I AM EXTREMELY honoured and proud of the work that Network Rail and all our Partners have achieved in completing the first phase of the dramatic rebuild of London Bridge station which finished on schedule on Monday (31 March) when the first two new platforms were brought into use.

As we know, London Bridge is one of Britain’s busiest stations, serving 54m passengers a year, and is getting busier every day. The current layout of the sta-tion and the tracks surrounding it mean that currently no more trains can run dur-ing the morning or evening peak periods hence why we are making the improve-ments. The works will transform north-south travel through London and will re-move bottlenecks to allow new, more spa-cious trains to run with Tube-like frequency every 2-3 minutes at peak times

through central London by 2018. The overhaul of London Bridge - Brit-

ain’s biggest ever station redevelopment - will result in a bigger, brighter, station that is unrecognisable from today. When complete the station will be longer than the Shard is tall, with a new single con-course at street level that is larger than the pitch at Wembley. It will provide more space and make easier connections to oth-er rail services and the Underground.

The new longer platforms have strik-ingly-designed canopies of steel and alu-minium which will allow passengers to make full use of the platforms during all weather conditions which in turn will make boarding of trains more efficient. The ‘eyebrow’ arches over north-facing glass will let light flood the platforms and the new concourse which is being built di-rectly below.

As the new platforms 14 and 15 opened the next two platforms (12 and 13) were closed to start the next phase of the rede-velopment. I thank every one of you who have made this a success.

In addition to the focus on the London Bridge Station Redevelopment there is also a tremendous amount of important work in the outer areas which is critical in mak-ing the whole of the Thameslink Pro-gramme a success. These works include depots, stabling points and enhanced pow-er supply facilities, some of which can be seen in the center pages of this issue.

Every year on our programme there is between 6 to 7million manhours worked which extends a significant geographical area across the South East from Crickle-wood and Peterborough in the north to Brighton and Horsham in the south.

I want every member of the team to un-

derstand the importance not just of deliv-ering the works but delivering them safe-ly. Our programme will only be a success if we do everything within our power to stop people like you and me being injured. Within this issue there is a focus on events that have happened in recent months – take time to read through them and con-sider what you or your team could do dif-ferently to make Thameslink a place where you and your colleagues make re-turning home safely everyday a reality. I would encourage everyone to have hon-est safety conversations and if you ever feel uneasy or have a concern please speak up, you have my promise that we will lis-ten and seek to address your concerns.

PLATFORM FOR THE FUTURE London Bridge open

the first of the New Platforms

Jim Crawford, Programme Director,

Thameslink

APRIL/MAY 2014ISSUE6THE THAMESLINK PROGRAMME

FREE!

EVERYONE GETS HOME SAFE EVERY DAY!

03APRIL/MAY 2014 ISSUE 602

Over the last 2 years there have been many events that under slightly different circumstances could have resulted in a dif-ferent outcome – we treat these as SIGNIFI-CANT events. We’ve had 44 of these to be precise – the majority of which didn’t even result in injury, but could so easily have done so. A number of these events are sum-marised below.

What do we need you to do?First of all, we need you to keep reporting all accident and close calls and raising any concerns you have with your line manager or supervisor. If we don’t know what is hap-pening, then we can’t fix the problem – your views really are critical.

Make sure there is a clear plan for your works and stick to the plan…if things

Any ideas or suggestions email Hi-Viz@networkrail.co.uk

3 MILLION HOURS

BALFOUR BEATTY has introduced a Safety Leadership programme across its Rail business to ensure that Everybody Goes Home Safe Every Day.

This has been facilitated by a leadership consultant, Alkoomi, and is fully mandated and supported by the BB Rail executive led

by Mark Bullock. The programme was introduced following the recognition that whilst the statistics (AFR less than 0.1) showed that ‘Zero Harm’ had been achieved on a number of

projects including Thameslink, the business still lacked a zero harm culture as people are still getting hurt at work. The Alkoomi led programme has already trained a number of managers, client representatives and supply chain partners through a series of one and two day workshops. The next two phases are

It is a great achievement to have reduced our injury events across the programme and you have all had a part to play in helping make this happen – so thank you

This reduction in injuries has helped our injury rate drop to the lowest in over 4 years of construction across the Thameslink Programme, however the figure isn’t the important factor…what is...is that fewer of you are getting hurt.

Do you remember what the last major accident was?...It was the accident that occurred in September 2013 at Lewish-am which involved a serious facial injury caused when a petrol cut off saw struck

Article by Steve Fink, Head of HSEA, Thameslink Programme

SAFETY IN ACTION AT BALFOUR BEATTY

London Bridge Station Redevelopment

Following the successful handing back of platforms 14 and 15 to the Station the deconstruction of platforms 12 and 13 are underway both day and night. The reduce dig from the top of the Arches is being carried out on the over site slab and the overburden is being placed down an opening at the west end of the demolition area this is then removed from the site during the day. Knowing that any delay to these works would be detrimental to the programme for completion the task is being carried out by the project with the utmost expedience and in a coordinated safe manner.

To enable the works to be carried out at night within the section 61 noise limitations the hydraulic equipment, the 360 degree tracked excavators we are using are powerful crushing jaws that break sections of concrete, remove the reinforcement steel and pulverise the sections into manageable pieces.

