About Boyne Smelter
Located on Boyne Island near Gladstone, Queensland, Boyne Smelters Ltd (BSL) is Australia’s largest aluminium smelter producing more than 570,000 tonnes of aluminium per year. BSL has a direct workforce of 1050 employees plus around 120 contractors.
The Initial Challenge
Our initial contact with BSL was when they were seeking a solution to issues with their respirator cleaning which was being done in-house. BSL places a high value on employee health and well-being and there was an unacceptably high level of industrial asthma cases at the site. Investigations indicated that this was due to their internal respirator cleaning program not being as effective as it needed to be, especially in removing fluoride residue.
BSL began looking for an external supplier to carry out this program but at the same time, could not afford to carry a long turnaround for these pieces of equipment. Being a 24 hr a day, 365 day a year operation it is vital that equipment is ready when needed.
The IDS Response
When called upon to provide a solution for BSL, IDS set up our Gladstone facility to service the smelter along with other customers in central and northern Queensland. We also put in place a complete Respirator Management Program linked to the IDS Asset Lifecycle Management System.
BSL is now able to:
- Arrange collection on-site with cleaned respirators returned within 48 hrs
- Manage stock levels more accurately
- Know exactly which items are nearing the end of their useful life and can be shed from the system to be replaced with new items when required
- As a result of this program our client has seen a significant reduction in the incidences of industrial asthma
Thanks to the success of the Respirator Management Program, IDS has also been contracted by BSL to look after the effective cleaning and management of their uniforms.
