Ghella Abergeldie - What lies beneath
TL;DR
Health & Safety is a top priority for many within the construction industry, but no one I’ve come across takes it as seriously as the team at Ghella Abergeldie. As part of their mandatory 2 day health and safety induction we created an engaging video to talk inductees through what to look out for onsite when it comes to archaeology. We succeeded in conveying a sometimes dry subject matter in a way that kept people interested but also saved the business money.
Find out how by reading the story below and if you’re looking to improve how your company conveys its health and safety messaging, then get in touch with Chris on +64 224 261 187 or via the contact form. NB: I haven’t included the video below as it is not publicly available. However, I can show it to you as a reference when we meet to discuss your project.
The Client
Ghella Abergeldie is a joint venture delivery team building Watercare’s Central Interceptor (CI) project. The CI is New Zealand’s largest ever wastewater project and consists of nearly 20km of tunnels, 17 shafts, a major pump station and substantial infrastructure works. Find out more about the project at https://www.watercare.co.nz/About-us/Central-interceptor.
Source: Ghella Abergeldie / Watercare
The Story
My initial introduction to Ghella Abergeldie (GA) came through a previous client at Metro Glass, Ronnie Kelly. Ronnie was suitably impressed with our work and the relationship we had built, and felt comfortable recommending me to her new colleague Lisa Stafford, the Training and Development Manager at GA. Thanks again Ronnie!
It was clear from our initial meeting that the GA team were looking to establish an ongoing relationship with a videographer to capture and communicate a number of messages throughout the duration of the 6 year project. We’re already working together on other projects so stay tuned for more stories coming soon.
The first and most immediate project was assistance with a Health & Safety video. Each week the GA team invest a significant amount of time and energy to induct all new contractors who will be working on any of their multiple sites across Auckland. Part of that induction is an introduction to Archaeology which covers what might be found during topsoil stripping and what to do if an operator comes across something.
Previously this messaging was delivered in-person by one of the Project Archaeologist from CFG Heritage, who would have to come out each week to deliver this messaging at some cost to the client. The solution was to write, capture and produce a video that included all of this valuable information, and deliver it in an engaging way that would resonate with the audience.
In order to ensure the video included all of their legal obligations, the process was quite involved. Several meetings with the teams at GA and CFG Heritage allowed us to create and craft the script, collect and collate various still images of archaeological artifacts, and build a rapport so the star of the show, CFG Heritage Archaeologist Mat Campbell, felt comfortable on camera.
Once onsite I captured b-roll footage of the team going about their work, machines in action and anything else that we had outlined on the agreed shot list. Once Mat arrived we found a suitable backdrop that wasn’t too noisy on a fully operational site and broke his pieces to camera down into manageable chunks. Mat was a total pro and got through his lines with ease. To capture the best audio possible we also recorded Mat talking through the full script in a recording studio - something that is well worth doing when the voice is such a key tool for delivering the messaging.
The video has been part of the induction course for many months now and the feedback has been amazing. Providing a professional high quality asset that saves specialists’ fees, and the response from the inductees who have paid more attention and retained more of the messaging, was a fantastic result.