Crushing plant in action and a materials rehandling machine to remove the now broken pieces of demolition debris.

The coring through the arches for the track drainage is carried out at night when there is less risk of operatives entering the exclusion zone in the arches below where the cores are 300mm in diameter and up to 2 metres long.

being delivered by members of the team that we have trained as trainers which has the benefit of selling the need for behavioural change through the passionate commitment of colleagues. The current phase is a ‘Leadership Key Skills Workshop’ which is a one day session delivered by Mark Edmonds and Dave Sullivan. In April we start Workforce Engagement Workshops delivered in pairs by Sarah-Jane Holmes, Samantha Fordham, David Read and Regis Nyamuhizua – these are half day sessions that will be delivered where possible at the worksite as part of the shift.

To support the behavioural change process each major project in BB Rail has a Safety Leadership Team. The Thameslink SLT is chaired by Peter Curson and has representatives from all three project areas (Track, Civils and OLE), Network Rail, an LBAP partner (Siemens) and supply chain

Article by Peter Curson, Project Director, Balfour Beatty

Across the Thameslink Programme we have worked over 3 million man hours since the last major injury accident

change, then stop and get the plan re-worked and rebriefed.

You are entitled to a briefing on the safe method of work for your task – so please make sure you get it, and when you do, ask questions to check you have fully understood what is expected of you – The only stupid question is the one that doesn’t get asked!

Above all remember, we ALL have a role to play in helping everyone get home safe everyday – what else can you do to help us achieve that ?

Lets not leave it down to luck...

May 2013 – Unsecuredscaffold tower blown over

Editor, Sharon Fink, Health & Safety Manager, Network Rail

A VIEW FROM THE NIGHT SHIFT

(Cleshar and TXM Plant). Two Safety Action Groups (SAGs) have been generated by the SLT; these are volunteers from the workforce who are keen to be involved in driving good safety practice. The ‘Canal Tunnels’ SAG (pictured) has met several times already and were instrumental, for example, with getting Halfen Channels delivered by crane (thanks to Carillion) rather than the unsafe practice of carrying them down stairs (each channel weighs over 20kg). There is also a SAG for the Track and Civils projects. It is early days but we have already identified a number of opportunities and, whilst it may be a coincidence, the number of close calls raised in a period has doubled. Our objective is to ensure that Everybody Goes Home Safe Every Day.

Article by Mark Bolton, Night Shift Manager, Costain

the operator in the face – as serious as the injuries were, it could have been a lot worse.

So it’s great that fewer of you are getting injured, however, people like you are still be-ing injured across our projects and site of-fices which we must all continue to help prevent in whatever way we can. One thing you can all do is to continue to report acci-dents no matter how minor as this helps us understand if there are common issues emerging.

The Thameslink Programme operates a little different from some others in that when something happens we don’t just re-spond to what DID happen but also what COULD have happened.

January 2013 – electricalburns from flashover

November 2013 – ballast fellfrom viaduct onto privatevehicles below

March 2014 – Operativestepped back off Podium step and fell down open access hatch

05APRIL/MAY 2014 ISSUE 604

ON THE 21st November 2012 at the Bermondsey Dive Under Site (BDU) a long time member of the Skanska workforce on the Thameslink Programme suffered serious burns whilst using a petrol driven cut off saw. A joint Skanska and Network Rail investigation established that the primary cause of the accident was the petrol cap on the saw not being fitted correctly; however when looking into the wider issues around competency to use this equipment, there seemed to be a big gap in the training provision within the industry. Skanska ensured one of the recommendations of the report was to lobby the industry to rectify this.

Fast forward 14 months from the completion of the investigation (January 2013 - 5th March 2014) and a pilot of the new Cskills Awards (CITB’s awarding organisation) accredited training took place in the use maintenance and risks associated with cut off saws. The pilot course took place on the BDU site where the accident occurred. Between the investigation and the delivery of the pilot course, Skanska have been working in partnership with manufacturer STIHL and Cskills Awards to produce the course for one of most widely used handheld power tools in the construction industry.

The Network Rail Thameslink Programme has supported the initiative from inception through to the pilot of the course. To help promote the course, contractors from around the Thameslink Programme were invited to send relevant members of the workforce to attend.

This meant that in addition to the

OVERVIEW: On the 10th March 2014 a gentleman, who works for a supplier on the Thameslink Programme, was dropped off by his colleague at Mill Hill Broadway rail station.

After completing planned work activities at another location, he was on his way back to the office via Blackfriars Station. Whilst waiting at Mill Hill Broadway, an issue was brought to this gentleman’s attention, to which he reacted with good intensions.

Let’s refer to the Gentleman as Mr Joe Bloggs (or Joe for Short). Joe agreed to be interviewed for Hi-Viz. Here is his story...

So, what exactly happened?I had my full PPE on and arrived on the Platform at Mill Hill Broadway to await the arrival of my train. Whilst waiting on the platform, I noticed that the train was running a little late and that the platform was getting busier.

I then noticed that a Passenger Train was at a stand still on the Up Slow end of the platform. The train had stalled as a result of a polythene bag that was hanging roughly 3metres from the LIVE Over Head Line Equipment (OHLE). As soon as I noticed what was wrong, I made my way down the platform. I could hear the public say “come on…sort it out!” Because I was wearing orange PPE, the perception from the public was that I was the guy to sort out this problem.

