Streams
Health and Safety
As part of the AfPA strategic plan, the strategic objective for health and safety is focused on enabling and supporting industry to continuously improve the health and safety of our people and the communities we serve.
Safety across the industry is of paramount importance for AfPA and its members. The Symposium will explore these themes and will invite a number of high-profile plenary keynote speakers from Australia and overseas.
The plenary group led by Wayne Schwass will address several sensitive topic areas, including how normalising mental health and acknowledging emotional wellbeing have become paramount in today’s fast-paced world. It will also outline how having these difficult conversations can and do positively change lives.
Two parallel sessions will follow the opening plenary session focusing on two topics: worker health and industry initiatives. Some of the key areas to be explored include embracing technology to improve worker safety, effecting change through mandating improved delivery practices, emerging challenges, and opportunities for the adoption of overseas experiences to improve worker health and safety.
Sustainability & Circular Economy
The session well matches the overall Symposium ‘Roads going full circle’ theme with speakers from Australia and overseas.
The plenary opening session “Embedding sustainability in the procurement of roads” will include presentations from the US Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) and the US National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) to share the Sustainable Pavement Program activities with a particular focus on embedding circular economy principles in the tools and support material provided. This will be supported with updates on Australian systems to measure and deliver best sustainable practices for roads infrastructure.
Three parallel sessions will focus on the ‘Change Drivers’, ‘Achievements to date’ and ‘Solutions on offer’ providing an overview of Australian and international journey towards sustainable roads.
Closing of the session will include presentations from Europe to learn what it means to work in a fully circular manner. Additionally, the European Oil Refiner Association will share scenarios for refineries to meet climate goals for 2050.
Engineering and Construction
The overall theme of the E&C day of the Symposium will be ‘Maximising performance and durability.’
“AfPA has 50+ years of driving continual improvement through the sharing of best practice, in particular as it relates to the technical engineering and construction of road pavements.
The stream will focus on higher quality construction practices to provide innovative solutions for road maintenance and rehabilitation considering circular economy principles. Use of renewable materials from the waste stream into roads without compromising quality and safety will also be key theme of discussion.
Director of National Centre Asphalt Technology (NCAT) Randy West, Leslie McCarthy from the FHWA Office of Infrastructure, NCAT Assistant Director Fan Yin will share the current initiatives and research programs to drive improved pavement performance and durability. In the same plenary session, George Chang will present what Intelligent Construction means and how technical innovation can help extend the durability of pavements.
Three parallel sessions will follow the plenary session, under the title “Materials &Engineering”, “Testing & Engineering” and “Construction & Maintenance”. In these sessions, Australian and international speakers will share case studies and research outcomes towards the achievement of improved performance and durability.
The symposium will close with the final session led by Carsten Karcher from the European Asphalt Pavement Association (EAPA) presenting their journey to accelerate the transition towards a regenerative growth model and the reduction of the consumption footprint to achieve the Europe goal of climate neutrality by 2050 as outlined by the European green deal.