The Safest Metro Worksite competition is Länsimetro’s own occupational safety competition that encourages worksites to take a preventive approach to their work and to continuously improve safety. The goal is zero accidents.
For the second time in a row, the winner of the competition is Länsimetro’s Espoonlahti worksite, whose project management contractor is SRV. Länsimetro’s occupational safety competition awards the safest worksite of all the active metro construction contracts. As the developer, Länsimetro wants to focus attention on safety and encourage contractors to develop an occupational safety culture that targets zero accidents. The award is given twice a year.
“Winning doesn’t come down to one or two people – it takes a group effort by everyone at the worksite, and the award belongs to everyone working on the project in question. People give 100% to work safety every day following the example set by Site Manager Jussi Lahti,” says SRV’s OHS Manager for the Espoonlahti project, Jonne Juutilainen.
Targeting zero accidents – no slacking off in work safety
“With the Safest Metro Worksite competition, Länsimetro encourages construction sites to pay attention to safety by taking a preventive approach and applying corrective measures to avoid accidents. The goal is zero accidents,” Länsimetro’s Risk and Safety Manager, Susanna Laukkanen, sums up.
In the competition, six occupational safety areas are taken into account. These are MVR/TR indicators*, safety observations that lead to measures, near-miss situations, accidents, environmental damage and property damage.
The Espoonlahti worksite gained the most points in the competition in terms of MVR and TR indicators. The worksite also made the most safety observations that led to follow-up measures, altogether 793. In the previous competition round, Espoonlahti had 314 observations. The rail line worksite also made a large number of safety observations leading to measures: 685 observations.
Following the previous win, safety at the Espoonlahti worksite has been improved, for example, by increasing alarm systems at the site and developing practices for logging and rectifying safety observations.
“We work hard every day and make no compromises to ensure the safety of the Espoonlahti worksite. The aim is to approach every task by first thinking about how it can be done safely. Everyone is obligated to work together to ensure occupational safety. Right from the start, SRV’s worksite has had a clear policy on the ways of working and ground rules – no one, not contractors or anyone else, is cut any slack in occupational safety. Everyone must commit to the set guidelines, plans and use of safety gear, and report any safety deficiencies,” stresses Juutilainen.
*MVR, known by its Finnish acronym, is an observation-based method for civil engineering measurements to ensure an acceptable level of safety at an earth and water construction worksite. The MVR measurement is used for observing both safety issues that are in order and those in need of improvement. The TR measurement is a method for measuring the safety of building construction sites. The safety measurement focuses on the correct issues, and the positive feedback provides motivation to develop work methods.