Cowell ConnectCES

Which internationally recognised event did Cowell Electric Mining Services become a Bronze Sponsor of recently? Turn to page 4 to find out more!

Find out how data management program

Vault has helped further better Cowell Electric’s

capabilities! Turn to page 7.

How has Cowell Electric expanded services to better serve their clients? Find out on page 5...

NEW OPS MANAGER

Mat Smith leaps into his new role. What does he

think so far?

A word from the General Manager...

Contents

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Whole new operation for Mining Services’ Mat Smith

Cowell Electric Continues to contribute to the wider Roxby Downs community

Mining Services expands into Civil works Logistical mining guru ‘Em’ joins team Vault V2 keeps Cowell Electric systems on task

A word from the General Manager...

C owell Electric Mining Services – a company that started off with modest begin-nings in Olympic Dam some 18 years ago has, along with all others, ridden the at times turbulent wave that is the ‘Mining Industry’.

Today, after what has been somewhat of a whirlwind 2014, all our departments, includ-ing new department Civil and Concreting are looking forward to some new and exciting work challenges in the first quarter of 2015.It’s indicative of how our entire team have been working to build a steady foundation of reputation, prowess, quality and safety.2014 has seen the addition of our valuable new civil department, as well as a brand spanking new indigenous employment opportunity– as well as the securing of Lot 42C Charlton Road – an industrial lot that far better accommodates our needs than the one we have currently It means we are starting to reap reward for effort.It’s not only our dedicated and persistent employees that we have to thank – our suppliers, clients and Head Office all provide the means and sup-port to get the job done right and above standard every time.I thank you for your patronage and support in 2014 and look-ing forward to what I believe is going to be a very exciting New Year in 2015.

Phil IrelandGeneral Manager

ewly appointed Operations Manager Mat Smith is settling well into his new role – sinking his teeth into not only working towards securing some major projects for the Mining Services team, but also into gaining a higher under-standing of the various trades and services now offered by the company.N

Local sparkie Mat has stepped into the position both feet first, moving from a supervisory role, to overseeing the su-pervisors in each department, including Mining Service’s newest department, Civil and Concreting.Mat has worked for Cowell Electric for three years, and in his trade – for seven. He said he enjoys a multitude of as-pects of working for the company – but in particular, his work mates and wide variety of work.“When you work long hours and day upon day through some sometimes blistering heat – you’ve really got to enjoy coming to work to make it all worthwhile!” Mat said recently.“If it were not for the good mates, the friendships formed during those mass blocks of time spent at work on a daily basis, and the constant challenge of new, impending work schedules, I would not enjoy working for Cowell Electric as much as I do.”His new role has landed him with a whole lot more responsibility and workload, but Mat says as the days have well and truly warmed up here in the State’s Far North, he is already starting to see the perks.“I’m definitely enjoying spending more time in an air-conditioned office than slaving away out in the field!” Mat joked. “But also, what will benefit not only me, but also the whole company is learning the ins and outs, the intricacies of all the trades.“With already so many dimensions to our relatively small company, it’s important to me that senior man-agement are aware of the ins, the outs, the niggles and the tribulations that occur in each work group.”

Whole new operation for Mining Services’ Mat Smith

Cowell Electric Supply Pty Ltd

Cowell Electric Supply Pty Ltd

Mat Smith has

embraced his new

role as Operations

Manager.

Mat is a qualified

electrician and

lives in Roxby

Downs with his

wife, Breianna.

Cowell Electric

continues to contribute to

the wider Roxby Downs

community

The internationally recognised event, which was held in Roxby Downs on Saturday, November 1 and Sunday, November 2, featured local relayers

passing a baton around the school oval for a total of 19 hours.On top of that, there was also a festival of celebration and remembrance – which was de-

signed to both attract and encourage local community engagement.Cowell Electric Mining Services General Manager Phil Ireland said he saw huge worth in supporting the commu-

nity event, and was spurred on to get involved by the indepth participation of one of Cowell Electric’s staff members, Millie Thomas.“When Millie approached me for sponsorship for the not for profit event, I thought it was a fantastic opportunity to not only support our community, but also one of our staff members,” he said recently.“Unfortunately cancer affects every single one of us, no matter which community we live in, so it’s the least we could do to support this biannual event that helps raise not only much needed funds, but also awareness about this debilitating and all too common disease.”Cowell Electric has made a considerable effort this year to support the Roxby Downs community – having been a major sponsor of the annual Postie Bash event earlier this year – of which raised funds go straight back into the local schools and health services, and also support wildlife regeneration reserve Arid Recovery. On top of that, Cowell Electric is also a corporate member of local Roxby Downs radio station 105.5 RoxFM.“We as a company reap so many benefits from the Roxby Downs and Olympic Dam communities, it’s only fair that we pay back the favour when we can,” Phil finished.

owell Electric has displayed its commitment to the Roxby Downs community once again this year, by taking up a bronze sponsorship for Cancer Council SA’s Roxby Downs Relay for Life event.C

Company becomes Bronze Sponsor of local biannual Cancer Council

Relay for Life event.