When I talked to the train driver, I asked, “Is there anything I can do to help?” The driver replied saying, “I’ve never come across this before!” The driver opened his cupboard and pulled out a wooden hook switch pole and said “here, try this”.

As I was wearing orange and the fact that I am a “railwayman”, I felt obliged to help…

I took the hook switch pole and “I made a calculation in my mind”. As the wood was not a good conductor of electricity and the plastic would not support the flow of electricity either (it was a dry day) I figured it would be safe to try and remove the plastic from the OHLE and allow the train to move onto the platform.

The wind was blowing the plastic at the time and I found it hard to reach the plastic with the wooden hook switch pole that was provided. A member of the station staff noticed me struggling and offered

some support. The staff member fetched a broom handle and this was then taped to the wooden hook switch pole.

This extended wooden pole allowed me to reach the plastic and I then removed it from the overhead line.

What happened next?I received a round of applause and cheers from the commuting public who were standing on the platform awaiting the arrival of the train. I felt like a super hero and the Indiana Jones theme music sprung to mind! I handed back the hook switch pole to the driver. The driver asked for my name and said he wanted to commend me for my actions. The driver let me slip in through his cab and in to the carriage. I thought I had done a good deed for mankind.

A couple of hours after I arrived back at the office, I was asked whether or not I was at Mill Hill Broadway earlier today. A report had come in, stating a gentleman wearing orange PPE had been observed removing polythene from the live OHLE.

What were Joe’s thoughts in the days after the event took place?

After the investigation had commenced, I started to realise the potential of my actions. Although I realised the material that was being used was not a particularly good conductor of Electricity, I shouldn’t have risked it. I know better than that!

I have a couple of friends in the OHLE Isolation dept that are in disbelief that I put my life in danger, they know just how lethal the OHLE is and are stunned that in fact that I could have killed myself.

I should have realised that although I was wearing orange PPE at the time, I was merely a travelling member of the public and should not have intervened. I should have taken a step back. I can only advise that unless you’re on Duty and doing the planned things that you are paid to do, DO NOT get involved.

Throughout this whole process, I have been supported by Network Rail management, with the view to learning from this event. I encourage all of you, to be as open and honest as I was, should you be involved in or witness something that could have an effect on your health and safety (or that of others) on site, in line with the “fair culture” that is embedded across the Thameslink Programme.

Finally, as of late, I believe that my little girl gives me bigger cuddles than she normally would. It’s as if she knows something could have happened, and that Daddy was nearly taken away from her.

What lesson will you take from this…?

Article by Declan Keane, Health & Safety Manager, Network Rail

CUT OFF SAW TRAINING AT THE BERMONDSEY DIVE UNDER

SITE – 5TH MARCH 2014

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Above: Afternoon course attendees from Costain, Skanska, Network Rail, members of the H&S teams, trainers provided by STIHL for the pilot and the Cskills Development Managers

Above: Burn injuries from 21st November 2012Above: Dean from Skanska undertaking his

practical assessment for cutting stone

WHAT DOES YOUR TYPICAL DAY LOOK LIKE?A typical day starts off with a brief and then signing in to all paperwork and getting instructions from the site manager and looking at the task for the day.

WHAT IS YOUR VIEW ON THE THAMESLINK AND UKPNS APPROACH TO HEALTH AND SAFETY?Health and safety is taken very seriously on the UKPNS Thameslink projects. The operatives are well briefed and there are tool box talks done. The operatives all seem to know what is expected of them and are all

DAY IN THE LIFE OF ‘AN ELECTRICIAN’HOW DID YOU START OFF WORKING AS A AN ELECTRICIAN?When I left school I gained an apprenticeship with ABB. Stewards. I spent 4 years as an apprentice and gained parts 1 and 2, city and guilds 236 electrical installation.

To start with I worked on mostly commercial buildings installation.Then went into working in the underground and then Network rail environments and airports and then finally substations.

WHEN DID YOU START WORKING ON WILLIAMS WAY (THAMESLINK) AND HOW ARE YOU FINDING IT?I only started working on the UKPNS site at Williams Way recently (April 2014) as it is still at an early stage of construction and we are only installing perimeter earthing at the moment.

The job looks like it will be an interesting job as it looks like a big substation and there will be a lot of electrical work if the site drawings are anything to go by.

Hi-Viz took time out to speak with Danny O’Connor, an Electrician with UKPNS

fully kitted out in the correct P.P.E for the tasks that they are undertaking.

All operatives arriving on site have their competences checked and filed and they are regularly approached by supervision for casual discussions on the working practices and there is a ‘see it, sort it’ policy for reporting close calls hazards and also good practices that operatives are also carrying out.

HOW DO YOU POSITIVELY INPUT TO THE DAY TO DAY HEALTH AND SAFETY PERFORMANCE ON SITE?I wear all my P.P.E. as instructed and if I see anything that could harm someone, if I can physically do something there and then I do , and report it. If I can’t, I still report it to my supervisor and fill in a card for the see it sort it board.

WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO YOU, WHEN YOU COME TO WORK EVERY DAY?That I return home safely so that I can enjoy the other important things in my life outside of work like having a beer and going to watch QPR.

