Pole , it’s a Win / Win Situation………….

6. Environmental
• When We Removed The Nails From The
Shuttering, We Re-used The Timber.
• We Would Dress Up The Timber And Use It To
Make Solid Staircases To Enter The Chambers
Once They Were Built. This Reduced Risk
Entering The Chambers, Saved Money And
Less Waste Materials Going Off Site. Our
Environmental & Safety Audits Were
Exceptional.

7. SMALL SUCCESSES LEAD TO BIGGERSUCCESSES
• The Magnet & The Nails Was Only The Start For Bryngwyn, It
Was The Start Of Great Things. As A Site Team So Many Good
Practices Were Thought Of On A Daily Basis
• We Took Pictures Of All The Good Work And Put Them All Over
The Site Including Mess Rooms. We Inspired Good Work,
• We Had A Monthly Rewards Scheme Which I Asked Our Sub
Contractor Directors To Get Involved In Which Was Very
Beneficial.
• The Site Team Impressed Me So Much! I Got In Touch With Ruth
Powell Explained That We Would Be A Great Site For The New
BOSS DVD To Be Filmed And Asked If We Could Be Considered.
• We All Waited To See What Would Happen , And We Were
Delighted When Ruth Travelled All The Way To Our Site In South
Wales. To Shoot The DVD. Which Was A Very Proud Day For
Myself & All The Operatives And Sub Contractor Management
Teams.

8. SMALL SUCCESSES LEAD TO BIGGER SUCCESSES
• We Shot The DVD With All Our Sub Contractors
That I Had Asked To Get Involved And It Is Now
Used On All Of Our Sites Throughout The UK
For Our Site Inductions.
• The Guys On Site Got A BOSS Award For Their
Achievements As Did I. But To See The Pride On
Those Guys Faces Was Just So Good I won’t
Forget It, That’s For Sure.
NOT BAD FOR SOMETHING THAT STARTED OUT
WITH A WITH A SIMPLE MAGNET AND A POLE.

9. ACCOUNTABILITY
• It Is Our Duties As Black & Veatch Professionals To Lead By Example
To Inspire People, To Show Them How Important It Is To Keep Each
Other Safe. We Can Never Take Our Foot Of The Gas. I Have Found
That If You Show People That You Are Genuine, And You Do Care, It
Is Infectious! And Rubs Off On Them. That’s What Happened With
The Magnet & The Pole It Was The Catalyst !The Start Of A Great
Safety Culture At Bryngwyn.
• Sub Contractors Wanted To Help By Contributing It Was Catching
On. At The Start They Thought It Was Strange Putting Pictures Up
On The Walls, Of Their Good Work. Before They Knew It They Were
Calling Me Over To Take Pictures Of More Good Work That They
Had Done. It Just Kept Getting Better & Better. Operatives Were
Being Accountable , Enjoying Their Work , And Being Proud Of Their
Work , And Most Importantly Being Thanked For Their Good Work.

10. SUMMARY
• What Did We Achieve At Bryngwyn ?
• Zero Accidents During The Construction Phase Helped By
Using The Magnet On The Pole To Pick Up Nails
• A Quality Installation With Almost Zero Snags On The
Construction Phase.
• Making A Difference To Our Client & Sub Contractors
• Showing Our Sub Contractors & Our Client What Standards
We Want And Expect At Black & Veatch.
• Involving Our Sub Contractors In Our BOSS Culture And By
Showing Leadership And Good Example, Casts The Shadow
That ASPiRE Demonstrates To Us. By Using Both Of These
Excellent Safety Tools Together, We Will Achieve Our Goals
For The Future.
• Thank You For Your Time !!

11. JUDGES