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Week 8 – Final Report

This is final report of my internship in Lagan Construction. I worked there as an Intern from 02nd

June 2011 to 27th July 2011. Here I would like to introduce the company, project and objectives

first. Later on, I will cover findings and objectives.

Figure 1: NBBIA Model

Lagan Construction

Lagan Construction is a leading civil engineering firm, having experience of more than 45 years.

Lagan’s has expertise in infrastructure, capital and maintenance projects through a range of

procurement means for public and private firms. They have worked across Ireland and United

Kingdom on different projects, including railways, roads, airports, marine and energy sector.

Lagan Construction was set up in Northern Ireland in 1962 as a family owned commerce. With

passage of time, they have extended organically and geographically through a determined and

motivated acquisition planning. For this, Lagan’s established standards and business core

values. This was further accelerated by the requirements of worldwide clients, partners and

their dedicated team.

As a vibrant and creative organization, Lagan’s continuously pursuit for new opportunities to

develop and expand further. They are committed to diversity and equality policy seriously and

emphasize on safety and protecting environment first. They are ISO 14001 and 18001 certified

company, which reflects their dedication towards nature and safety.

My Supervisor Mr. Peter Alford

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The echelon of support by my supervisor was remarkable. He gave me free hand to look for

loop holes in their practices and allowed me to access any of their documents. He guided me a

lot about civil construction, design and materials and how they influence sustainability. Because

of his continuous support, I enhanced my knowledge about the nature of work. He allowed me

to approach anyone anywhere as the whole team was very supportive. Finally, he suggested me

to send my C.V. to Lagan’s after completion of my degree.

New Benazir Bhutto International Islamabad Airport (NBBIIA)

It is Pakistan first green field airport which will serve twin cities, federal territory Islamabad and

Rawalpindi division. Rawalpindi and Islamabad are forth and tenth most populous countries of

Pakistan respectively, almost 3 million people live in these two cities collectively.

In addition of being first Greenfield airport, it also has eco-friendly and energy efficient

features. This includes: rainwater harvesting, recycling of waste water, use of LED lights,

terminal building ceiling is designed to optimize natural light utilization, use of alternate energy.

The airport will have the largest runways in Pakistan, two concrete runways each of length 4000

meters (Category - F). This means that even Airbus 380 can land on these runways.

The main phases of project are air-side, land-side and building area. These phases are further

divided into packages. Lagan is working on both air-side infrastructure and land-side

infrastructure.

How HSE is related to Sustainable Development

HSE stands for Health, Safety and Environment. HSE provide set of guidelines that make

working environment safer for work, executing operations safely by protecting workers form

occupational hazards and by avoiding machinery and vehicles related accidents.

There are various health and safety acts that are enforced across the globe. US OSHA Act 1970,

U.K. Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, Malaysian Occupational Safety and Health Act

1994, Australian Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1991 are few

examples of legislation. Unfortunately, there is no HSE law in Pakistan. Chapter 2 and chapter 3

of Pakistan Factories Act 1934 address inspection and worker safety, but this law is only

confined to factories.

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. This is an extensive field which deals with ergonomics and eco-friendly design of machinery

and it also covers:

Cleanliness

Disposal of wastes and effluents

Ventilation and temperature

Dust and fume

Artificial humidification

Overcrowding

Lighting

Drinking water

Latrines and urinals

Spittoons

Precaution against contagious or infectious disease

Vaccination and inoculation

Fire safety

Fencing of machinery

Employment policy for young person’s on dangerous machines.

Cranes and other lifting machinery

Personal Protective Equipments

Safety of building, machinery and manufacturing process

Explosive or inflammable dust, gas, etc

Sustainable development addresses economic, social and environmental issues all together.

Similarly occupational health and safety (HSE) addresses environment of working site, social

and economic issues of workers. A key to sustainable building is sustainable design and

sustainable execution.

Objectives and Activities

I have been working in the field of HSE for last two and a half years. My aim at NBBIA was to

identify loop holes in Lagan’s HSE practices. I was eager to watch reality of their HSE slogans

and motto, my working plan was:

Assisting in community related issues

Conducting internal audits and awareness activities

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Leading safety and environmental teams

Hazard identification, analysis and mitigation measures

Risk Assessment

Safety demonstrations, drills, trainings and presentations

Site inspection

Record keeping and data gathering

Findings

According to the clause 27 of the contract specification, each company has to submit HSE Plan.

