Olympic Stadium constructed and 'signed over'......... took fewer days to complete than originally planned, £10m under budget, and for the first time an Olympic Stadium has been built without the loss of a single life. Sad statement on past Stadia. Personally, its been an absolute pleasure to be involved in this project. Hopefully, all others involved will take this part of the Olympic legacy and show/communicate just what can be achieved in the construction industry.....and it wasn't about 'paper'. British Engineering at its best.

<tongue firmly in cheek> Olympics. Is that something happening in a remote part of the UK?? Colin, Shetland

Graham, It was reported in several newspaper over the weekend.

It is indeed a milestone in heavy construction and Olympics. I visited the site last year as a guest of a main contractor and found the set-up and facilities second to none. However, I suspect it will not make too many waves in the 'developing world' as they do not have the same social or political ethos towards health and safety as the UK. If my memory serves me right, the channel tunnel was predicted to produce x amount of fatalities and the final figure was half what was expected - success!

quote=colinreeves]<tongue firmly in cheek> Olympics. Is that something happening in a remote part of the UK?? Colin, Shetland

As regards the Channel Tunnel build, if memory serves there were 10 deaths of which 8 were from our shores. One thing I vividly remember from a 'wash up' meeting I went to around the time involving one of the main Project Managers/Leaders, was that he was really 'chuffed' because they'd 'planned' on 24 deaths!!!! So I obviously took issue with this and raised the point "then we may as well redfine accidents, if you are going to 'plan' on killing people". I eventually calmed down after numerous kicks under the table from a 'senior' person present. Wizard - I have many statistics, learing points, etc etc that I have in a presentation that I've developed from information given and I'm doing my bit to pass on the 'learnings' through this presentation via my work. Briefly, 9 LTAs, 200 other accidents/incidents, and as for what 'we' did.....training/competence - supervisors SMSTS, communciation - mouth rather than paper, near misses, strong leadership and recognising the importance of human behaviour. I can assure you that everyone, approx 5,200, has played their part....... and what a joy compared to Wembly, T5, Canary Wharf - the former was arguably the scariest project I've been involved in.

Yes Fletcher the LTA free days has been an excellent accomplishment - I believe at Team Stadium the acheivement was 4.7million person days with just one LTA.

Victor I forgot to ponder yesterday if the fictional TV character with the same name as you (and with a close resemblance to the photo beneath your name!) would have said "I simply don't believe it!" in response to the news about the Olymic construction project! If nothing else, this response will get this topic back on the front page of the discussion forum.

Graham Well for sure at the start of the project when I heard what the 'plan' was in terms of H&S, I was guilty of saying "I don't believe it" as I had heard it all before like so many of us have in the past I guess, so obviously very wary initially, but it was oh so very different this time..... Wizard I'm busy all the rest of this week but I'll put a few lines together on info/challenges when I can give it some proper time and thought over the weekend. Ta Victor

Victor, many thanks for the information. Good old traditional safety application appears to still be working. I take it no safety observations, behavioural safety, or hazard hunt's etc ( fumbly fingers spell check done) helped to embelish this result and were tools not used by the team. Well Done again!!! Regards Wizard

This response comprises a development/evolution of this topic in regard to fatal accidents during major construction projects. In the early 1960s at Cruachan near Oban in Scotland a massive pumped storage type hydro-electric power station scheme was created. It comprised a concrete dam at high altitude in a corrie below Ben Cruachan (mountain) plus a large underground hall for turbines and generators and associated tunnels and shafts blasted and excavated through solid rock. The scheme has a visitor centre and underground tours for members of the public. Last Autumn during an underground tour I asked the guide how many people had been killed during the project, and was surprised to be told that as many as about 15 men died. Details of some of the deaths, including ones caused by falls from height, can be seen in press cuttings of inquests displayed in the visitor centre exhibition. Subsequently I did an internet search about the deaths at Cruachan. Though I couldn’t find information about the numbers involved I did find the text of a speech given by Judith Hackitt, Chair of the HSE, to the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Bath University in June 2010. Entitled “Health and Safety: The Cradle to Grave Approach”, it mentions the presence of a plaque at the entrance to Cruachan’s underground turbine hall which commemorates the men killed during its construction. The speech continues with the comment that “No engineering project should ever have to be a memorial to those who built or operate it.” It covers the aims of occupational safety and health and includes Flixborough, Piper Alpha and Hatfield as examples of disasters. Just to maintain some relevance to this forum topic I’d better add that the speech mentions the Olympic site as a major construction project, though it was too early to quote/celebrate it as one which remained free of fatalities throughout its duration. In my opinion, the speech is well worth a read for anyone who works in or has a positive interest in occupational safety and health, and can be found at http://www.hse.gov.uk/ab...cripts/hackitt020610.htm p.s. Please can anyone give the exact number of deaths which occurred during the construction of Cruachan? I had better add that ordinary visitors on the Cruachan underground tour approach and view the turbine hall by means of a separate tunnel and special viewing gallery, so apparently don’t see the plaque mentioned by Judith Hackitt. If so, surely there is a good case for the plaque to be suitably re-located!

http://www.shponline.co....-good-as-it-gets-for-hse Victor, would you give the HSE the "credit" they are claiming here?

Hi Victor and Redken, I'm glad you found our report on the HSE's Olympics presentation interesting - the whole session last week was really informative, from my point of view. However, I should point out that the HSE wasn't (as far as I was aware, anyway!) claiming credit for the project's good H&S record, nor was it saying that there will never be another project as safe as it. When Mike Williams said it was 'as good as it gets' he meant for the HSE - as in, it, as the regulator, will be unlikely to be able to get this involved in major projects again, because of the well-documented constraints placed upon it. Now, whether or not that involvement did make a big difference to the Olympics project record, I don't know - you know better than I! - but I will say that Mr Williams was rather wistful and obviously underwhelmed about how he is going to have to work in the future!