Team trial a different approach to the traditional mushroom caps on rebar

AT THE BERMONDSEY Project the Skanska site team have started to utilise the use of Nevosafe safety strips. These strips are clipped on to the protruding ends of reinforcement bars instead of the individual caps in order to prevent injury from the open ends of the rebar.

They are reusable, come in a high visibility colour, saves time, are easier to use than the individual caps and most importantly can abstain the impact of 100kg dropped from a height of 3 me-tres.

This idea was recommended by Richard (Hammy), one of the supervisors from the sub contractor UK Reinforcement, who had seen the system in use before. A small amount of the product was purchased for trial and was immediately seen to be extremely ef-fective; as a consequence Nevosafe is now used across the whole of the site.

The men on site were particularly happy with it as they were able to make more use of there time as they were not spending hours fitting individual protective cap; and ‘missing mushroom cap’ ceased to be a repeated inspection finding – which benefit-ted everyone! Via the Bermondsey site’s recognition scheme ‘Mak-ing a Difference’, Hammy was nominated by members of the team for an award after highlighting the safer and substantially more efficient method for protecting exposed rebar ends.

At Skanska we try to encourage all of our workforce to share their ideas and best practices to tailor and help them complete their jobs safer and more efficiently. And this was exactly what was achieved by the introduction of the Nevosafe system.

Article by Feila Scally, SHE Manager, Skanska

PROTECTING REBAR

Richard Hamilton from UKR receiving his ‘Making a Difference’ certificate from Project Director Susan Fitzpatrick

The polythene on the Overhead Lines

Feedback from Cskills Awards (CITB’s awarding organisation)The day went very well and it was incredibly rewarding to see something that we have all worked so hard on come to life, we are looking forward to carrying on with the next stages of development ready for launch in June.

The course will be launched nationwide in June 2014, so keep an eye on the construction press and your affiliated Cskills awards course provider for details. In addition to the positive feedback from the pilot, further good news was to follow as the initiative has now been shortlisted in the Health & Safety category in the 2014 Construction News Awards.

For further information on the course or any of the above please contact: Joel.Frorath@skanska.co.uk

Article by Etienne de ToneySkanska H&S Manager

Above: Tommy from Costain and Kevin from Skanska learning about the disk changing, inspection and maintenance for cut off saws

Skanska labour force, attending the courses on the 5th March there were also representatives from: NR London Bridge Maintenance Delivery Unit, Costain, Carillion, Bridgeway Consulting & UK Reinforcement.

The course involves training in the classroom as well as an on site full practical assessment. This delivers both theory and practice on the risks and controls when using the equipment to cut a range of different materials.

Feedback from the pilot course was extremely positive and all who attended seemed to enjoy the day. At the end of the course delegates were asked what they would do differently following this training, some responses were:

l ‘Use a face mask when using equipment in the future’

l ‘Starting the machine in the correct position’

l ‘Practical understanding has improved to a point I can now intervene and influence more reactively in this task’

l ‘Use the knowledge gained as I give out tools daily and can advise operators’

l ‘Check machine more often’l ‘Holding, refuelling and working

the machine’

Bedford Peterborough

Cambridge

Welwyn Garden City

Luton

St Albans

St Pancras International

London Blackfriars

Wimbledon

Sutton

London Bridge

East Croydon

Destinations off the Brighton Main Line

Destinations off the Brighton Main Line

Brighton

Sevenoaks

Maidstone

Farringdon and Interchange with Crossrail

SOME OF THE PEOPLE DELIVERING OUR WORKS0706

Andy Gent Project Director – London Bridge Station Redevelopment Project

“London Bridge Station Redevel-opment project gives me a great sense of pride both in terms of what has been achieved to date and how it has been delivered. By working together as one team and learning from our shared experiences I am convinced that we will continue to safely deliver this landmark pro-ject.”

Joe ChambersCostain Senior General Foreman –

Nightshift

“The challenge has been one of lo-gistics. To place thousands of me-tres of concrete while material from excavations is being taken away and construction materials are being brought in has meant that good planning has been needed to ensure works can be completed with safe-ty and quality as priority.

The 24 hour working has meant programme tasks can be complet-ed and the information handovers from the first to second shift and the return of works completed doc-uments has been important in bring-ing everyone and everything togeth-er.

The amount of work carried out from last summer to this spring milestone has been remarkable and I am proud to be involved with this exciting project.”

Environmental Project Team London Bridge Station Redevel-

opment Project

At London Bridge we work tireless-ly to ensure the three pillars of sus-tainability are included in all our de-cision-making processes. We in-clude social and environmental as well as economic factors in our pro-curement process and have devel-oped an enhanced sustainable pro-curement questionnaire to assess subcontractor performance. Sus-tainability is a key consideration in risk reviews and work package plans, resulting in a number of in-novative design and construction solutions, including our geother-mal piles, water treatment systems and re-use of heritage features. Ahead of this milestone there has been excellent communication with the local authority and surround-ing businesses and residents to en-sure minimal disruption.

