Two Way Cranes places a major focus on Work Health and Safety (WHS) with the appointment of a new WHS manager.
Michael Biviano recently joined Two Way Cranes to head up the Work Health and Safety (WHS) aspect of the business. He understands that WHS works across all aspects of a business from the organisational structure of a company, its systems and procedures right through to the culture of the business.
“I could see a genuine opportunity with Two Way Cranes. I’ve been brought in to head up WHS across the business and it is exciting to be moving to a company that has seen this kind of growth in such a short period of time.
“To be in a position where I can develop long lasting processes and procedures, which will see the business develop into the future, is professionally challenging but it is also exciting to play an active role in building the Team Two Way culture,” said Biviano.
Biviano is impressed with the work Frank Zammit and his team have done with the various crews brought together from the businesses he has acquired.
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“As soon as I got to Two Way Cranes, I could see immediately that the culture of work crews was positive with everyone working together as a team. In my opinion, Frank Zammit, his wife Nichole and the rest of the management team have done a fantastic job in bringing together Two Way Cranes, DJ Adair Crane Services, Stephenson Cranes and Gillespie Cranes,” said Biviano.
“As we all know, many elements of the business have to come together to get a crane to site. The guys here are very focused and positive about what they are doing, people are coming to work because they want to, they want to do their best for Frank and you can see this in every aspect of the business” he said.
According to Biviano, culture stems from the top down and Zammit has worked hard to bring these business entities and their crews together, which hasn’t been easy.
“Some of the guys have been working with the other companies for a long time and for some, it has been difficult to be suddenly thrust together in a larger team environment. But Frank has been very open with the guys and in a short period, he’s encouraged them to be a part of a new team, ‘Team Two Way’ and everyone has responded really well,”
“In my experience Frank is a very different type of Managing Director, he’s always out with the boys and knows how they operate. He started out with one crane subcontracting to other crane companies, so he’s hands on and wants the best for his employees and he definitely tries to bring out the best in their abilities,” said Biviano.
The mental health and wellbeing of his crews are important issues to Zammit and he has been focused on this for some time, says Biviano.
“Mental health and mental wellbeing are major issues throughout the construction and crane sectors and it’s a topic that blokes simply don’t talk about. Frank has always been aware of this and he has encouraged the team to come forward with any issues, and many confide in him.
“When I joined, I saw this straight away and from my previous dealings with Mates In Construction I thought there was an ideal match with Two Way. I spoke to Greg Johnston, the Industry Engagement Business Development Manager at Mates In Construction, and then to Frank, about the training which is available specifically for the construction sector. The training provides people with the required tools if someone approaches them with an issue. It also provides them with the tools to be able to spot a problem with a colleague before it potentially becomes an issue.
“The issue of mental health, mental wellbeing and suicide prevention is confronting, there’s no two ways about it. The training equips you with tools to understand what a work colleague is telling you and, in turn, you are in a position to ensure they are sent down the right avenues for the right help. I mentioned the program to Frank suggesting we should become an industry partner, and he was all for it, he didn’t blink an eye,” said Biviano.
Mates In Construction visit sites and conduct training sessions on how to deal with these situations, encouraging people to speak up if they have problems or for others to speak up if they think a mate is having problems. Someone could be angry or upset over an issue that happened at work or at home and they are encouraged to get it off their chest and talk about it. Small issues can become major problems quickly if they are not dealt with early and in the crane industry, your mind needs to be on the job every day every lift says Biviano.
“The program empowers employees to step in and take a position for and with their mates. When we recently explained this in a toolbox with the bulk of our workforce, we had all the right questions come back from the various work crews and they were asking ‘how do we know what to do?’. Nobody has all the answers and the average person doesn’t know how to handle the issues surrounding mental health and wellbeing which is why we are entering the program,” he said.
Biviano is working with Zammit on the WHS processes and procedures for Two Way Cranes.
“Combining Two Way, Adair and Gillespie’s management systems has proven to be a challenge. DJ Adair’s were previously certified under AS/NZS 4801 so that served as the foundation. We recognise that as the business grows, changes are guaranteed so it’s all about being ready and having the right processes in place moving forward. Implementing this system and being able to utilise the decades of industry knowledge from the collective businesses was one of the major reasons for me coming on board.” said Biviano.
Zammit is content with where he sees the Two Way Cranes business but he is always looking at ways where he can improve the services his business provides customers and also expand the reach of his services.
“For me, it’s important that we keep the fleet up to date and contemporary because this enables us to better service our customers by providing more lifting solutions. We recently added two Franna AT40s which are great machines and provide a lot more capacity in our pick and carry range,” said Zammit.
“We will also have some news on a much larger capacity crane which is on order and there are some developments about to be finalised which should see Two Way Cranes venture into different fields.
“There is a lot going on. COVID hasn’t helped anyone in the crane industry but we remain confident in what we are doing. We continue to bring the various crews together under our “Team Two Way” banner and I’m pleased with the contribution Michael has made so far and what he’s done to enhance the culture of the business. He is a good fit at Two Way,” he said.