Tenix Apprentices take 2010 Safety Trophy

Nine teams participated in the Challenge event, held at the Taranaki HSE Centre on 12th May. The apprentice teams took part in 10 practical activities designed to test their safety knowledge and skills. Tasks included putting out a small fire, dealing with a mock (but gruesome looking!) first aid scenario, attaching a safety harness and loading a truck. New activities this year included navigating an obstacle course while wearing a pair of fatal vision goggles (to highlight the effects of alcohol on driving) and dealing with the police following a staged violent incident.

The Challenge, organised by the Taranaki Construction Safety Group, focuses on safety issues within the workplace as well as those outside of work. It provides an opportunity for a range of community based organisations to engage with workplaces. This year's challenge included the Police, Fire, Roadsafe Taranaki, Sport Taranaki, Red Cross, SADD and Civil Defence, along with Department of Labour and ACC.

It is hoped that building relationships between local safety organisations and business will provide future training opportunities within local workplaces. New Plymouth District Council is one such workplace that has utilized these links - since taking part in a similar event last year the council have organised in-house training delivered by Red Cross, Department of Labour and the Fire Service. 

The Apprentice Challenge was certainly a team event! BCITO took responsibility for organising and publicising the event, with support from Taranaki MasterBuilders and ACC. Sponsorship was provided by a number of local companies including Powerco, ITL and the Taranaki HSE Centre. Of course, key to the event's success were the apprentices themselves, who represented the following companies: Tenix, Bell Building, Clelands Construction, Morph Construction, Shell Todd Oil Services, Pepper Fabish, Street & Cook, Fletchers Construction and Paul Jones Construction.

An Evaluation Report of last year's (2009) Challenge event is available for those who would like to find out more. However, if you would like to speak to someone about the Trades Apprentice Challenge, please contact Alison Pitman (ACC) on 06 759 0728.

More photos available here