The London Eye is fast becoming one of the country's best known landmarks - 1999/2000
9 January 2005
The London Eye is fast becoming one of the country's best known landmarks.
But how has the safety been managed? Margo Cole spoke to The Safety People's consultant Mark Thornewill
High profile construction projects come with high profile safety issues. A serious accident on any site is a tragedy for those involved, but on a major project it is also headline news. At the BA London Eye site, accident rates are below the national average and there have been no serious injuries - even though the construction of the 135m diameter observation wheel is pushing the limits of technology.
Mark Thornewill of specialist consultancy The Health and Safety People is safety advisor to the project's Dutch steelwork contractor Hollandia BV. The firm was recommended by the project manager, MACE, when Hollandia said it needed assistance in producing detailed method statements and complying with UK regulations. Since taking on that brief, Mr Thornewill has also advised a range of other specialists on the site, including the heavy lift specialist and the capsule supplier (see box).
In practice, I produce all the method statements for Hollandia and their subcontractors," he explains. I am also responsible for 'policing' the site and ensuring that everyone is following the method statement and working safely."
It sounds simple enough, but the London Eye is not a simple project. "The main challenge in the job, both for the Hollandia staff and me, is that there has never been a comparable project to this one done before," says Mr Thornewill. "Everything is a learning curve and it's extremely steep. Techniques for installing various parts have to be devised - frequently as the work progresses and the normal practice of submitting method statements well in advance goes by the board."
In fact, sometimes the method statements are delivered to MACE only hours before the activity is due to start, but Mr Thornewill says the project manager has 'come to accept this unusual situation'.
His first surprise on arriving on site was the sheer scale of the project. It's very easy to look at diagrams and drawings showing something this size, but when you get to see the real thing you get to appreciate just how big it is," he says. 'You could park a jumbo jet in the middle, and when all the capsules are full it will carry twice as many passengers."
He has also had to get used to life in the public eye. "There has been a lot of public interest in our work particularly in the lifting operations," he says. "There has been a crowd of people in Jubilee Gardens for every major lift." He was disappointed that the first attempt to lift the wheel into its upright position failed, but was soon knuckling down to work ready for the second attempt a month later.
"As with all the lifting operations Hollandia have done, I wrote the method statement," he explains. "The final document was assembled by MACE, but it was essentially a Hollandia operation. An operations control and command structure had to be established, along with a communications regime between the various parties. An order and response system ensured that as Hollandia's construction manager gave the order for a step in the process, he received a predetermined response when the action had been carried out."
The wheel was initially lifted to a position of 60 deg to the horizontal, and work then continued on the structure. Cameras were used for inspection work, but Mr Thornewill had to produce documentation to justify people working in what is effectively the wheel's 'drop zone'.
"Where using people could be reasonably justified, detailed risk assessments for individual activities had to be done," he says. Since the lift, some work on the wheel has been carried out by a specialist firm of abseilers. Mr Thornewill's skills as a qualified abseiling instructor and top-rope and abseil supervisor put him in an ideal position to act as safety advisor for this element of the work.
It is one of a range of skills he has developed over a career that includes 22 years with the Army's Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. While there, he worked on helicopters and also became qualified as a radiation protection supervisor. He has since taken courses in health and safety, environmental health studies, pollution control, fire safety and methods of instruction.
Having previously worked abroad, Mr Thornewill is no stranger to working with foreign nationals. "The fact that all the Dutch personnel speak excellent English makes life a lot easier," he admits. There have been a few communication problems, but provided you avoid jargon and particularly long words they can be overcome.
The majority of UK health and safety regulations come from European directives so in essence they are very similar," he continues. "All the Dutch operatives have a 'safety passport' which records all the courses and training they have received - a system which would be difficult to introduce here but would work extremely well. You can see at a glance what each person is qualified to do and if they are asked to do something for which they hold no qualification, they will tell you immediately."
Mr Thornewill says the biggest lesson he has learnt on this job is to be flexible: "As you can imagine, on a project of this size and complexity, particularly when some operations are dependent on the tide, there will always be some reorganisation of activities to keep the project on target. Everyone is working hard to ensure there are no delays."
And the biggest achievement? The project accident record is extremely good. Both MACE and myself take the safety on site very seriously and everything possible is done to provide a safe working environment. We've had no major incidents or accidents and only a few minor injuries. When you consider the number of hours worked and the nature of the work being done, this is quite an achievement."