APRIL/MAY 2014 ISSUE 6

Emily Kallend Assistant Project Manager –

Prater Ltd

Prater Ltd delivers the roof platform and canopy work on the project:“We learnt many good lessons and gained a lot of confidence from the Constructability Prototype to prove that our unitised design would work not only to satisfy the difficult de-sign geometry of the roof platforms and canopy but meet the challeng-ing site programme. We are proud to have achieved our goal”

Scarlett Perrin Project Skills Co-ordinator

Here at London Bridge we can see the importance of up skilling the local community. Since achieving our Skills Academy status we have endeavoured to support the local community and align ourselves with employ-ment aims.So far we have been able to en-sure that:• 31 Workless Southwark Resi-

dents employed onto the pro-ject (including 5 Southwark ap-prentices)

• 20 Non-Southwark apprentic-es are currently employed on site

• 21 Work experience/place-ments have taken place

• 118 Training for subcontractors• 228 Training for main contrac-

tor employees

Peterborough site and project team

Peterborough Spital Sidings have been identified through the Thames-link Stabling Strategy as a location for stabling 6 x 12 cars with Carriage Washer & CET facilities and access to a head shunt to support a rolling stock cascade for Thameslink Key Output 2. The Spital sidings are lo-cated north of Peterborough Station and are currently out of use. Their current condition is overgrown with scrap rail in place. In order to access the site the project team is required to re-install a crossover between the Shunt line and the sidings that was removed under recent site improve-ment. Access to the re-instated sid-ings will also require electrification of a small section of the Shunt line.

CarillionCanal tunnels

Carillion are the PC for the op-erations that are currently on-going at Canal Tunnels. Canal Tunnels is comprised of an “Up and Down” Tunnel and it was originally constructed as part of the CTRL Programme of works, to link the East Coast Main Line and the Midland Main Line. Thameslink inherited the bored lined tunnels that run from the St Pancras box just North of St Pancras Station on the MML to Belle Isle on the ECML. Operations at canal Tun-nels include a mixture of civils, permanent way (P-Way), OLE, signalling and mechanical and electrical operations.

Williams Way UKPNS team

Williams Way Substation forms part of the “Outer Ar-eas” Electrification and Plant Portfolio of works. The UKPNS and Network Rail team are working closely to deliver addition-al capacity and equipment upgrade to traction assets, south of London. Williams Way forms part of this up-grade. The site itself is lo-cated at Three Bridges, in close proximity to where the new Rail Operating Cen-tre (ROC) has been con-structed. Works include the installation of a new sub-station and the team are currently working on the civils aspect of the contract.

Clive Loosemore Delivery Director – London

Bridge Station Redevelopment Project

“The formation of an integrated Network Rail and Costain team has proven its worth in enabling the key milestones on this hugely compli-cated project to be met”

The success of bringing the two new platforms into use on the date agreed two and half years ago is a combination of all the hard work shown by both staff and operatives and the brilliant cooperation be-tween the Delivery Partners and Network Rail. Learning from the ex-periences of previous phases of Thameslink the teams have all worked together to undertake work in a cooperative manner. It has been a pleasure to be involved in such a successful phase of the project.

LONDON BRIDGEPETERBOROUGH

CANAL TUNNELS

THREE BRIDGES

Pictured: Simon Fowler, Carillion, Projects Director who was on site at the time carrying

out an engagement tour.

Some of the UKPNS team

Carillion

Cricklewood forms part of the Thameslink Depot and Stabling works and is currently undergoing enhancement works to increase the number of stabling berths available for Thameslink and East Midlands Train rolling stock. To achieve this, the North Sidings will be extended and the south sidings will be re-laid with the inclusion of 25KvA OLE. The inclusion of a carriage wash facilities and control mission facilities will also be provided.

CRICKLEWOOD

Carillion and NR staff are posing for the camera, located outside their newly established welfare

facilities at the south sidings.

Mick LongProject Manager, Balfour

Beatty Rail

The collaborative approach from our client and all of the various delivery partners has made working here safe, effi-cient and enjoyable. Together we have successful delivery of all our key stages safely and on programme. I’m especially proud of the people in my team who have worked tirelessly to make our works a success. My highlight so far for 2014 is com-pleting the low level works at London Bridge!

Thameslink K02 Beatty Rail teamNew Cross Gate

The track work elements in-clude the installation of S&C units and plain line renewal and associated Conductor Rail over the Project life-cycle.

Civils works include the con-struction of REB’s in arches; trackside REB and LOC bases; signal structures and founda-tions; and lineside troughing.

NEW CROSS GATE

Highlight from the last 6 months: the full transition from Borough Viaduct to Ber-mondsey and getting fully set up to now de-liver the structures with many of the same team

The BDU site is really starting to take shape, particularly the new barrier system which the lads asked for and are very hap-py about... and getting some real construc-tion work done!

Lots of challenges in 2014: lifting the new bridge structure in over the East London Line at Easter, overcoming the major ac-cess issues around the site for heavy civils work, big possessions and managing a site with so many viaducts which makes near-ly everything ALO! As well as this our big-gest challenge on the SSP project will be maintaining a safe environment for, and managing the interface with, the public, the railway, stakeholders and local residents through a large number of major posses-sions for multiple bridge structures.

Ian GregoryLead Supervisor

BDU works

Morris Lewis SupervisorSSP works

Caption to come

BERMONDSEY

0908 APRIL/MAY 2014 ISSUE 6

A CHANGING STATION

Stage 1 was a nine month period of intense activity to transform the Southern part of the station. It started in May 2013 with platforms 14, 15 and 16 being decommissioned and demolished.

