Five Western Australian businesses and projects have been praised for their efforts to reduce the risk of work-related injury and disease.

Commerce Minister Michael Mischin has announced the Gateway WA Perth Airport and Freight Access Project, DM Civil, Excel Robotics, Brett Chisholm and Lloyd Needham as the winners of the prestigious 2015 Work Safety Awards Western Australia.

Mr Mischin said the five winners were examples of the many excellent workplace innovations and OHS systems being developed in WA.

“Awards such as these are all about encouraging best practice in safety and health, and the winners are leading the way by making Western Australian workplaces safer,” he said.

This year's winners are:

Best workplace safety and health management system - Gateway WA Perth Airport and Freight Access Project (Forrestfield): The project, being delivered by an alliance of industry contractors including Main Roads WA, aims to provide road upgrades for the safety and efficiency of one of the State's most important transport hubs - the network surrounding Perth Airport.

The project is divided into three geographical zones, with each zone having a dedicated project team and safety co-ordinator who continually assesses systems and operations for risks, to ensure control measures are in place and no new hazards are introduced. 

Best solution to an identified workplace safety and health issue - DM Civil (Maddington): DM Civil's fabrication shop engineered a custom-designed kibble bucket that can be attached or detached from a loader without the operator having to leave the cab, lessening the risk of manual task, pinch point and collision injuries and slips, trips and falls.

Loaders are used to transport construction material such as bluemetal from stockpiles to the work area using a detachable kibble bucket. Prior to this solution, workers had to manually connect and disconnect the buckets using chains.

Best workplace safety and health practices in small business: Excel Robotics (Bibra Lake): Excel offers robotic and manual welding services, and component manufacture and fabrication for a range of industries in the mining and agricultural sectors, and encourages everyone in the company to take responsibility for safety.

Excel Robotics has also implemented safety initiatives such as various OSH management policies, hazard identification and risk assessment, and strict housekeeping measures.

Best individual contribution to safety and health by an employee with no formal OSH responsibilities - Brett Chisholm, submarine maintenance technician, Raytheon Australia (Henderson): Brett performs regular and ad hoc maintenance work on submarines and is a safety and health representative.

During the recent urgent removal of damaged and contaminated equipment from a submarine, concerns were raised about safety during the removal. Brett co-ordinated consultation during and after the operation, identified the safety issues and helped management with implementing strategies to address them. 

Best individual contribution to safety and health by an OSH Manager or person with formal OSH responsibilities - Lloyd Needham, Kalgoorlie-Boulder branch manager, COR Cooling (Kalgoorlie-Boulder): Lloyd manages the company's Kalgoorlie-Boulder branch which services, repairs and manufactures all types of cooling systems for a range of industries including mining, marine and transport.

During the past 18 months, Lloyd has overseen the introduction of safety programs such as Cultural Change, Safe Behaviour and e-learning, and under his leadership the Kalgoorlie-Boulder branch has achieved an outstanding record of seven years without a lost time injury.