28 Jan Safe shutdown funds state-of-the-art bathtub

Residents and patients at Timboon and District Healthcare Service (TDHS) will benefit from a state-of-the-art recliner bathtub thanks to a safe and successful maintenance shutdown at Lochard Energy’s Waarre site.

The site was shut down for 14 days in October last year. During these maintenance periods there can be an increased chance of incident and/or injury with up to 150 people onsite far exceeding regular staffing levels.

To help offset the increased risk, contractors pledged sums of money for each day successfully completed with no injuries or incidents. Lochard Energy then matched their combined total dollar for dollar, with the initiative netting $29,600.

Representatives of ADX Electrical, BMC Group, I-Test, Independent Maintenance Services, Metcalf Crane Services, Vic Tech Consulting and Construction, Western District Crane Services and Lochard Energy visited TDHS last week to donate the proceeds.

TDHS chief executive officer Rebecca Van Wollingen said it was a generous contribution that also helped everyone involved celebrate 16,000 work hours without incident.

“Lochard Energy and all of its contractors should be very proud of their commitment to safety,” she said.

“We’re obviously grateful for the donation, but also extremely thankful that the companies’ focus on safety in the workplace achieved an incident free shutdown.”

 
Ms Van Wollingen said the decision had been made to use the money for the purchase of an accessible bath for use by people with limited mobility.

The baths have a large side door and rotate up to a sitting position to assist people to get in before reclining back for a traditional bathing experience.

“This sort of appliance would normally be well beyond what we could fund ourselves,” Ms Van Wollingen said.

“It’s wonderful that this safety initiative will actively provide our aged care residents and patients with improved quality of life.”

Ms Van Wollingen said the bath would be purchased and installed this year.

L-R: Josh McKenzie (Lochard Energy head of operations), TDHS CEO Rebecca Van Wollingen, Gianni Lucchi (Lochard Energy construction manager), Heather Power (TDHS acting nurse unit manager and Hannah Prosser (Lochard Energy projects HSE manager).