Project Overview
Spotless provides linen and garment laundry management services from 13 commercial laundries that service 4,800 clients across Australia and New Zealand processing over 120,000t of laundry each year. They service the workwear and linen requirements of SA Health across South Australia, small and large businesses in the manufacturing, mining, construction, transport, healthcare, hospitality and food industries.
Their Adelaide commercial laundry featured buildings with asbestos containing ceilings and so Spotless acted to replace these ceilings before they became health and safety risks. For many years McMahon Services had undertaken spot repair and remediation works at the Dudley Park laundry, so were engaged to undertake the complete refurbishment of all ceilings and the replacement of the roof over the main production area.
Scope of Work
Ceiling works included the removal of 7,500m² of non-friable asbestos ceiling and replacing it with suspended aluminium grid and vinyl tiles, and the installation of new LED lighting. Roofing works included the removal of asbestos box gutters and the replacement of 6,000m² of existing metal roof with new metal roof and box gutter.
New roofing included rotary ventilators, new zincalume box gutters with underslung PVC downpipes from new box gutters, new zincalume Kingklip roof sheeting on 50mm insulation blanket with associated flashings to make water tight. Other installations included 1200 by 300 LED panel lights and new aluminium and vinyl grid ceilings.
All asbestos containing materials were double wrapped in 200µm plastic and removed offsite to an EPA licenced receiving facility.
Works were completed outside operation hours comprising of night shifts during the business week and day shifts on weekends. At the end of each shift, all equipment was cleaned and removed allowing for linen operations to commence without interruption.
Plant and equipment utilised onsite included 5.8m electric scissor lifts, electric single person lifts, 5.8m electric boom lifts, a telehandler, pallet jacks and a 13m scissor lift.
Inclement weather impacted weekend works however the overall program was not delayed and works were completed on time and under budget. This was achieved in part through the installation of fixed scaffolding over ironers, dryers and conveyor plant and associated equipment, allowing for easy and safe access to ceilings. Asbestos removal was therefore completed several weeks ahead of schedule, so the delays from inclement weather did not affect the overarching program of works.
Safety Performance
The major safety challenge on the project was working around electrical cables in the ceiling and roof spaces. Many electrical service locations were unknown and lint had built up on some surfaces. After all asbestos containing materials were removed, the electrical team undertook a systematic assessment and clean of all electrical services, then repaired and upgrade services as required to ensure safe operations by the roofing and cladding crews. Drop sheets, dust walls and ongoing housekeeping ensured lint was thoroughly cleaned from each work site and not transported to other work areas.
Another safety risk was working at heights. No roof anchor points were present in the roof so a comprehensive temporary static line system was installed to maintain 100% hook up of personnel when working on the structure.
The project required the use of cranes which could only be operational onsite during weekend works, therefore cranes had to regularly ingress and egress the site. This required the development and implementation of comprehensive traffic management plans and constant communications with delivery drivers, onsite staff and Spotless operations.
Despite the many safety challenges, all works were completed with zero Lost Time Injuries over 13,000 hours worked.
