FEBRUARY 2015
TIMES
AIRPORT PERFORMANCE RANKED #1
The Qantas Performance Scorecard results are in for January and the Morris team at the Graeme Rowley Aerodrome has been ranked #1 for aircraft turnaround performance. Richard Swift (Kantarma Village Manager) adds, “It’s a fantastic achievement for our team who deliver the highest standards in the most grueling Pilbara summer conditions, where the asphalt on the tarmac can reach 60°C+. We are immensely proud of Kylie and the team at CKW who together turned around over 60 aircraft and nearly 12,000 passengers in the month without a single hitch. It’s also a great testament to the partnership we have forged with our client FMG and it is always pleasing to be able to deliver a great service for them and the thousands of residents that use the airport each month”
FEBRUARY 2015 TIMES
THE YANDI MAINTENANCE TRUCK OFFLOAD ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AWARD Each week a person is awarded the truck offload award for safe and good work practices during truck offload. The last person who wins the award nominates the next recipient of the award.
MASTERCHEF IN THE MAKING
Glen Ruocco (Morris Yandi Plumber) on his RDO made staff his famous bruschetta.
Cong ratulati on
Words by Robert McVicker
FEBRUARY 2015
s! ON 25 YEARS
TIMES
After last year’s conference in which Les gave details about his start with Morris I just wanted to take this opportunity to clarify a few points in my defence. Most of you will know that Les is slightly hard of hearing; I can however confirm that this problem has in fact existed for over 25 years. When I first interviewed Les about his new job with us at Collinsville all those years ago; as he was bringing his family with him, he was keen to know about the house that came with the job. When we discussed the house at the interview; he thought I said the house was a Queenslander - I simply said the house was in Queensland. He thought I said the house had wrap around verandas - but what I said was in fact that you walk around to the veranda. I told him the house had a few leans, he thought I said it had few beams. When I told him the house had A/C he thought I said the house was by the sea. I also said that there was some glass that was missing, he thought I said there was some grass that was missing. Les worked his way up the corporate ladder based on his outstanding ability and sheer determination to get whatever job he had to do, done, and done well. Les has worked in just about every contract Morris has had in Australia and overseas including Cambodia, PNG, East Timor and Iraq. Through sickness and health Les fought on, throughout his career with us he has given us numerous scares in relation to his health, but each time he pulled through. With 25 years, Les is the longest serving staff member second only to me for which for the record - I am in my 38th year! Based on my current age and being younger than Les ( which is an ongoing point of discussion between Les and I ) this means I started working for Morris when I was just 7 years of age. I have never met anyone that could fire someone and remain friends with them for years and years after, his ability to maintain in contact with people and always know someone to fix a problem has continued to astound me. Les’ passion for Morris has never faltered, he has always been there to defend the company through thick and thin! He has stood by me in challenging times for which I have always appreciated nor never forgot. I also have to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank Gabby, Les’ wife, for her support of Les during the last 25 years. Throughout all this time I never once heard Gabby complain about the hours, days and months he has spent away at work! Without Gabby’s support surely Les could not have achieved as much as what he has. Over the last 25 years Les has proven himself to be a remarkable, dedicated, loyal and unique work colleague. I also extend my personal and heartfelt thanks for his advice and friendship over all these years. Well done Les, I look forward to celebrating with you on your 30 years with Morris.
HAPPY 25 YEARS! Words by Adrian Bridge, National Procurement Manager Les lives Morris, he lives our core values and displays these everyday working in the business. He always operates with integrity in all facets of the business putting Morris first and himself last as you would see when he mobilises camps. He is natural leader and is willing to do any task on site to achieve the results. From the 25 mobes I have done with Les, he has the ability to build rapport with our clients and maintain long lasting relationships, which have assisted Morris in winning more business as well as retaining existing. Lesism 1 : Video camera editing: He often adds a song to his pre mobe site visits, he then brings back to the office so we can see what we are getting into. Well this is a natural motivator for the teams, especially new head office support staff on their first mobe…not. Watching a video of a half built camp in the middle of nowhere, with no power, water or shade; mud and scrub as far as the eye can see and you are listening to Hotel California by the Eagles. This is slightly unnerving for some. “You can check out but never leave” takes on a new meaning! Lesism 2 : Sense of humour: This varies from fun loving to borderline morbid. He is constantly laughing and cracking himself up, even into the 23rd hr of a mobe, although this could be confused with hysteria and lack of sleep. Very entertaining! Lesism 3 : Hoarding: Les does not know the meaning of this, as his team works around him to discard broken (nothing is broken to Les). We check Les’s schedule before we unpack a site. We have found in our warehouse a beta video player with tapes and a 1927 antique water pump, we are not allowed to chuck them out! Lesism 4 : Mobe selection date: Weekends are always chosen for mobe date even when he is given a choice. He chooses weekends with a smile on his face, I believe he takes great pleasure in disrupting peoples personal lives – see sense of humour Lesism 5 : Political correctness: He is the master of underlying jokes that only few will see when they pop up. Hopefully this will give you an insight into the man, Mr Seaton, and all jokes aside, Les is a great boss and a very giving person, always willing to support his friends and team. This I have experienced firsthand, and have very much appreciated the support over the past 6 years, so thanks mate and congrats on your tenure.
