The HVIA National Awards recognised innovative organisations and individuals from within the road transport industry
Scania Australia has been presented with the Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia (HVIA) 2022 Award for Safety Innovation during a gala dinner at the Emporium in Brisbane on November 25.
In other categories Penske Australia received the HVIA Community Leadership Award and Knorr-Bremse the Product Innovation Award.
The National Apprentice of the Year Award went to Hunter Tapping of Brown and Hurley. Tapper edged out James Cohen-Campbell from MaxiTrans in a close contest.
Thomas Baggaley of CMV Truck & Bus received the Peter Langworthy Future Leader Award, while HVIA Industry Recognition Awards were presented to veterans Max Winkless and Ken Cowell.
For the Safety Innovation award, HVIA says it recognised the foresight Scania has put in to preparing all levels of its business to deal safely with battery electric vehicle (BEV) systems and components, which are to be a part of its future product line-up.
The training involves all staff from cleaning contractors to the executive management team and is naturally focussed on ensuring there are no incidents involving electrical shocks at its company-owned workshops and those of its authorised independent dealer network.
“The training we have undertaken and continue to undertake ensures everyone knows how to be safe around batteries and BEVs in general,” says Scania Australia managing director Manfred Streit.
“We are delighted to accept this significant award and hope that we can lead the way in demonstrating the safest ways to deal with BEVs in workshops. There is no place for complacency with high-voltage electricity.
“Our focus on safety at Scania has always been acute and internally we promote safety as ‘my first choice’.
“We want to be seen as a leader in creating a zero-injury working environment in the BEV era.”
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Scania was recognised for its foresight Scania in preparing all levels of its business to deal safely with battery electric vehicle (BEV) systems and components
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Jason Grech, product support and service introductions manager, based in Scania Campbellfield, has led the training roll-out, assisted by Kris Ross-Soden, Scania’s national boltage class B technical specialist.
Grech says Scania is now ready to deliver, service and maintain BEVs. Already, there are several Scania electric-hybrid buses in operation around the country, and the first full battery-electric bus chassis have arrived. There are three battery-electric trucks in Australia for evaluation as well.
“We established the Scania Australia electrical organisation, mapped local legislation and Worksafe standards and worked with the national parts team to secure supply and recycling of spare parts and propulsion batteries,” Grech says.
“We are installing BEV-specific workshop gantries complete with gates and warning signs and insulated wheels, and have established PPE, tools, tool board, and trollies specifically for use with BEV systems.
“This equipment has been adapted to suit Australian standards, and will be provided as full kits to our workshops when they are certified to work on BEV trucks and buses.
“Due to the acute safety requirements of dealing with high voltages, we’re ensuring electrical competence at national and key retail outlets via our training department, so that everyone is aware of the need to exhibit caution around BEV work sites and to recognise and observe the warning signs and systems,” Grech says.
“Scania’s vehicle onboard safety systems are highly detailed and engineered-in from the start and are designed to avoid voltage leakage, and we will be training rescue services as well to be able to deal with our vehicles at accident scenes out on the roads.
“Within our workshops, the response from our technicians to the BEV technology and safety roll-out has been exceptionally positive. They are very keen to get to grips with the new technology, and be the first to be certified BEV technicians in their workshops,” Grech says.
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Craig Lee with Penske Australia’s HVIA Community Leadership Award
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Craig Lee, executive general manager of on-highway at Penske Australia, was in attendance at the November 25 awards night to receive the HVIA Community Leadership Award for Penske’s support of Outback Futures.
Outback Futures is a not-for-profit organisation whose mission it is to nurture and empower the outback by renewing hope, building resilience and strengthening community.
Their vision is to see rural and remote communities equipped with the confidence and tools to identify and address their own mental health and well-being challenges.
The prevalence of mental health and well-being issues is similar across Australian communities, but the impact runs far deeper in rural and remote communities. Social, economic and geographic barriers to help, prevent many from accessing support, leading to poor mental health and well-being outcomes.
Outback Futures routinely deploy teams of qualified practitioners into these rural and remote communities providing much-needed mental health and allied services to people living in remote western Queensland that would otherwise be inaccessible to these communities.
Penske Australia, through its rugged truck brand, Western Star, contributes much-needed funding to Outback Futures supporting these important activities.
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Peter Langworthy, winner of the Future Leader Award, with his wife Tullee
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Knorr-Bremse’s received its Production Innovation Award for developing the iMass Smart On Board Mass (OBM) system.
The iMass system meets the OBM requirements for high productivity freight vehicles (HPFV). The system accuracy is well within 2 per cent of a certified weighbridge providing masses for each axle group as well as total combination mass in a heavy vehicle combination up to 7 trailers in length.
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iMass utilises the already existing mass output from Knorr-Bremse Trailer EBS (Electronic Brake System), eliminating the need for additional trailer hardware and simplifying the product offering. In the prime mover itself, a user-friendly Driver Interface Unit (DIU) allows live mass display and troubleshooting for the Prime mover and any connected trailers.
Incorporated in the DIU is a dual CAN capability allowing it to pick up the electronic mass signal from the existing trailer CAN connection and also a signal from the Knorr-Bremse ELC Truck ECU (and subsequent sensors) fitted to the prime mover.
To meet the Category B SMART OBM requirements, the DIU also allows a feed via an RS232 serial connection to Telematics Units to transfer mass data in line with TCA requirements.
The National Awards night saluted both young and long-standing members of the heavy vehicle industry.
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Ken Cowell (right) with HVIA president John Drake
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While Hunter Tapping and Thomas Baggaley represented the younger brigade, the HVIA board bestowed the lifetime achievements of Max Winkless and Ken Cowell.
Winkless, now 94, is a former managing director of Volvo Group Australia and boasts a career spanning 84 years, including establishing the Truck Centre WA.
Cowell, a director at HVIA, started his career in 1979 at Volvo Trucks Australia. Over the next 43 years, he was instrumental in working on the Volvo NH Road Train and even more instrumental in the XXL Volvo Globetrotter, which he wrote the product description for and designed every aspect fit for the Australian market.
For the last 15 years, Cowell has worked as a consultant providing specialist expertise to truck and trailer manufacturers in all aspects of their operations, but most notably as a PBS certifier.