2020 Award Winners

Barbara Geens

Barbara Geens’ dedication to protecting consumers is at the forefront of her work in standards development. An interest and passion for product safety inspired Barbara to become a ‘voice’ for industry in developing practical solutions to enable better safety outcomes from consumer products.

Involved in standards development since 2015, Barbara has made a mark as a dedicated and motivated committee member. Barbara is a participating member on a range of committees, including being chairperson of the industry working group on button battery safety and sitting on the ISO COPOLCO (Consumer Policy Committee) mirror committee, which focuses on the most effective areas for consumer participation in standards.

Working as a Product Safety Manager, Barbara has been audience to the various cases of damage caused from ingestion of button batteries. Barbara worked closely with Standards Australia to facilitate a forum to highlight the problem and to gain consensus on the development of the first ever national standard for button batteries.

Barbara believes well-developed standards are a great tool for a wide range of industry stakeholders. Barbara’s dedication to protecting consumers across Australia and the world is an incredible asset to standards development at both a national and international level.

“Working in standards development has motivated me. I think, ‘how can I improve that? How can I add value to that?’

David Eager  

It would be impossible to put Professor David Eager’s success down to one committee or area of interest. Since 1997, David has been dedicated to standards development across many areas related to playground and recreational equipment safety. David is an internationally recognised expert on the safety aspects of trampolines and playgrounds, play surfacing, and sports and recreation equipment.

David has worked tirelessly to facilitate safer playgrounds for Australian children and been consistently proactive in communicating the benefit of standards and says playground standards, “promote active play, fun and enjoyment while allowing Australian children to establish key developmental skills.”

It is easy to highlight David’s expertise simply by the number of committees he has been involved in, which include: Trampoline park facilities (SF-051), Domestic trampolines (CS-100); Playground equipment and surfacing (CS-005); Sports and recreational equipment and facilities (CS-101); Artificial climbing structures and challenge course equipment (SF-047); Contained play facilities (ME-051-03) and Land-borne inflatable devices (ME-051-02). David also represents Australia on a range of international technical committees.

By the many different standards projects David has been involved in and is responsible for it is clear David has selflessly committed much to the broader community. Through standards development David has undoubtedly improved the safety of children across the nation.

“The committees I work on have and continue to save Australian lives, they do this by preventing the accidents before they happen, the downside of this is society does not appreciate the benefit of Australian Standards and the work that hundreds of people like me do.”

Nigel Wilmot  

Nigel Wilmot has been dedicated to renewable energy device standards for close to 20 years. During this time Nigel has been pivotal in the development of over eight published standards, and played a leading role, as chair, in the development of five of those.

The work Nigel has done in the energy sector and standards means Nigel is known for having a thorough technical understanding of power electronics and strong research skills in test procedure development.

In 2014, Nigel was elected as the co-chair of EL-042, Renewable Energy Power Supply Systems and Equipment.  Nigel’s expertise and experience means he is a natural leader in this committee supported by similar heavyweights in the sector.

Due to the exponential growth of solar over the last decade, EL-042 has been very active. Nigel has played a key role in ensuring stakeholders from all corners of the industry and community have been able to participate in the process. Published in 2019, Nigel was instrumental in the development of a first of its kind battery storage standard.

Nigel continues to lead significant pieces of work including a significant revision to AS/NZS 4777.2, Grid connection of energy systems via inverters. The safe, efficient and reliable integration of renewable energy in Australian homes and workplaces continues to be at the core of Nigel’s standards work.

“I have been involved in standards for about 20 years now and my passion for this work is continually rewarded by seeing how it helps enable every Australian to embrace renewable energy into their lives, when it suits them.”  

Mike Wood 

When Mike Wood was working at Telstra’s Research Laboratories in the early ’90s, Standards Australia expressed interest in the safety practices and measurement techniques the company had developed and invited Mike to join a committee, who said of the experience that “seeing our input make it through to an Australian Standard was a real honour.”

