Van Oord has received the prestigious IADC Safety Award 2025 at the Annual General Meeting of the International Association of Dredging Companies (IADC) held in Stockholm, Sweden. This award acknowledges the company’s innovative design of a gasket that notably minimizes the risk of injury during pipe assembly.
Traditionally, workers must hold paper gaskets in place while sealing flanges of steel reclamation pipes, posing a danger of finger injuries. Van Oord has effectively addressed this issue by redesigning the gaskets to incorporate ‘ears,’ allowing workers to keep their fingers farther from the flanges, thus significantly enhancing safety during the connection process.
Each 12-meter section of reclamation pipe requires a gasket, and with the global dredging industry connecting kilometers of these pipes annually, this minor design modification can have a substantial positive impact on personnel safety. Importantly, the core functionality of the gaskets remains unchanged, requiring only a small adjustment in design.
René Kolman, Secretary General of IADC, emphasized that ensuring worker safety during pipe assembly is a familiar challenge for IADC members. He noted that although the solution appears simple, its impact is profound, allowing companies like Van Oord to potentially prevent serious injuries and reduce lost work time on major projects worldwide.
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