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26
ENERGY INTERNATIONAL
August/September 2012 www.esb.ie/em
Safety celebrations at Turlough Hill
Generation Operations
TURLOUGH HILL STATIONS passed a very significant milestone recently, as Wednesday April 11th marked 1,000 days since our last staff lost-time incident (LTI) in July 2009.
Huge credit is due to staff, both present and past, for the excellent safety record over this period. In reaching the milestone, the stations, which include the three Liffey Stations, completed a large volume of work with a team-approach that was all-conscious of the importance of safety in the workplace.
Below are some of the items of work completed, which together are an achievement in themselves, but the fact that they have been achieved without a single staff LTI makes the record even more praiseworthy,
• 2011 marked the first year on record, where we went a full calendar year without an LTI (staff or contractor)
• Staff supporting the Turlough Hill Project Refurbishment team also had an excellent record in managing safety during the refurbishment
• Turlough Hill and the Project Team were recognised jointly for their efforts in managing safety in the Excellence in Health & Safety Awards last year
• During its 10-yearly inspection last May, the External Dam Safety Committee commented on the excellent safety standard during their visit
• During this period without an LTI, there has been a huge amount of work completed within our stations. The live backlog has been significantly reduced. There has been considerable work completed on our Water Control Equipment and there have been large contracts safely completed also, including penstock painting and crane change-out at Poulaphouca.
Plant Manager Tom Moran highly praised and thanked all staff, both past and present, for their huge contributions in the management of safety over the years in our stations. He made the point to staff that it was only through their efforts that the excellent results had been achieved. While there are always areas for improvement and challenges to be met, he said, it is important that we step back on occasion and recognise what we have achieved. Tom also thanked the Safety Professionals within the Stations, who have been important drivers in maintaining our strong workplace safety culture over the years. To mark the occasion staff were presented with iPods as a small token over a sponsored breakfast in the Station Canteen.
Silver Surfers’ Day
SILVER SURFERS’ DAY is a national day set aside to focus on helping the over-50s to have a taste of what the Internet offers and to help them gain essential skills to get started. The results were amazing with over 1,100 seniors assisted by 250 business volunteers in over 80 locations across Northern Ireland. This relates to almost 6,000 hours of training in one day.
Statistics indicate that 91% of over 65’s (64% of those aged between 50 and 64) have never used the Internet and do not have the necessary skills to do so. With the Internet now becoming fundamental in booking travel, holidays, shopping, accessing vital information etc. there is an need to ensure that this group is not disadvantaged or excluded. Business in the Community (BITC) has been assisting in driving a campaign with a focus on improving digital inclusion for all.
Moneypoint Schools Business Partnership
IN 2011, MONEYPOINT Station Manager, Glenn Pope, was presented with an opportunity to help the local community through the Schools Business Partnership Programme. This scheme aims to help targeted schools gain a better understanding of a working environment and what it takes to prepare oneself to gain employment.
Moneypoint’s input to this programme benefitted the students by providing access to station staff and their work environment. Station staff shared their experiences of attaining their qualifications and ultimately their jobs. The focus of the programme was about sharing real life experience, especially in the areas of interview preparation and actual interview sessions.
The programme began in November of 2011 with the station and school agreeing mutually suitable time tables and resources. Later that month the students, a selection from fifth and sixth years, were introduced to the programme by a group of staff from Moneypoint along with Eileen Fitzgerald, the programme coordinator from the Schools Business Partnership programme. They outlined the process, expected student input, and most importantly, the direct benefits of the programme.
Late November saw the students visit the station and members of staff from across all categories made time to share their experiences, help draft CVs and prepare for interview. This proved very interesting for the students, and the first session lasted well past the allocated half day.
February of 2012 saw the beginning of the next session when six members of the station returned to the school to interview all students. Prior to this, Glenn gave an informed workshop on how the prepare CVs and most importantly how to prepare prior to interview. The benefit of this workshop was most evident in the interviews as the students had thoroughly prepared themselves and demonstrated a clear understanding of employers’ needs.
The final session was held in March when the students took the opportunity to express their thanks to the station for facilitating the programme. There was an added bonus when the students presented the station with a rap video which they had produced telling the story of Moneypoint and its co-operation with Kilrush Community School. This programme proved to be a rewarding and worthwhile initiative and one the station plans to continue into the future.
Moneypoint hosts major oil spill exercise for the Shannon Estuary
Generation Operations
MONEYPOINT, IN COOPERATION with Clare County Council, hosted the annual major pollution response exercise for the Shannon Estuary. The event, run under the auspices of Shannon Estuary Anti-Pollution Team (SEA-PT), provides training and awareness for incident management and response, should a major incident occur in the estuary.
Present for the two-day exercise were members from all the county and city councils bordering the estuary (Galway, Clare, Kerry, Limerick and Limerick City) as well as the main industrial facilities along the estuary foreshore (Aughinish, Shannon Airport, Endesa, NOR A and Topas). Also providing expert advice were members from the Irish Coast Guard, the Irish Naval Service, Maritime Safety Directorate and special advisors, Michael Walsh (journalist), Vincent Hayes, Zal Rustom and Jack O’Sullivan (the latter two provided advice and assistance at the recent incident in the Mexican Gulf).
The first day of the exercise took place on site and focused on incident response from the initial emergency response down to the management of communications, logistics and financial control. Sixty eight people were present for this first day and the desktop exercise which took place in the afternoon proved both educational and worthwhile.
The second day of the exercised took place at a nearby beach. There the deployment and operation of marine oil spill response equipment was demonstrated. Through the station’s membership of SEA-PT, 24-hour access to major spill response equipment is guaranteed along with assistance in coordinating and alerting the respective emergency response services. The nearby port of Foynes has a dedicated warehouse in which a large inventory of equipment is stored and maintained; much of this equipment was on display at the beach for the exercise.
