The Olympics are held every four years to respect the ancient origins of the Olympic Games.
The four-year interval between editions of the Ancient Games was named an “Olympiad” and were used for recording purposes at the time. For instance, time was counted in Olympiads rather than years.
If that were still the case today, then Schlam West Angelas Support Team has gone a full Olympiad LTI free.
According to Project Supervisor Nathan Seivwright, the team has gone around 140,000 hours without loss of time through injury over the last four years.
“The team is made up of at least nine tradies and two supervisors at any one time. With the trades working a 2:1 roster and the supervisors on a 8:6 roster,” he says.
Nathan himself has been there from almost the very start saying that he tried a few times to work with Schlam as he’d heard good things and liked that its family business.
He got the call up to work at West Angelas when he was working labour-hire in Telfer and initially spent two years on the tools.
He says that the team – and the company as a whole – has gone from strength to strength.
“Schlam has invested in people to become leaders, rather than shipping in new leaders,” he says.
Nathan uses himself as an example, saying that the company paid for him to complete his Diploma of Leadership and Management at South Western TAFE, which he’s completed during his West Angelas appointment.
The investment has paid dividends to Schlam and Rio Tinto with the team even being called in by the operators fixed plant team to work on major breakdowns twice in the last year.
“A lot has changed since we first got here. There’s a lot of mutual respect.
“We feel like we’ve been imbedded into Rio’s team. We use their systems to identify, request and execute the work as efficiently as we can,” he said.
While Nathan has spent the last two years as a supervisor, his boiler making roots run deep. He completed his apprenticeship in fabrication in Kellerberrin where he was building agriculture equipment.
“My career took a brief detour while I did some sheep shearing, but then I blew out my knee playing footy.
“I did some work for AMMS and even spent seven years with BHP where I first heard about Schlam and thought it might be a good company to work for one day,” he remembers.
Nathan has seen some team member come and leave over the last four years, but no matter who has worked at West Angelas they’ve all lived up to Schlam’s principle of 'everyone goes home.'
Schlam's Health, Safety, Environment and Quality Manager, Trevor Cugley sent his congratulations to the entire West Angelas team on achieving four years LTI free.
“Safety and providing a quality product to our clients are Schlam’s highest priorities. Reaching this milestone in challenging conditions is a testament to the high level of commitment and effort by all involved. Well done.” Said Trevor.
