Case Study
Enhancing Machine Safety: The TEG Approach
Case Study
Enhancing Machine Safety: The TEG Approach
A safety risk is only truly solved when someone identifies it and someone delivers the fix. Too often those are two separate conversations with two separate providers, assessments that end up gathering dust, or projects that begin without a clear understanding of the underlying risk. TEG closes that gap
TEG Risk and TEG Projects combine machine safety engineering with end-to-end project delivery, taking clients from first inspection through to a verified, compliant plant under one accountable relationship. The result: faster decisions, fewer handovers, and safety improvements that actually get built. Here’s how it played out on a recent multi-site programme with CHEP.
Client Information
CHEP is a leading provider of pallet and container pooling services within industrial and retail supply chains. A subsidiary of Brambles, CHEP offers an array of products, including wooden and plastic pallets, small display pallets, crates, and Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBCs). In addition to supply, CHEP also manages the repair and cleaning of these items, operating multiple sites across Australia and New Zealand.
Goal
CHEP’s challenge was to address machine safety hazards and improve pedestrian segregation across a geographically dispersed plant network, bringing every site up to a consistent standard while giving senior management clear visibility of the gaps and key risks at each site.
Although CHEP had conducted internal assessments using their own reporting and assessment tools, they needed an independent review to ensure compliance with both their internal standards and external standards such as the AS/NZS 4024 series. The objective was to identify and mitigate machine safety hazards, develop and apply standard solutions to key risks, and ensure a consistent application of standards at every site.
Critically, CHEP didn’t just need the risks identified, they needed them resolved: scoped, funded through the business, and physically delivered across the network, all without disrupting fully operational sites.
Why TEG Projects
TEG Risk and TEG Projects bring two complementary disciplines under one roof: the engineering expertise to assess machine safety risk to standard, and the project management capability to fund, procure and deliver the solutions that resolve it. Working together, they take a client from first inspection all the way through to a verified, compliant plant, one team, one accountable relationship, and a single thread running from risk assessment to delivered outcome. The result is faster decisions, fewer handovers, and safety improvements that actually get built.
Solution
This is where the combined TEG capability made the difference. CHEP engaged two specialist TEG teams working as one:
- TEG Risk brought deep machine safety assessment expertise. The team is staffed by engineers with experience and formal training in Machine Safety Risk Assessment, 100% TÜV Certified in machine safety, with a mix of Mechanical, Electrical, Automation and H&S engineering backgrounds, and assessors based throughout Australia and New Zealand.
- TEG Projects brought the commercial and delivery capability, turning risk assessments into executable, funded projects and managing implementation across sites, backed by an existing and effective relationship with CHEP and familiarity with CHEP’s processes.
Together they delivered a single, seamless programme spanning the full value chain: risk assessment → scope development → procurement → implementation → validation. Many providers can identify hazards or manage projects; the integrated TEG model did both, converting a compliance challenge into delivered, funded, and independently verified outcomes. Although this was the first collaboration between CHEP and TEG, CHEP chose TEG based on its reputation and proven track record in handling complex, multi-site safety assignments.
To execute this large multi-site programme, the teams followed a structured, multi-phase plan designed to deliver in line with customer expectations and to feed seamlessly into CHEP’s wider business processes, including their capex planning process.
TEG Risk: Assessing and defining the work
Site Inspection and Machine Risk Assessments
The first phase involved detailed site inspections. TEG Risk engineers conducted thorough assessments to evaluate equipment against the CHEP Machinery Guarding Assessment tool, the CHEP Global Safety Standard and the AS/NZS 4024 series of standards. This step identified hazards and worked closely with site management and staff to develop practical solutions for reducing risks.
Develop Standard Solutions
For specific hazards, TEG Risk carried out more detailed assessments and developed standard solutions that could be applied across sites with similar equipment. These studies focused on particular hazards such as inspection tables and pallet loading and unloading zones, providing in-depth analysis and tailored recommendations to address the identified risks effectively and consistently.
Developing Site Presentations
The recommendations from the machine risk assessments were compiled into comprehensive presentations. These were designed to communicate clearly to a wide range of stakeholders with varying degrees of technical knowledge, ensuring everyone had a clear understanding of the identified hazards and the proposed solutions.
