Pinnacle Safety and Training Blog

“Cooper’s Comments”

It is 7.30am at Pinnacle Safety and Training’s custom-built training facility in Gladstone. Training manager Lloyd Cooper instructs a bleary eyed team before him. He gets to the point immediately.

“OK team, a 54 year old man has collapsed, he reports of a tight chest and pain in his arm. He is currently on a scaffold four stories up. He appears to be having a heart attack and is in a critical condition. He needs to come down, quickly, and the only way to get him down is by rigging up a rope lowering system. LET’S GO! What can you show me?”

The casualty is actually our rescue dummy “Buster”. The scaffold is a purpose-built structure at our Gladstone training facility, and this is the start of another Pinnacle Safety and Training Vertical Rescue (VR) course.

Over the next four days the students from Bechtel APLNG, GLNG and QCLNG will be taught all the necessary skills required to complete this rescue.

They will learn to respond safely, with speed and accuracy, using a methodical approach. They’ll work through correct harness inspection and fit, ascending and descending ropes, tying knots, setting up anchors, rigging hauling and lowering systems, using mechanical advantage, setting up high points such as tripods and performing rescues utilising stretcher rigging.

This is the eighth VR course that Pinnacle Safety and Training has delivered for Bechtel. With the implementation of the Advanced VR course this year, these students will be able to further develop their knowledge and skills, and improve their ability to perform more complex rescues in real life emergencies.

Who are Bechtel?

Bechtel is currently contracted to provide engineering, procurement and construction services for the development of the Gladstone LNG project, which involves building a $16 billion liquefied natural gas processing plant in Queensland, Australia. The Gladstone LNG (GLNG) project will feature two liquefaction trains with a combined capacity of 7.8 million tons of LNG per year. The project will create up to 6,000 jobs. Bechtel has a zero harm policy and Pinnacle is pleased to be helping them achieve their safety goals.