Cowell Electric Supply Pty Ltd

Mining Services expands into

civil works

The three jumped on board with Cowell Electric following the unexpected de-mise of fellow Olympic Dam contracting company, Heading Contractors – who was unfortunately placed into receivership recently.29 year old Wayne ‘Kempy’ Kemp leads the way for the continuous devel-opment of a civil construction crew for Mining Services, having worked in and around mine sites in the civil industry for over nine years. Prior to working for Headings, he worked for ODT Australis, Integralign and York Civil – all of which have been Olympic Dam local contractors.Wayne specialises in carpentry and form work and has had experi-ence in construction and building works – and everything in between.He lives in Roxby Downs with his partner Jen, who is a local veteri-nary nurse.Brendan ‘Brendos’ Grant, also 29, hails originally from the ‘deep south’ – having grown up in Aldinga, SA. but don’t hold that against him! Brendan has been living in Roxby Downs for over three years getting back home to see his son Victor when he can.Brendan specialises in high quality concrete screed and fin-ishing, having worked in both the building industry and civil construction for an extensive period in both Olympic Dam and Aldinga.Before working at Headings, Brendan worked for Olym-pic Dam contractor Broadspectrum and Concrete Tank Australia further south.The youngest of the crew, 22 year old Jack ‘Robbo’ Robinson has been living and working in Roxby Downs for just over six months – having moved up here with his girlfriend Kayla earlier this year.Jack offers a number of different skills – officially a plumber by trade, but is also licensed and skilled in machine operating and civil construc-tion.Before working for Headings, Jack worked for civil construction company Ridleys in Murray Bridge, and CS Bricklaying, also in Murray Bridge.

owell Electric Mining Services recently underwent an workforce increase – with the hire of three locals - civil compatriots Wayne Kemp, Brendan Grant and Jack Robinson.C

Cowell Electric Supply Pty Ltd

ocal Olympic Dam administrative guru Emma McFarlane also joined the Cowell Electric team last month, bringing with her a wealth of local and industry knowledge.

Em spent 16 years working for Olympic Dam contractor Heading Contractors starting from a red sand level (or grass roots level – depending on where from within the State you hail!) and working her way up through the ranks.“I started off in the vent bag shed and mowing lawns and then progressed to an admin position, eventually ending up as Operations Manager for the past 11 years,” Em told Cowell Connect recently.A challenging role, as Operations Manager, Em was involved in managing rostering and training logistics for up to 120 employees on labour hire, and liaising with the associated BHP Superintendents from up to eight depart-ments. “It was a very rewarding and busy role, however I was on call 24/7,” Em said.Em has lived in the area with her other half Tam for almost 17 years, with Tam working for Spotless as an underground cleaner and Supervisor.

The pair lives in neighbouring opal mining community Andamooka, approximately 30 kilome-tres east of the purpose built mining town, Roxby Downs.

Em hopes to bring both a diverse range of experience and good sense of hu-mour to the Cowell Electric team, and has settled into her role easily.

“Everyone has been exceptionally friendly and I’m looking forward to enjoying new challenges in a new role,”

she finished.

Logistical mining guru ‘Em’ joins team

L

Cowell Electric implemented the use of Vault late last year, with a major objective of managing components of the company’s Health, Safety, Environmental and Quality (HSEQ) management system.“Vault has enabled us to effectively manage numerous components of our HSEQ management system, helping us further ensue customer and company compliance,” said Cowell Electric HSEQ Manager, Claire Bach recently.“It has also given us the ability to efficiently extract and easily present data if and when the need arises.”Vault is a highly graphical application designed to encourage user participation with minimum of training, and is used by Cowell Electric employees in a number of fashions, including incident management and identifying safety perfor-mance indicators and performance analysis.“Safety is paramount for our company and the clients we service,” explained Ms Bach.“These functions ably aid employees and upper management monitor and record safety statistics and performances. Effective operation of these sections of Vault are absolutely imperative - and we have been rest assured already that they are both user friendly, and accurate!”Employee training is another area of Cowell Electric that must be closely managed – with job orders frequently requir-ing job specific trainings before the work can go ahead.“Again, we can appropriately record and view information on individual employee training records at the literal click of the mouse. Accessing these sorts of records were in the past – an extensive paper pushing exercise!” Claire said.“The use of Vault in this area has turned the exercise from what used to be rather counterproductive, to quite simple.”Vault boasts being able to offer a system that accommodates for ‘unstructured data’ – data that simple may not have a ‘home’ in other, more traditional management systems.

Other functions within Vault that have proved helpful to Cowell Electric since its implementation include; contractor management, plant and equipment management, risk assessments,

hazardous substances management, document library and an action tracking system.For more information on Vault, contact Ms Bach

on 8629 2136.

fter almost a year of using new data management tool Vault, staff at Cowell Electric have been continuously surprised at the functionality of the program – and its uses for the company’s types of work.

Vault V2 keeps Cowell Electric systems on taskThe introduction of a new data management system has made administrative responsibilites easier to

oversee for Cowell Electric staff across the State.

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Please let us know what you think of our new style company newsletter! Feedback can be delivered to Millie Thomas at mthomas@cowellelectric.com.au.

Cnr Gunson & Kanyaka RdOlympic Dam, SA 5725

PO Box 100Olympic Dam, SA 5725

Ph (08) 8671 0018Fax (08) 8671 0511• •

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