Stage 1 ended with the climactic weekend possession noted earlier. Over the 64 hour weekend, new hoardings were installed along platform 11 and around the concourse to create a new route through to platforms 14 and 15. Hundreds of workers gave it their all to deliver a lot of work in difficult working conditions. When you have a lot of trades working in close proximity it can be challenging to do all the right things in terms of housekeeping and segregation, however with strong supervision and a great attitude from the workforce a huge volume of work was delivered without incident.

Everyone receives the briefing to ensure they understand the key risks and interfaces with the track and signalling works. Red wristbands are distributed for PTS zones and Green for non-PTS zones.

Possession wristband briefing

Concourse Interface Platform 11 hoarding works

Hoarding works progressing, followed by systems installation and temporary canopy removal on the adjacent platform 12.

Co-ordinated works to complete canopies, hoardings, systems installations, scaffold support structures and floor finishes.

Following the track and signal recovery in trackbed 12 and 13 the demolition of the decommissioned platforms commenced.

Existing Platform 13 demolition

Now that the project is in Stage 1A, we can’t rest on our laurels. The rest of 2014 requires another two significant transitions and completion of two very demanding stages. In August we move from 1A into 1B, this will be achieved by the opening of new platforms 12 and 13 allowing possession and decommissioning of existing platforms 10 and 11. The move into 1B has a 9 day blockade in which the end of platform 12 which can’t be constructed in Stage 1A will be completed. We conclude the year moving from Stage 1B into Stage CC, which is half way across the station and will complete the transformation of the low level part of the station.

London Bridge station redevelopment – Stage 1A from above

View from signal box before and after the May 13 possession. The start of stage 1

This allowed the arches within the footprint of the new concourse and service yard to be demolished and the new structure to be constructed. Working 24/7 the sequence of works was piling, pilecaps, columns, crossheads, bridgedeck steel, Bridgedeck concrete, platforms, canopies and the MEP systems (Lighting, speakers, CCTV, fire alarms etc). All the works were delivered while maintaining the safe operation of the station and facilitating the installation of track and signals by the Railway systems team.

The transformation of London Bridge Station story so far….

31st March2014

13th May2013

August 2013

December 2013 The new platforms 14 and 15 at London Bridge

A significant amount of work was achieved over the weekend of the 29th/30th March 14 to bring the new platforms 14 and 15 into operation on Monday morning. This is a great achievement for the project and concludes the first stage of nine in the re-development of London Bridge station.

Article by Mark Howard, Project Manager, Costain

11APRIL/MAY 2014 ISSUE 610

ON ANY CONSTRUCTION site exclusion zones come in all shapes and sizes, around plant around testing around excava-tions… some are obvious some less so especially if the space is for something to move into!

With many accidents we always hear the injured person’s story, see the photo but how does the person who caused it feel, whether it was their fault or not. Below is one guys account, it makes you think……..

What happened to me one Friday after-noon whilst I was operating a SK135 RRV shook me up so bad, I suffered many nights without sleep. And I wasn’t the injured party.

During my days on site, I found every-one good to work with and out task quickly became a well rehearsed rou-tine. I was picking up small pieces of the bridge at the front of the RRV, slewing round 180 degrees and placing the scrap on my trailer behind me. I have 2 guys at the front slinging the scrap, whilst be-hind me, there is another guy who re-leases the scrap onto the trailer.

“I still can’t believe what happened. For days I struggled to eat”

Operators reading this will understand that sometimes we touch the travel ped-al gently to see which way we are about to travel before fully pressing the travel pedal and sounding the horn. We do this because sometimes when you’re slew-ing round all day, you are not entirely sure which way the travel pedal will move you, so you gently press the pedal so you can feel which way you will go when you apply the pedal fully. During this moment as I tested the travel direc-tion, my RRV moved forward by about 1-2 inches. Unbeknown to me, the guy who had been stood at the back of my trailer a moment ago, had walked up my blind side (in a crush zone), rested him-self against the front right hand corner

of my RRV (OUT OF SIGHT), and placed his foot on the rail head immediately in the nip point under my right side rail bogie. As I was testing the travel direction, my RRV moved forward as I said, by 1-2 inches, I was about to blast my horn ready to properly move for-ward when I heard a yell. I looked in the di-rection of the yell and saw the guy right next to my right side rail bogie. I backed up a foot, and shut down the RRV before dashing to his aid with the other 2 workers in our team.

I had not run over his foot, but I had trapped it in the inch or two I moved forward, and he clearly was in agony. I saw the seri-ousness of the incident and called 999 im-mediately. We later heard that the man had seriously cut his foot and broken his little toe. A day or two later, had had to have his toe amputated and as I write this, there is uncertainty as to whether he may lose more toes.

Since then, things have been bad. I’ve been operating RRV’s for nearly 10 years and I’ve never hurt anyone before. It’s a terrible feeling, I’ve been at home for a few days now, unable to work until the Drugs and Alcohol Tests are returned. I have no worries about the results, but the time at home makes you reflect on the events over and over. I still can’t believe what happened. For days I struggled to eat, I was constantly feeling sick. I suppose I can’t help worrying what would happen to me and my family if I lost my job. We have children, and my wife is pregnant again. I can’t begin to describe the panic attacks I feel. Yet I know, and my wife keeps telling me, there was nothing I could

LIGHTING SOLUTIONS GOOD

PRACTICEEcolite tower in use under an arch at Red Cross Way

Proximity of neighbours to site

Drawing by Mike Netherton depicting dangers of people standing within exclusion zones

A typical RRV

CAN YOU TEACHAN OLD DOG

NEW TRICKS?A LOT HAS been writ-ten about sustainabili-ty from a corporate point of view. However, as a mature individual, and one that has held senior positions for a number of years in a variety of industries, sustainability in the environment is a new concept and one that, at the be-ginning, I struggled with.

