Diana Delac put her hand up to help run the night shift on the Monash Freeway Upgrade project.
DISRUPTING THE
CIRCADIAN CLOCK FULTON HOGAN SITE ENGINEER DIANA DELAC HAS BEEN NAMED RISING STAR OF THE YEAR AT THE 2019 WOMEN IN INDUSTRY AWARDS.
T
he circadian clock is a small part of the brain that monitors the amount of light you see. At night, when the level of light reduces, the ‘clock’ notices and prompts a flood of melatonin to the brain – telling the body to fall asleep. To minimise disruption and potential traffic chaos, large-scale road works regularly take place at night. Thereby forcing a circadian clock disruption for the crews of workers and engineers undertaking nightshift. This is a feeling known all to well by Women In Industry’s 2019 Rising Star Award recipient Diana Delac. The Women in Industry Awards aims to showcase Australia’s best and brightest by recognising achievement across the mining, engineering, manufacturing, waste, logistics, bulk handling, infrastructure, rail, and road transport industries. This year’s awards intended to raise the profile of women within industry, promote and encourage excellence 24
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and offer invaluable networking opportunities for industry trailblazer’s to exchange ideas and share their unique approaches to leadership. The Rising Star Award, sponsored by Atlas Copco Compressors, aims to recognise individuals who show significant promise within their chosen industry, or who have reached new goals at the start of their career. The award was presented to Ms. Delac at a gala event on June 6, in Melbourne. The Monash Freeway Upgrade (MFU) project, which was awarded to Fulton Hogan, involved the construction of 44 kilometres of additional traffic lanes – widening the freeway from four to five lanes in each direction between the East Link interchange and South Gippsland Freeway. To complete these works, the company required an engineer to work a continuous 12-month night shift. Fulton Hogan HR Manager, Matthew Inkster, says when the position was first
announced, Ms. Delac immediately put up her hand. He notes Ms. Delac’s commitment and resilience as what inspired him and the larger Fulton Hogan team to nominate her for the Rising Star Award. “Night shifts are a challenging environment for any young engineer, with limited support and needing seamless coordination with day shift requirements,” Mr. Inkster says. “With difficulty to drive productivities and efficiencies, night shifts require quick problem-solving techniques.” According to Mr. Inkster, within the first month of work on the MFU project, Ms. Delac had established herself as the go-to person for her diciplines night shift activities. “Her planning, coordination and attention to detail were exemplary,” Mr. Inkster says. “Ms. Delac coordinated multiple crews across a 44 kilometre-long project, including required traffic, safety and
