Maintaining a Safe Working Environment in a Changing Economy
By Dan Zarletti

As America continues to expand and upgrade its infrastructure, tunnels continue to be the preferred choice for environmental controls and the transfer of energy, ranging from storm water runoff to fiber optics and public utilities preserved in concrete for decades of dependable use. Contrast this good news with the highest U.S. unemployment rate in decades and you will find many tradesmen from just as many former lifestyles looking for work in tunnels.

Tunneling is not the kind of job that lends itself well to on-the-job learning. The usually wet environmental conditions, along with a wide variety of unfamiliar sights and sounds, can be distracting and cause a lack of focus on the task(s) at hand. Thus, comprehensive efforts to identify and communicate the most basic to the most elite hazards will be paramount to the success of the overall job. For instance, you can educate a new tunnel hand about the slip/fall hazards due to ground water seepage, but until those conditions are actually experienced, they can only be assumed or estimated.

Without question, the most significant component to this centuries-old industry is safety. Inherent hazards from drilling and blasting to operating the mining machines and lining the finished product can prove difficult when the job is at full speed. Heavy moving machinery creates pinch points and line-of-fire exposures while environmental exposures such as noise and potentially contaminated air and ground conditions can result in work-related injuries and illnesses. All these activities call for sustaining proactive measures that can never allow for complacency and most often call for “belt and suspender” controls. The greatest safety message is one that is clear, consistent and repeated every day.

Therefore, let’s start by organizing a comprehensive safety plan to recognize, evaluate and control all known hazards associated with tunnel work. Next, we must develop Job Safety Analysis (JSAs) on these critical activities before any work commences and ensure worker proficiency through job specific training. (A JSA is basically the dissecting of a work task from start to finish, recognizing every possible hazard along the way while incorporating engineering controls, training and personal protective equipment to eliminate the possibility of injury or illness). JSA trainers should be selected from the ranks of site supervisors and safety managers with the most tunnel experience who will oversee the JSAs they designed for their project. Each JSA should tap into top management expertise and corporate approval before being introduced to the site workers and supervisors.

An internal self-audit program that will confirm the consistent and effective administration of the overall safety plan is also strongly recommended. This program will provide management with regular opportunities to evaluate worker proficiencies, actions and general working conditions. Oftentimes, insurance representatives are all too willing to conduct their own audits, which will only expand the net of hazard oversight and the job safety presence.

Additionally, a progressive discipline program will also be required to add “teeth” to any program. Minor infractions to the safety program and training effort cannot be tolerated, so each occurrence must be documented and communicated with the employee, company and local union, if applicable. However, if any infraction is considered willfully executed or considered gross misconduct, adversely affecting the company, the employee can be terminated, even after the first offense.

Create a habit of beginning each day or work shift with a safety talk (huddle) that will clearly itemize the proposed scope and schedule of work along with all the inherent hazards listed in the JSAs for these scheduled activities. All crews should be required to reassemble for another huddle whenever the original schedule and/or scope of work changes before moving on to any other assignment. This will ensure the appropriate messages and warnings are clearly understood by everyone before additional exposures are met as the new work commences.

Buddy up newly assigned workers with tunnel workers who have proven tunnel skills to begin a structured mentoring program. This will also enable crews to develop a vested interest in one another and ensure a high degree of compliance to all facets of the entire program.

Training is to safety as location is to real estate. The very best is required for the greatest reward. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was designed to strengthen our economy and create jobs for unemployed American workers. However, it is imperative that in a rush to create jobs, safety is not ignored. In fact, safety must be maintained as the No. 1 entree on the return to work menu.

For instance, in Detroit where thousands of autoworkers have been laid off, they now face the inevitable dilemma of needing to work, but many are grossly underqualified for what might be offered by the construction industry -- not because they are physically incapable, but because manufacturing cars is as different to building tunnels as night is from day. It would be a tragedy to provide these opportunities without overstating the obvious need to adequately train and re-train them while providing lots of TLC.

This is an opportunity for the tunneling sector to refill its ranks with the infrastructure market remaining one of the few strong points in the sagging overall economy. For new entrants to stay, however, we need to maintain a sterling track record of safe working conditions.

Dan Zarletti is Vice President, EHS, with Kenny Construction Company, which is based in Northbrook, Ill. Kenny Construction was a recipient of the Green Cross for Safety awarded by the National Safety Council because of its commitment to building a culture that recognizes worker safety and health as core values.