Having delivered a number of substan-tial projects, I am well aware of environ-mental issues. I have experienced delays and unplanned expenditure protecting wild orchids, great crested newts and slow worms. I have had to engage a would-be Swampy - camped outside a badger set to establish if it was in use. I even built a 120-room doormouse hotel that ran for 30 me-tres parallel to the railway so we could assess the po-tential impact on wildlife.

These were all necessary steps in today’s environ-mental culture as a com-bined commitment to protect our wild life and the environment. But sustainability… what on earth is this all about??

I was initially quite vocal regarding the ‘supposed’ benefits of being ‘sustainable’. What difference can we make? We do not ex-ecute huge civil-type programmes - we are a highly competent electrical contractor, working generally on small footprints, so how on earth could we make a difference?

My Environmental Manager, Maria Sia-kovelli, helped me realise that a small con-tribution can make a huge collective dif-ference. I understood that we had to lead by example and tell everyone what we were doing as a com-pany, why we were doing it and the benefits our contribu-tions could make to the great-er scheme.

However, knowing that typical construction crews simply want to get the job done to a high degree of qual-ity (in a safe manner of course), I remained a little sceptical. She modelled some results of sustainabil-ity actions against the overall number of sites we were scheduled to deliver and demonstrated we could make a difference to our environmental impact if we com-piled statistics across several projects and the company overall. OK, I was convinced. I still wasn’t exactly what you would call a tree hugger, but I have to say the statis-tics certainly got my attention. Let me give you an example.

We identified the type of tipper one of our suppliers was using (FORS compli-ant even though the site is outside the M25 boundary) so we could obtain typ-ical vehicle carbon data from the gov-

ernment web site. As part of this process, we discovered that, if we took the regis-tration number of the vehicles used so that we could assign actual carbon data for a licensed vehicle to our spread sheet rath-er than typical values for the type of ve-

hicle, the difference could be as much as 20%.

So taking the typical data and applying to this to the vehicle movements, had we continued with our usual procedures we would have left a carbon footprint of 73.4 kg of CO² emissions for each delivery, totalling 381.01kg for the five trips. With the re-

vised plans, this was reduced to 43.56kg and 231.80kg respectively. That’s a whop-ping saving of 149.22kg of CO² emissions - a 39% reduction for this activity alone.

To put this into some form of perspective, government statistics show that a family of

four (two adults and two children), living in an average home, will use 18,000kWh of gas and 4,800kWh of electricity per year. This represents 3.65 tonnes of CO² emissions for gas and 2.53 tonnes for electricity, a com-

bined total of 6.18 tonnes per annum or 16.93kg per day. Therefore, the 149.22

kg CO² emission saving for one site alone is the equiva-lent of a family of four living in an average home using gas and electricity for just over ONE WEEK (8.8days).

The above example clear-ly demonstrates that good practice can and does make

a difference, no matter how small we think those benefits are and that such considerations must be considered for all future construction activities.

So, can you teach an old dog new tricks? Well, I have been convinced that simple but effective actions, undertaken as best practice, do make a difference. No matter how small we may consider indi-vidual savings to be, they can and will make a difference. If we all pull together,

then collectively we can have a huge impact on a global scale. What can you do to make a difference?For an extended version of this article please refer to April’s issue of the Rail En-gineer Magazine (issue 114).

Article written by Barry Dilks, Project Director, UKPNS

View of site from Clancy Docwra offices last of blinding completed

Concrete delivery for the last of the blinding and new formed steel works in foreground

Tying in re-enforcing bars for concrete works

Area being levelled for pump at site vehicle entrance

Storage of re-enforcing steel from delivery

Completion of final pile at williams way substation

One Man’s Story about Exclusion Zones

do, how could I know a man would put him-self in that position. But the incident plays on your mind, it doesn’t go away, you can’t sleep, it’s truly horrible, to think I could have chopped his foot off completely.

But I’m not looking for sympathy after all I went home after the incident. The other guy didn’t, he is still in hospital worrying whether he’s going to lose more toes, and when he can return to work. Yes I’m suffering but I’m sure he is suffering much more.

I wanted to share my story with you be-cause we’re in the same industry, I often see safety briefs telling me what has happened in our business, and although some of them are serious, they don’t all have the impact I think our employers want them to have. By telling you my story, I hope you can see the personal impact it has had. Hurting a fellow worker has profoundly hit me and my family, and it’s upsetting.

I’ve shared how this incident has had an impact on me, could you please spare a thought for that injured guy and his family, and let’s do everything we can to prevent an-yone else getting hurt at work.

What we did

SKANSKA HAVE INTRODUCED on the Structural Strengthening Programme (SSP) the use of a low energy hydrogen fuel cell powered lighting system.