Developing the Scope of Works (SOW)
TEG Risk then developed a detailed Scope of Works (SOW) for each site. Each SOW outlined all required works in enough detail for project engineers to obtain accurate quotes from contractors, including the applicable standards, installation requirements, and verification and validation requirements. The SOW also set out the milestones and phasing for the provision and approval of safety-related design documentation, ensuring works were done right the first time. These well-developed SOWs became the bridge between assessment and delivery, the point at which TEG Projects took the lead.
Records Management
At the heart of the programme was MinRisk, enterprise risk assessment software developed in-house by TEG Risk, and a genuine step change in how machine safety is assessed across large, distributed plant networks. Conventional approaches rely on spreadsheets, standalone reports and disconnected photo libraries that quickly become unmanageable when thousands of machines across multiple sites are involved. MinRisk was purpose-built to solve exactly that problem: assessing machine safety risk to a consistent standard at scale, with every assessment, condition, photo and record captured in one place. To TEG Risk’s knowledge, no other platform assesses this volume of machines while holding the entire evidence base in a single, mobile, easy-to-use system.
On the CHEP project, all machinery was risk assessed against AS/NZS 4024 in a highly consistent, high-quality manner, with photos of all conditions captured and used as the key reference for preparing the Scope of Works. Because the data sat in one platform rather than scattered across documents, CHEP gained a clear, comparable view of risk across every site, and the visibility senior management needed to prioritise and track improvements. When it came to verifying the as-built upgrades, MinRisk’s mobile application allowed TEG Risk to review and update records on the floor, giving CHEP fully up-to-date machine risk assessments of their newly compliant plant and a single, consistent source of truth across the network.
TEG Projects: Funding and delivering the solutions
RFQ and Business Case Development
With well-developed SOWs in hand, the TEG Projects team led the RFQ, capex development and implementation phases. They took the risk assessments and scopes produced by TEG Risk, obtained quotations, developed costings, and prepared CAPEX and business cases across multiple sites. TEG Projects’ project management expertise, combined with an established, effective relationship with CHEP and familiarity with CHEP processes, enabled business cases and capex requests to be developed to tight deadlines, with a high level of transparency so that all commitments were clearly understood.
Implementation and Verification
TEG Projects coordinated and led the implementation of the approved scope of work on-site, leveraging TEG Risk’s expertise in verification and validation to ensure each solution was thoroughly tested in stages. This included running RFQ processes, engaging contractors, and managing procurement, budgets and individual workstreams across the programme. TEG Projects handled scheduling and coordination, including the integration of works into live sites, and provided ongoing project reporting and issue tracking to keep the programme on track and stakeholders aligned. This combined approach ensured CHEP’s expectations were fully met, achieving a 100% score on their internal guarding assessment tool while complying with local standards.
Challenges
Several challenges arose during the programme. The geographical spread, with multiple sites, some in remote locations across Australia and New Zealand, posed logistical difficulties. Site visits and assessments had to be conducted on fully operational sites, which typically run two shifts (16 hours per day), six days a week, leaving minimal downtime for inspections and works. The programme also required frequent online meetings to communicate findings, get alignment on proposed solutions, and keep stakeholders engaged as the project progressed. The integrated TEG model was central to managing these constraints, a single team carrying the work from assessment through to delivery meant fewer handovers, faster decisions, and a programme that could flex around live operations.
Results
The programme resulted in significant improvements for CHEP, implementing consistent machine safety solutions across multiple sites to ensure a uniform approach to risk management. The independent assessment and subsequent improvements significantly increased overall site safety, reducing the risk of accidents and associated costs. The project management processes put in place facilitated smoother verification and validation when the improvements were commissioned. By proactively addressing safety hazards, CHEP reinforced its commitment to safety and operational excellence, enhancing its reputation in the industry.
The collaboration between CHEP, TEG Risk and TEG Projects demonstrates the power of an end-to-end safety partner. TEG Risk brought the assessment expertise to find and define the risks; TEG Projects brought the commercial and delivery capability to fund and resolve them. Through careful planning, thorough assessments, clear communication, and disciplined project delivery, the combined TEG teams helped CHEP not only understand their machine safety risks but eliminate them — proving that, together, they deliver far more than either could alone.
Want to find out more about our Machine Safety and Project Management Services – including risk assessments, training, project management and implementation? Looking for a bespoke solution? Reach out to the team today, TEG Projects, TEG Risk.