Since then, Mike has been enthusiastically and consistently involved in standards development that has transcended borders. Mike is currently chairperson of the International Electrotechnical Commission’s (IEC) TC 106, which has global responsibility for EME (Electromagnetic Energy) testing standards for mobile phones, devices, wireless networks and radio communication systems.

In the late 2000s, Mike led an international project team to develop a technical report on measuring Electromagnetic Fields from mobile phone base stations – the report went on to become a benchmark for future IEC work. Now, a decade on, the current focus for the IEC and Mike’s international team is development of standards for the assessment of the new 5G mobile technologies.

Heavily involved in the IEC Young Professionals program, Mike takes pride in passing on his own experience and assisting in the development of our future standards leaders.

Mike is passionate about inclusiveness in standards development; he believes collaboration and cooperation are both an integral part of the process. Mike is proud to have fostered a culture as chair of TC 106 where ideas can be shared and challenged, and all members can learn and feed off each other to create cohesive and successful global standards.

“With our experts coming from many different countries and cultures, its vital to embrace all inputs, harness the contributions to ensure standards are truly global.”

Rachelle Doyle 

Rachelle Doyle is new to the standards world, having joined as the chair of ME-093, Hydrogen Technologies, in April 2019. Since then, the committee has worked tirelessly with government and industry to ensure Australia has a voice in this emerging energy.

Rachelle has a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from Curtin University and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chemical Engineers. Rachelle has more than 20 years’ experience working across multiple industries and has held a variety of roles in areas including engineering, operations, project management and commissioning. Rachelle joined Woodside in 2016 and currently manages Woodsides’ Energy Transformation Technology Program.

As the chair of ME-093, Rachelle was instrumental in leading six working groups and the committee has another three projects in the pipeline. Hydrogen is a quickly moving industry with many competing priorities. Rachelle has successfully managed these priorities and ensured coordinated and timely actions have been taken by facilitating discussions and activities of the group, while still obtaining consensuses on major issues.

“What I think is really impressive is the level of effort and passion in our committee. It’s awesome.”

BD-014-02, Technical Specification for Labelling of ACP products 

The subcommittee BD-014-02, Labelling of Aluminium Composite Panel (ACP) Products, redefined the standards development process, challenging the perception that producing quality content is lengthy and laborious.

Recent fires in Australian high-rise buildings had highlighted the fire safety risks arising from the noncompliant use of external cladding, particularly ACP with a 100% polyethylene (PE) core.

Answering an immediate and critical need, the committee set about producing a technical specification for labelling ACP in the shortest time possible.

Kick-off to publication was completed in three months and the technical specification was immediately accepted for referencing in Australia’s National Construction Code (NCC). BD-014-02 took into consideration the entire ACP product supply chain and prioritised net benefit to Australia over any commercial interests, and in rapid time.

The work this technical subcommittee contributed was a direct reflection of the passion and expertise held by its members and one deserving of the innovation award to get an important piece to publication in such a short period of time.

ME-005 Cranes

ME-005, Cranes, chaired by Peter Wenn, has shown immense commitment and resilience this year, having to respond quickly to several safety concerns voiced within the sector. Embracing international participation, ME-005 has had several adopted standards out for public comment in 2020 and are actively looking at initiating further projects during the year.

With over 750 cranes being utilised on construction sites across the country, the safety and maintenance of each of these machines is imperative to the safety of workers across the industry. The adoptions of standards by the committee intends to align Australian standards with international equivalents in order to assist in promoting the safety of users across borders and aid in the manufacturing of cranes.

The committee was tasked with a quick response to the concerns raised by industry and delivered on this demand with high quality standards directly adopted from international partners. The work done by the committee is a testament to the dedication of each and every member and their commitment to the safety of those on worksites across the country.

“Through [international] participation we can and do influence the outcome of International standards.  This can be for the benefit of industry, consumers and public safety.