This lighting is powered by the BOC Hymera fuel cell. The Ecolite H

2 can be used in environmentally

sensitive areas where all emissions and noise pollu-tion need to be minimised. There are no particulate emissions and as a result the process is virtually si-lent which is extremely important for our works at night time in the centre of London. The SSP works are surrounded by residents, businesses and are very much in the view of the general public. Work-ing with the supply chain to produce innovative and environmental sound solutions is key to Skanska strategic ambitions to deliver Deep green products. The Ecolite H

2 was shortlisted in the Skanska Sup-

ply Chain Green solutions competition. The use of the lighting unit also helps with us being consider-ate constructors and in line with our Section 61 in reducing construction noise. Ecolite H

2 helps us

achieve many benefits such as:

Benefits l Zero CO2 Site Emissions

l Zero Noise Pollutionl Zero Particulate Pollutionl Zero Servicingl ZERO Combustionl Zero possibility for fuel or earth contaminationl Operational in enclosed spacesl Low-energy LED lightingl Fully autonomous run time between 15 to 900 hoursl Cheaper to run than standard tower lightingl Resident friendly for light and noise pollution

All these environmental benefits do not detract in any way from the performance of the light. When the unit was first wheeled onto site there was a cer-tain amount of suspicion but once the lighting was in use the lads were pretty impressed by the differ-ence it made; very helpful when lots of your work is under unlit bridges.

GETTING IN THE ZONE

Article by Feila Scally, SHE Manager, Skanska

12

One man’s reflection of safety at work

Photo Competition

EASTER WORD SEARCH! HOT CROSS BUNSBANK HOLIDAYOBLIGATIONGOOD TIMESSAFE CLEAN SITETWISTING

MARK CARNEEDUCATEDLENGTHWAYSGOPHERSBEATSEASTER EGGSAPRIL SHOWERSSAFETY CULTUREBOB CROW RIP

ANSWEREDCUTEY PIEBEANBAGGREATLYELSEWHERESINGLETONPECKERGOOD FRIDAYKIND HEARTS

CANALSSABLESBABY RABBITSCOOL HEADLIONESSEUSTONCLINICGOINGWIDEN

SAFETY AT WORK

Following on from the article in the last edition of Hi-Viz we are pleased to announce the winners of the first photo competition:

1st place – Winter Sunset, Ouse Valley Vi-aduct taken by Andy J Smith2nd place – Bluebells, Norsey Woods, Bill-ericay, taken by Colin Howard3rd place – Misty sunrise, Blackfriars Bridge Station taken by David Thomas

The next round of the competition will be for Spring/Summer photos.

As before the photos can be of anything you like, but would be great if they were related to the Thameslink works or plac-es on or near the Thameslink route. A health and wellbeing theme is also desir-

able, feel free to be as imaginative as you like, or submit one you have previously taken. A maximum of 2 photos per per-son, obviously the photos should be au-thentic and not downloaded from the web.

The competition is open to every- one working on the Thameslink Pro-gramme. Please submit your photo-graphs, ideally high resolution, to the TLP Health and Wellbeing mailbox and at tlphealthandwellbeing@networkrail.co.uk by Friday 30th May 1st Prize £50 M&S Voucher2nd Prize £25 M&S Voucher3rd Prize £10 M&S Voucher

Winners to be announced in the next edi-tion of Hi-Viz.

APRIL/MAY 2014

THAMESLINK HEALTH AND WELLBEING

Word search

IT IS NATURAL to find that, as human beings, we see life going through the time following a sequence of mo-ments. In addition, we instinctively develop the ability to adapt to various situations and are likely to create structures or systems for learning from previous expe-riences.

However, it is wise to consider that there may be a large number of newly combined events which could emerge at a certain known or unknown momentum. In this occasion, endless links may exist and interact with each other under predictable or unpredictable circum-stances.

Nature brings different fields that work in parallel, or can be directly linked, under the universal law. It is possible for example, to compare safety at work with the Chaos Theory in mathematics, which enforces the idea of expecting the unexpected. It refers to part of systems which interconnect and decline either at slow or fast pace, and are highly sensitive to initial conditions.

This can be represented by a hypothetical situation where works are being carried out in a construction site at any given time.

Different groups of workers are performing tasks in the same workspace where each member of the teams is properly trained, committed to achieve the best results and aims to finish their tasks safely. Members of the groups temporarily begin to perform tasks in close prox-imity to each other, with moving objects in one or more directions. Suddenly, a certain piece of equipment de-velops a fault, leading to injuries to those who are direct-ly or indirectly involved.

Such event will need to be analysed into the smallest details to find the possible cause, where perhaps a tiny gap, a small dislocation or a sensible change of temper-ature in some particles that form parts of the equipment, may have emerged.

On the other hand, such negative events may take place from a misjudgement or any unfortunate circumstanc-

es that occur in a fraction of a second. In this case, the use of the right personal protective

equipment, plus an effective isolation of the parts of moving bodies and a minimum safe distance, could de-crease consistently the occurrence of an incident.

Therefore, a detailed and continuous observation of the surrounding environment, in conjunction with a careful analysis of the equipment and materials prior to the commencing of any tasks, could also be an efficient way to minimise risks.

In conclusion, work experience is essential for every-one and generates know-how. Nevertheless, during the course of acquiring expertise, we may still encounter the risk of falling, once again, into the already mentioned sequence of moments.

Article by Claudio R. Gomes, Security Guard, Costain