Critical access for Wollongong Hospital’s Cooling Tower

The cooling tower of Wollongong Hospital is an essential piece of infrastructure, ensuring that hospital facilities and machines, as well as patient and treatment rooms, remain at comfortable temperatures for staff and patients.

In December 2022, the NSW Illawarra Shoalhaven Health District engaged the team at RISSafety to install a new height safety access system for the cooling tower. The hospital had not previously had an adequate access system in place, which posed a safety risk to maintenance workers and others who needed to access the tower.

After conducting a thorough assessment of the cooling tower and surrounding roof space the RISSafety team designed a bespoke harness-free solution that would provide a safe and secure access system, built to last.

Isaac Joseph, project manager of engineering and asset management in the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, says that going with RISSafety was the natural choice for three key reasons: “Expertise, fair price and life expectancy of the materials and the system,” he says. “We did have other quotes, but we picked RIS because we knew [the system] would last.”

The solution included the installation of free-standing aluminium cooling tower platforms with perimeter handrail and toe boards and aluminium step ladder access points complete with self-closing gates. With the design confirmed the RISSafety team worked quickly to ensure minimal disturbance to routine hospital operation.

“The project took three days. It was impressive – I expected it to be at least a week with perhaps a few hiccups, but the RISSafety team came in and they smashed it,” explains Isaac. “They even took care with the materials, storing everything in a safe way and with minimal impact on anyone else.”

After the system installation began it was determined that an additional access opening with handrail and rung-type ladder with self-closing gate was needed underneath the main platform, so that maintenance personnel could easily access that area when required.

Our teams are well-versed in creating bespoke solutions and working as flexibly as possible to ensure the best access requirements are met, so altering the design slightly was an easy ask. “The team easily tweaked the design and even had time to send through the drawings and then install the additional access,” says Isaac.

As Jonathan Lawlor, business development manager at RISSafety explains, creating safe access points at such important worksites around the country is immensely gratifying.

“I take a lot of satisfaction in knowing that the system designed allows the end users to go about their work safely,” he says. “Knowing that we are not only providing a complaint, practical and safe system to allow ongoing maintenance, we are significantly reducing the risk of personnel working unsafely and potentially at risk of injury or worse in the workplace.

“It’s always satisfying in knowing that our valued clients at NSW Health have put trust in RIS to design, supply, install and certify a compliant system to allow their staff to work safely onsite.”

It’s safe to say that the hospital’s project management team was impressed – our team has already begun work on their next project at the site. “I’m already working with the RISSafety team again on the roof of the hospital to repair a roof ladder system that was deemed unsafe and they’re putting one up to code,” adds Isaac.

Important maintenance work can now be completed on the cooling tower with ease, with a height system that not only improves worker safety, but also ensures the ongoing comfort and safety of workers and patients of Wollongong Hospital.

Do you need a bespoke safety solution for your site? We offer a wide range of height safety access systems, with an end-to-end solution to make design, manufacturing and installation quick and easy. Reach out to our team today to find out more.