Scott Chapman will never forget what happened on 5 May 2010.
It’s the day a colleague was tragically killed near Newbridge in NSW when his excavator was struck by an XPT passenger train.
“I never want to go to a funeral of a 25-year-old again and watch his fiancé and one-year-old child walking behind a coffin,” said Scott, who uses the shocking incident as his “why” for working safely each and every day.
It’s also what drives him in his role at ARTC as Project Director of our Safe Work Improvement Program (SWIP) – a three-year initiative from 2020-2023 to establish safer and more consistent processes for everyone who works in the rail corridor.
“I want to improve safety for everyone who works on ARTC’s rail network so that no one has to go through what my team and I went through back in 2010,” said Scott, who is now based in Newcastle.
“Company-wide improvements are being achieved through our Pathway to Zero Harm Strategy, and within this strategy, our SWIP is dedicated to simplified, unified and safe trackworker protection across the nation.
“It’s made up of 19 safety solutions and includes improvements such as location verification for workers, role clarity between site supervisors and safe working personnel, management of people accessing the rail corridor, and communication standards to ensure professional, accurate, clear and concise rail safety calls.
“We’re making good progress but we know we can do much better, so that’s why we’ll continue to treat safety as our highest priority, which in turn will help us improve the resilience, reliability and efficiency of our network for our customers and local communities.”