FEBRUARY 2015 TIMES
ICHTHYS RECYCLING INITIATIVES
FARWELL TO THE OLD FAITHFUL This is the final farewell for our beloved but infamous tip truck, after nearly ten years’ hard labour at Golden Grove, an estimated 4000 runs to the dusty Mars-like surface of our site tip carrying nearly 400,000 bags of rubbish she’s been put out to pasture....and we all paused for a moment of reflection. ~ Jennifer Burge, Assistant Village Manager, Golden Grove
COLLINSVILLE GET A NEW LOOK Collinsville have a new Grab + Go fridge making it easier for residents to crib up in the morning. Cooked to order burgers were introduced for dinner service, they have proved to be a massive hit on site! Keep an eye out for new things coming to a site near you!
Marty has developed some great initiatives on site in relation to waste recycling, minimisation and developing best practices. One initiative involves the simple recycling of PPE uniforms, which as you can imagine on a site of over 4,500 personnel, represents a lot of uniforms - given that each person is generally issued with 6 shirts and 4 pairs of pants. Marty’s initiative was to provide each of the 35 Sub-Contract packages on site with resources to collect those annually replaced uniforms and pass them over to St Vinnie’s who pick out the less used ones for re-sale and cut up the remainder to be sold to industries as rags-old, thereby benefitting charities. St Vinnie’s were really appreciative of Marty’s efforts sending a letter of thanks, earlier in the year.
Pictured: Marty Power, Waste Management Coordinator, Ichthys.
FEBRUARY 2015 TIMES
Chinchilla Melon Festival
On Friday 13th February, Morris participated in the Chef Melon Cook off. As we were the only supporter for the Mains, we withdrew from any competition, so the school kids could shine with their entrée’s and mains. Morris made Snapper Taco’s with a Watermelon Salsa, and these were a hit! Emily Smith presented the tacos to the judges for tasting and introduced Morris Corporation to the Chinchilla Community. Emily is a 15 year old full time worker at Base Camp and we love having her on board. She spoke about how Base Camp employs 28 Chinchilla Locals from the community, and has previously supported charity events in Chinchilla. Jai Duke and Leanne Scott assisted Emily with the function. Big thank you to the BCC Team for producing the dish! ~ Kimberley MacElroy, Village Manager, Base Camp, Chinchilla.
Jai, Emily and Leanne
FEBRUARY 2015 TIMES
WHAT DOES A TYPICAL DAY LOOK LIKE FOR YOU: Usually very busy, our Management team looks after all aspects of the business including all administration duties, all Catering areas and day to day operations with Housekeeping and Mine Site Departments. I and the VM Daniel are constantly working on new projects within HSE areas to continue on improving and training not only ourselves but our team. WHAT IS YOUR FAVE THING ABOUT WORKING AT MORRIS? The Team environment and the feeling that we are one big team no matter what Village you are from. All of the hard work over the past few years has paid off and Ravenswood has been recognized at the National Conferences. WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR FREE TIME OR WHILST ON R&R? I like spending time with family & friends and also photography. I have always been interested in photography; it is a good way for me to relax DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR SOMEONE WANTING TO GET INTO THIS INDUSTRY You must be willing to give it a go and also dig deep through the first few months of your employment. We have a number of staff at Ravenswood who have been with the company over 4 years + and they still enjoy everything they do on a daily/weekly basis. It is also important to have an open mind and be adaptive to new things within the growing industry, never think what you have learnt before in your previous jobs is the only thing that matters. BEST THING THE CHEFS COOK? Everything, they are very talented. WHY DO YOU THINK RAVENSWOOD HAS BEEN THE SITE OF THE YEAR THE PAST 2 YEARS? With a Manager like Snowy at this site it really doesn’t need to be explained any further, he is awesome and knows his stuff. He really cares about this site and loves the company.
