A Friday Note - 16 December 2016

Dear all

Perfect weather today after a particularly warm and muggy start to the week.

SAFETY

As the weather heats up, it is timely to familiarise ourselves with the DPTI arrangements for Catastrophic Fire Danger Rating Days.

Our department is collaborating with other agencies to reduce the bushfire risk. Fuel management activities are occurring along the Belair rail corridor using skills and expertise from the Environment Department. The focus is on reducing standing grass and shrub fuel loads in key locations.

ENGINEERING

Our engineering capabilities and achievements continue to progress with numerous examples where our professionals have demonstrated outstanding service and innovation as well as gaining invaluable experience.

Their work is well respected within the industry. Our efforts have been recognised with numerous awards for innovations in technology, energy, roads and ferries, and the South Australian community is benefiting.

Feedback to me from our engineers and other professionals is that they are embracing opportunities to engage in different ways to achieve results. These include procuring and delivering major works such as the Torrens Road to Torrens River project, the complex South Road upgrade at Darlington, major public transport reforms including tram projects and sustainable benefits to Aboriginal people in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands. Experiences gained on such projects simply cannot be provided outside of DPTI and I am proud of the ongoing achievements of our professionals.

With innovation driving us forward, safety is key to everything we do. Not only do we have safer systems of work, but we are delivering safer projects to the people of South Australia. For example, our professionals secured funding to transform the Britannia roundabout making it safer, easier to negotiate and more efficient. Through their participation in ‘on-site’ safety walks, our people are driving a new safety culture at locations across the state.

We have a long and deep history of engineering and professional expertise in road, rail, marine, building, planning, and design; something in which we continue to invest. Currently, 37 graduates and 23 vacation employment students are engaged across civil, electrical and mechanical disciplines. We are working with Engineers Australia to recruit and support Aboriginal engineers.

INNOVATION

As we celebrate this approach, another worthy nomination for our new innovation award is Johnny Tran for his work on pavement engineering which is solving common problems and reducing costs. Keep those nominations coming.

TRAMS

Three extra trams and a new tram stop at Festival Plaza were announced yesterday in a $20m investment as part of the 2016-17 Mid-Year State Budget Review. Full details here.

ANNUAL REPORT

The 2015-16 DPTI Annual Report has been tabled in Parliament. Wonderful work by all staff who contributed, in particular Evelyn Millbank from Departmental Coordination. A reform led by the Department of Premier and Cabinet is underway towards whole-of-government performance-based reporting which will be the new format for agency annual reporting.

RAIL AGREEMENT

Thank you to Querida Sayce, Caragh Thomas, Robert Stopp and everyone else who worked on the enterprise agreement for our rail employees which has now been approved. Another great example of collaboration, partnering with the Office for the Public Sector to reach a successful outcome.

RISK MANAGEMENT

Risk Management is crucial to good management. To help DPTI achieve this, the Enterprise Risk Team recently held its first two day workshop on risk management. Those who came along are now better equipped to achieve their business objectives. If you would like to attend a workshop, please contact Karen Chandler.

DID YOU KNOW?

Of DPTI’s 3000-plus employees, almost 700 are aged 35 years and under which equates to 23 per cent of the total workforce. It illustrates the value of our Youth Connect initiative.

WELL DONE

Our staff have gone above and beyond to welcome tourists from the biggest ship to sail into Adelaide.

Ovation of the Seas docked at Outer Harbor last Sunday, carrying more than 4000 passengers and nearly 1600 crew. Close to 2000 of them boarded trains to and from the city, an effort matched only by the size of the ship!

One of our employees has praised the customer service he recently received when he visited the Adelaide Metro Info Centre on Currie St to sort out an issue with his metrocard. Angie O'Flaherty resolved the matter quickly and professionally and is to be congratulated for reinforcing our commitment to our customers.

Thank you to everyone who donated to our Christmas appeal for the Hutt St Centre.

As you can see, there was an outpouring of generosity to help make Christmas a little brighter for people who need it most.

Have a good weekend

Michael Deegan