RMIT and Sydney Metro Health & Safety Initiative
Sydney Metro is Australia’s largest infrastructure project involving a $20 billion program of works. Sydney Metro rail will be 65 km in length and once constructed will connect Sydney’s North West via Sydney’s newly constructed underground stations in the Central Business District (CBD) and beyond to Sydney’s South West. It will increase the capacity of train services entering the Sydney CBD from approximately 120 per hour currently to up to 200 per hour beyond 2024.
RMIT is a global university of technology, design and enterprise. It is focused on creating solutions that transform the future for the benefit of people and their environments. RMIT has an international reputation for outcome-oriented research, connected through active partnerships with professions, industries and organisations to support the quality, reach and impact of its education and research.
Health and Safety research collaboration is one of the key initiatives of Sydney Metro’s Health and Safety Strategic Plan 2016–2019. A research deed between Sydney Metro and RMIT is in place for the purposes of researching topics in Health and Safety that are relevant to the Sydney Metro program. The research topics are:
Methods to foster an enabling culture and aligned values relating to WHS in the construction supply chain
Determining the health status of the current workforce
Effective training techniques to influence a positive change in health and safety outcomes
The agreement includes the creation of a lead researcher role to manage the suite of collaborative research programs. The role is at an Associate Professor level and based at Sydney Metro. The agreement enables Sydney Metro to access the knowledge gained by RMIT through partnerships with other external bodies, including rail, infrastructure and construction organisations across the globe. This knowledge will be shared across the TfNSW to support innovation and continuous improvement and contribute to the legacy of Sydney Metro across the sector and the community.