JANUARY 2015 SITE OF THE MONTH Winners are; Christmas Creek and Kingfisher Second month in a row Kingfisher has won, due to outstanding performance in achieving monthly KPI targets. Christmas Creek has made a huge effort to achieve monthly KPI Targets, with improvements in audit results and management of labour. Christmas Creek also received a bonus point for their quick implementation of a new backfreight procedure.
Congratulations to Michelle and Jessie in Glenden on the safe arrival of Khylaa Sabella Williams Tunes Bezerra (I think I got that right). Born 19/2 at 2:57pm weighing 4.285 kg (9lb 7oz for us oldies). Hope Glenden is ready for this population explosion! ~ Peter Filshie, Executive General Manager, ESB
FEBRUARY 2015 TIMES
PARIS ROYAL DE LUXE IN PERTH Celebrating One Year Jay Preece, Christmas Creek 1 Keith Wiggins, Cloudbreak 1 Courtney Harris, Cloudbreak 1 Alta Crudeli, Cloudbreak 1 Gaye Miffling, Cloudbreak Mine 1 Caroline Murray, Cloudbreak Mine 1 Gayle McMahon, FMG Hamilton Motel 1 Dominic Kanongara, Head Office Brisbane 1 Bronwyn Benporath, Head Office Perth 1 Tracey Richardson, Kangi 1 Troy Russell, Kangi 1 Ronald Turvey, Kangi 1 Paul Pickett, Kangi 1 Shaun Ronan, Kangi 1 Laura Ricciardo Saturno, Kangi 1 Marc Corbett, Karntama 1 Peter George, Karntama 1 Gemma Collard, Karntama 1 Fleur Kirieni, Kingfisher Village 1 Haribahadur Ghimire, Leightons Ichthys 1 Antonino Ipsaro Passione, Relief Pool 1 Vicki Ferguson, Turner Village 1
2015 FEBRUARY TENURE
Celebrating Three Years Rosanna Pomering, Anglo Moranbah Village 3 Marie Dalton, Christmas Creek 3 Pamela Vanderham, Christmas Creek 3 Linda Thomson, Christmas Creek 3 Kory Murphy, Christmas Creek 3 Christina Counihan, Cloudbreak 3 Olivia Laird, Cloudbreak 3 Mohammad Abu Hayyeh, Head Office Brisbane 3 Renee Smith, Head Office Brisbane 3 Belinda Baxter, Karntama 3 Richard Simpson, Leightons Reedy Creek 3 Brenda Bidgood, Ravenswood 3 Cheryl Simmons, Wilga Park 3 Dong Kang, Yandi 3
Celebrating Two Years
Celebrating Four Years
Julie Aitken, Base Camp Chinchilla 2 Trilby Williams, Cloudbreak 2 Emma Bartlett, Cloudbreak 2 Caitlin Ah Tong, Cloudbreak 2 Frederick Kelly, Cloudbreak Mine 2 Sigrid Matthews, Cloudbreak Mine 2 Luisa Scenna, FMG Hamilton Motel 2 Howard Butler, Glencore - Tieri Grounds 2 Naomi Simper, GRS Randalls Saltbush 2 Alison Clark, Head Office Brisbane 2 Christina Manu, Kangi 2 Miguel Jorge, Karntama 2 Casey Dowsett, Karntama 2 Vanessa Dejong, Karntama 2 Nathaniel Kearney, Karntama 2 Jonas Subido, Kenya 2 Karen Walsh, Kenya 2 Stephen Meyer, Leightons Reedy Creek 2 Racheal Koschenow, Leightons Reedy Creek 2 Suzanne Orr, Mt Carlton Village 2 Mark Rogers, Wilga Park 2
Mathivannan Santhirasekaram, Anglo Moranbah Village 4 Debbie Ferguson, Base Camp Chinchilla 4 Duangkamol Howard, Christmas Creek 4 Kylie Hourn, Cloudbreak 4 Simon Hovermann, Head Office Brisbane 4 Samantha Johnston,Kenya 4 David Vallely, Kenya 4 Ann Warner, Leightons Reedy Creek 4 Dianne Finn, Nyngan 4 Laurel Stuttard, Ravenswood 4 Paul Cash, Relief Pool 4 Michael Staton, Relief Pool ESB 4 Carolyn Smith, Wilga Park 4 Denice Lobley, Windibri 4
5 Years
Donna Yorke, Emerald Melinda Hancock, Ravenswood
Deb Lawson from Perth head office sent in photos from the Paris Royal de Luxe. The marionette pictured measures 6m in height. Crowds lined Perth streets to witness the impressive display.