Qube Moorebank

Art of Work was engaged by Qube to assist with the human factors documentation required to meet regulatory requirements for the  Moorebank Intermodal Terminal. This project, set to become Australia’s largest logistics development, will feature a dedicated rail connection from Port Botany and incorporate the latest automated freight handling technology, including automated gantry cranes and driverless straddle carriers.

 

At full capacity, the Moorebank Logistics Park will:

  • Create around $11 billion in economic benefits over 30 years, including $120 million a year for the economy of south-western Sydney, through the improvements to productivity as well as reduced business costs, reduced road congestion and better environmental outcomes.

  • Cut more than 3,000 heavy truck movements from Sydney’s roads each day reducing emissions  by more than 110,000 tCO2e (tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent) per year

  • Generate 65,000 MWh/year from renewable energy sources installed on-site, capable of powering over 10,000 homes

  • Create 6,800 jobs

 

 The first warehouse was completed in 2018 and the terminal commenced operations in manual mode in October 2019.

An additional rail terminal servicing regional NSW and interstate is due for completion in late 2020. The total 850,000sqm of warehousing will be delivered in stages over a 10 year period, based on demand and uptake.

Art of Work was engaged by Qube to conduct a Human Factors Assessment of the rail operations of the Moorebank Intermodal Terminal. The aims of the assessment were to:

  • Identify potential safety risks from a human factors viewpoint

  • Make recommendations to improve the resilience of the control systems

  • Assist Qube in gaining regulatory approval 

 

For this, a collective improvements program was run early in the design process to facilitate collaboration between typical end users and system designers to identify and address issues.

When the control room was being commissioned, Art of Work took simultaneous video and made observations from the viewpoint of the control room operator and loco driver to identify potential sources of error.

The design of the control room and the workload of the controller was assessed under various combinations of operation.

Art of Work also helped review and update Qube’s safety management system including the existing risk registers to accommodate the changing scope of operations and meet regulatory approval..

Belinda Flynn, General Manager for Health Safety and Environment at Qube gives us some insight into the project and her experience.

Moorebank was a complex and time-critical project. What was the biggest challenge you faced?

The number of stakeholders that are involved in this project is a big challenge. We need to make sure that we make our legal obligations, client obligations and meet community expectations from an environmental and sustainability perspective.

We have obligations from different stakeholders and it is important that we adhere to those obligations and deliver the project on time and on budget.

 

Is there a change in how you approach safety when there is an increase in the level of automation?

Definitely - automation requires a different way of thinking about safety. You have to think about the risk of the people interacting with the automation. People can become complacent if they think that machines will ensure their safety. It is important that you don’t take away accountability and responsibility for safety from the people. Conducting a human factor assessment when you automate something can make you understand what that automation means for the people - does that make it more difficult/challenging or easier, does it allow them to override the system? You need to address these questions as automation is a very different way of thinking compared to the normal human-machine interface.

You also need to think about the complexity of the automation as it is not one system -  there are many different systems that sit beneath it. It’s very complex with a number of systems, so making sure that all those systems are safety assured and they actually do protect the person from the machine and the machine from the person is important.

What safety-related advice do you have for organisations that are thinking of undergoing a large scale operational change?

Communication is key because of the sheer number of stakeholders involved including the planning team, operational team and the engineering team. Communication does not come naturally to everyone - someone might be highly skilled but lack people skills which are often underestimated.

So you really have to have a person in charge, not necessarily and HR person or a senior leader,  who is skilled in communication and can have critical conversations. Different stakeholders have different objectives and you need an individual that is sensitive to these different drivers and can facilitate the right outcome. 

You need tech capability but people capability is essential.