Jan De Nul Group has won the IADC Safety Award 2017 for its transport of pipelines optimisation.

Organised by the International Association of Dredging Companies (IADC), the annual award honours an exemplary programme or project that has improved the application of safety throughout the dredging industry’s activities.

Jan De Nul has optimised and enhanced its method of handling and transporting dredge pipes with three techniques: the use of Dhatec cradles, modular spreaders and C-pipe hooks in combination with soft slings. The combination of all three changes improves efficiency on the jobsite, safety during the handling and transport, and both the safety and ergonomics for riggers.

Jan De Nul’s Maarten Tronckoe explained, “When loading four pipes in two layers on a flatbed trailer, the lower layer on the truck is secure in between the supporting poles at the side of the truck, but as you go upwards to the second layer of pipes, the leverage on the poles is increased and they can therefore start to bend outwards. We can start timbering with beams and wedges, but how much force can a wooden wedge really take? To be 100 percent sure, we were advised to have an engineer monitor each truck and calculate it, but cost-wise, this was not possible. So we started looking into how we could change the process ourselves to do it more safely.”

In the optimised process, Dhatec cradles are mounted on the truck platform – adjustable to the pipeline diameter – and with lashing straps, the load is secured on the truck. The C-pipe hooks are attached to a soft sling, which makes it safer and ergonomically easier for the rigger to handle. And thanks to the use of the spreader beam, the soft slings with attached C-pipe hooks are positioned optimally by using taglines so that the riggers can easily attach the load from the ground. The revised method is being implemented across Jan De Nul’s global activities as it has proven to be beneficial to all parties associated with pipeline transport.