WHEELCHAIR-BOUND WORKER GAINS AUTONOMY WITH LEUSSINK’S ASSISTANCE

WHEELCHAIR-BOUND WORKER GAINS AUTONOMY WITH LEUSSINK’S ASSISTANCE

Illawarra companies Evermil and Leussink have come together to ensure wheelchairbound boilermaker Clay Kelly can work more efficiently and autonomously by utilising a 3D welding table.

Steel fabrication business Evermil employs Clay Kelly as a skilled boilermaker to undertake a variety of work. Clay lives with a physical disability and is a wheelchair user following an accident riding bulls 23 years ago, causing an injury to his spine.

His day-to-day tasks include interpreting blueprints, cutting, moulding, and welding metal and steel to fix faults, welding and bolting structures together, and identifying and solving challenges. As a boilermaker, Clay also needs to lift items of various weights and move

things around the workshop, and at times he needs to ask his colleagues for assistance.

Managing director of Evermil, Chris Beck, was keen to find ways to make Clay’s role more accessible and called on colleague Paul Baxendale to undertake research. Paul found JobAccess and the Employment Assistance Fund, and Evermil applied.

The goal was to allow Clay to work autonomously and independently. Clay also had difficulty undertaking some aspects of fabricating tasks using his existing workbench.

Through JobAccess, a workplace assessment was organised to understand Clay’s challenges and requirements at work. As a result, the assessor recommended equipment to support Clay in working more effectively, safely, and efficiently. The recommendations included a

three-dimensional welding table, a perching stool that Clay can sit on to make him more comfortable when working on a job, and a selfpropelled electronic scissor lift trolley, supporting Clay to lift things onto his trolley and transport them over to the workbench.

The obvious choice for the 3D workbench was the Demmeler table system because it is precise, adaptable and provides consistency.

Leussink’s Russell Brinkworth visited Evermil and spent time with Clay to understand exactly what he needed to achieve and how a table could be accommodated to provide the best solution. As a result, the Demmeler table was mounted on the scissor lift which allows Clay to work autonomously.

On the Demmeler table, Clay can attach various items to it and adjust its height depending on the job. He can also move the table to different angles, so he can turn it where he needs it, instead of turning sideways or crawling under it. “Essentially Clay can work with the table on a ‘funny angle’, rather than him being on a ‘funny angle’,” said Evermil’s Paul Baxendale.

Clay is also impressed with the versatility of the Demmeler table, “I can lower it down, making it easier, and I can clamp stuff onto it. It has been amazing, it helps me out a lot.

“Not many people in roles like mine get to use a worktable like this. I’m pretty stoked,” said Clay.

Paul commented that working with JobAccess “opened Evermil’s eyes to what is possible” when hiring a diverse workforce and wanting to create an inclusive workplace.

Clay is now taking on more tasks with the help of his equipment. “Clay is a top guy. He can do more tasks now, it’s great to see and makes his job a lot easier,” said Paul.

Leussink’s Sales and Marketing Manager, Stuart Ward said, “We love

the opportunity to work with people where we need to think outside the box. It’s awesome to see professional tradespeople fully utilising the skills and experience they have gained over the years.”

“The combination of JobAccess funding, Evermil’s commitment to its employees, and the Leussink technology and support have come together to achieve this,” said Ward.

The Demmeler 3D workbench and welding table is a versatile jig and fixturing system for all types of welding and fabrication work.

Illawarra-based steel fabrication business Evermil has been in operation for over 35 years and is proud of its family ownership. Evermil undertakes high-quality metal fabrication work for the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors.

Leussink is an Illawarra-based engineering firm that provides complete design, fabrication, and machining services and solutions for all industry sectors, as well as modular fixturing and metrology solutions that revolutionise workshops around Australia.

GOOD BUSINESS SENSE

Around 1 in 6 (18%) people in Australia – or 4.4 million individuals – are living with a disability. Alarmingly, people with disability make up 37.9% of the population living in poverty (despite only making up 18% of the overall population).

One reason for this is that Australia ranks lowest among OECD countries for the relative income of people with disabilities. Overall employment rates for people with disabilities remain low, with workforce participation at around 54% compared to 83% for people without disabilities. Disappointingly, this labour force participation rate for people with disability has remained largely unchanged over the last 20 years—it was 53% in 2003.

The economic benefits of employing people with disability would add over $50 billion to Australia’s Gross Domestic Product GDP by 2050 – but only if Australia moved up into the top eight OECD countries for employment of people with disability.

There are significant business benefits when employing someone with a disability. According to the International Labour Organization, employees with disability are:

• Reliable: People with disability take fewer days off, less sick leave and have a higher retention rate than others.

• Productive: Once in the right job, people with disability perform equally as well as other employees.

• Affordable: Real cost savings are realised through reduced turnover, recruitment and retraining costs. People with disability have fewer compensation incidents and accidents at work in comparison to others.

• Good for business: People with disability build strong relationships with customers and boost staff morale and loyalty by helping to create a diverse workforce. Teamwork is enhanced.