Seymour Whyte celebrates OHS Leadership/Achievement Award

Seymour Whyte is celebrating an achievement outstanding safety performance, winning the OHS Leadership/Achievement Award for the second consecutive year. The Healesville–Koo Wee Rup Road Upgrade – South Package (the project) – one of Melbourne’s most challenging and high‑risk road corridors – was awarded for its innovative approach to achieve exceptional safety outcomes.

Committed to redefining safety standards

The project included the duplication of Healesville-Koo Wee Rup Road to four lanes – futureproofing for six lanes – key intersection upgrades at Ballarto Road and Island Road, structural upgrades including two new bridges over McGregors Drain, and 25 large box culvert structures, many of which were designed as fauna crossings. Supporting works included drainage upgrades, safety barriers, intersection lighting, shared paths, service relocations, and access tracks.

Innovation led achievement

Seymour Whyte’s approach to safety on the project reflects a deliberate commitment to elevating safety standards across the industry. The project elevated the benchmark for worksite protection by actively removing personnel from high-risks environments – particularly those working near live traffic.

Key elimination controls to enhance project safety included:

• Tri‑Signs which eliminated daily roadside sign changes
• Port‑a‑Boom gates with protected slip lanes
• Custom‑engineered steel wedge barrier segments enabling continuous protection at intersections
• Guard rail and chainmesh WSBS system that avoided risky shoulder‑widening works

Over 45 TriSign units have been installed as part of the project’s long term traffic management arrangements. The TriSigns are installed at regular intervals, pole-mounted for improved visibility for motorists, and can be operated remotely via a mobile app to display the desired arrangement. This allows traffic controllers to be positioned away from the live traffic flow and eliminates the associated risks during traffic management sign changes.

The TriSign positions and sign faces were determined as part of the standard Traffic Guidance Scheme (TGS) design process, as per the state of Victoria specifications. Each signage change is recorded and timestamped providing a verifiable record of which signage arrangement was in place at any point in time.

The team also deployed AI‑enabled plant‑safety technologies, delivered mental‑health initiatives, and strengthened community safety through early road repairs and school engagement during Road Safety Awareness Week.

Since works began, there have been zero fatalities or significant injuries on the project section – compared with multiple fatalities in the year prior. These breakthroughs have since been adopted across Victoria, setting a new benchmark for safety leadership in infrastructure delivery.

Senior Project Engineer, Matthew Owen said the scale of the project required challenging the traditional approaches to high-risk work.

“We weren’t willing to accept that what’s worked once, will work again, given the job possessed some unique challenges,” Mr Owen said.

The major infrastructure project saw 2,100 machines on site and 600,000 tonnes of material moved. Seymour Whyte continues to demonstrate its commitment to the health and safety of the workforce by challenging traditional approaches and implementing bespoke solutions to redefine safety in infrastructure across projects.