November 2017

Telfer Mine Site

The Telfer Fuel Farm is located at the Tefler Mine Site, Great Sandy Desert in the East Pilbara regions of WA. The mine site is located 400 kilometres east-south-east of Port Hedland and approximately 1,300 kilometres by air/1,900 kilometres by road from Perth.

Within our scope, Firesafe were tasked with the design and construct contract for the Fire Hydrant and Monitor System at the above project consisting of:

  • Fully compliant Fire Hydrant and Fire Monitor system in accordance with AS2419.1
    Storage and Handling of Flammable & Combustible Liquids in accordance with AS1940
  • Fire Pump Installations in accordance with AS2941

The system installed also included the additional of Foam Suppression to the Fuel Farm by way of monitor or portable foam branch and lay flat hoses.

The foam concentrate is stored as 20L drums located within red cabinets that Firesafe had purpose built to be located at strategic locations at the front and rear of the fuel loading area.

Throughout the project we were faced with
various challenges:

  • Given the project was in a remote location, this brought challenges in getting materials and labour to site. We were able to achieve this by being precise with our procurement and stock holding which in the end enabled us to complete the project successfully within the given time frame.
  • All employees who work on remote projects are required to meet the required stringent mobilisation criteria, with an emphasis being placed on health prior to mobilisation and a very detailed induction process, prior to mobilisation to site.
  • All our employees were prepared for the inductions internally and carried out the necessary re- training and competencies to all plant tools and equipment, both prior to mobilisation and on site.
  • We also had to consider the extreme weather conditions eg, consistent working days with temperatures around 40 + degrees and seasonal storms. We achieved this by monitoring the scheduling of the install works and employee breaks in accordance with the climate conditions.
  • Firesafe had to plan the coordination of other trades to complete the scope of works such as electricians and pump suppliers.
  • Documentation coordination was thoroughly completed to minimise down time on the project considering the location of the works being a fly in/ fly out scenario.
  • We had to abide by the strict testing and commission procedures in line with Newcrest Mining Companies guidelines.
  • To achieve the completion of the project works we had to have stringent planning to coordinate tie in works with existing infrastructure.
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