Eye in the sky

The idea came from Maria Collett, Norbord's health and safety manager, after a conversation with her maintenance-savvy husband who used a video drone to inspect his school's roof.

Instead of setting up scaffolding to access high-level areas and putting the maintenance crews at risk, Norbord is planning to fly a video drone over the area and carry out inspections. Any issues identified will be actioned in planned shutdowns.

Project manager Justin Smyth is undertaking Civil Aviation Authority training together with a colleague so he will be authorised to fly the craft safely around the site.