Delivering the next generation of Machine Safety

Ballance Agri-Nutrients recently undertook a series of Machine Safety upgrades across their New Zealand distribution sites to the global AS/NZS4024 standard, with Beca a critical partner in delivering this industry-leading solution.

Ballance Agri-Nutrients is a New Zealand farmer-owned co-operative specialising in the production of fertiliser and feed.

With a shared commitment to safety, we were engaged to implement these upgrade works across 29 sites from Pukekohe to Invercargill over 18 months.

This included comprehensive hazard assessments, safety solutions design, preparation of tender documentation, monitoring of implementation, and the validation of guarding works. Given our experience in machine safety, and our geographic scale allowing us to deliver multiple sites in parallel across New Zealand, we proved to be an ideal partner.  

The benefits to Ballance of our consistent approach were a compressed delivery timeframe to address hazards expediently, and cost savings from reduced travel.

Working collaboratively to understand plant operations across multiple sites, the upgrades needed to deliver compliant safety solutions that met relevant standards and regulations to the plant operators’ satisfaction.

Key drivers of our successful and cost-effective delivery included:

• establishing repeatable, scalable, project-specific processes that met the requirements of AS/NZS4024
• using graduates and junior staff - supervised by a highly experienced team
• using 3D photos and site scans in the form of a digital twin, which reduced the number of site visits and enabled productive remote discussions
• using our Certified Machine Safety Experts (CMSE®) who accelerated the assessment, design and verification processes by initiating, guiding and verifying installed mechanical modifications implemented by local contractors across multiple sites
• developing app-based site reporting/validation tools to reduce paperwork and streamline remote CMSE verification.

Using our knowledge of relevant legislation, along with extensive industry experience, we’ve delivered an industry-leading Machine Safety solution that addressed 1,531 hazards and will maintain Ballance Agri-Nutrients operations for many years to come.