Lagan Construction has also submitted its HSE plan to client Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and

has assured highest safety measures meeting British standards. Therefore, the reason to opt for

Lagan construction is to see how successful they are in enforcing HSE in Pakistan’s construction

sector, as local labors lack knowledge about HSE, its practices and benefits.

Airside covers an area of 6.8 km2 while landside covers an area of 3 km2. Lagan construction has

inducted 6 personnel’s specifically for HSE department. This indicates that each officer has to

cover and supervise 1.63 km2. Similarly, there are 1,994 no. of labors working at site, this mean

that each HSE supervisor has to see 332 individuals. Although, it’s an extensive and tough job

and each supervisor has to cover huge area and no. of people but Lagan’s has assigned dual

role to some site workers, who regularly report to HSE supervisor of the concerned area.

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Figure 2: Airside and Landside

Figure 3: different areas of airport

Here I would like to share key points of HSE Report for the month of May, which Lagan’s had

submitted:

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General:

200 new ID cards for site workers had been issued

145 vehicle passes had been issued

3450 safety vests had been issued

400 face masks had been given at asphalt plants

None of the vehicle exhaust had been tested

First Aid:

Contract signed with Noor Medical Clinic, Pind Ranjha (next to site area)

Another male nurse had been appointed, which increased their number from 1 to 2

Ambulance has been deployed since April, 2011

None of the individual’s blood had been screened

Compound Security & Safety:

Unauthorized crossing made over the outer bund wall

Proposal for incinerator to burn refuse and garbage

Separate parking for employees and visitors had been demarcated

All compound offices were numbered and labeled

Fire extinguishers had been placed to various locations.

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Figure 4: Washroom

Figure 5: Closed Vicinity

Figure 6: Kitchen

Figure 8: Workshop

Figure 9: Closed vicinity

Figure 10: Preparing food

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Figure 7: room

Figure 11: Soaking meat

Figure 12: Working without PPEs

I think, these pictures are self explanatory. There is a need to address all issues related to

health, safety and environment. Although this will increase the overall cost of the project but

on the other hand this will safe costs related to accidents and illness. A healthy work can work

far more effectively, accurately and even for long duration.

CAA is not showing the desired level of interest. They only have one HSE Manager for whole

project. Same is the case with consultants; they also have one QHSE Manager. This reflects CAA

and consultant seriousness. I had an opportunity to attend one of the meetings which Lagan

conducts on regular basis and I was surprised to see that there was no one other than Lagan’s

HSE team.

Achievement

I brought my past experience and professional knowhow to this job to accomplish my goal that was connecting HSE to sustainability. Lagan gave me the priceless platform of working with HSE team.

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Now I have concrete knowledge about HSE issue. I take this opportunity as an edge to relate sustainability concerns with HSE. Absence of local laws, lack of awareness and most of all will to change plays vital role in achieving HSE targets.

With the passage of time, labors are getting more knowledge through media about occupational hazards. I see this awareness as a sign of hope and a first step towards workers right. Unity and consensus among labors can force parliament to pass HSE act with its immediate enforcement.

Here, I would like to mention that there were not community related issues. Most of the locals have been employed at site. They were given compensation against their lands. Locals associate NBBIIA project with their own prosperity, as they will going to have access to basic amenities very soon.

I had addressed my desired tasks in detail on weekly basis, please refer to table below:

Weekly Report no. Covered topics With reference to

Sustainable Development

01 General Overview

Cover airport design and economic costs.

02 Salient design features of the project

03 Detailed design outlook of airside, landside and building side

04 Eco-friendly, energy efficient and safety features (focusing materials)

Covers sustainable design, particularly energy efficient features.

05 Community related issues covers social issues

06 HSE Documentation cover environmental practices and its monitoring

07 Skills and Trainings

08 Final Report Covers overall evaluation of project and Lagan. How

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successful they are in achieving their HSE goals.

In addition to community related issues, I had an opportunity to review their documents and time schedule to revise them. Following table covers time frequency of different activities:

Lagan is trying its best to maintain high health and hygiene standards. However, pace of

achieving this milestone is relatively slow as the other partner firms are not reluctant to do so.

This is mainly due to lack of awareness and absence of local laws. Lagan has to strive further

and has to negotiate and make other realize about the importance of HSE.

Lagan construction is not maintaining the HSE standards here which they normally do in other

projects in Europe but I can surely say that they are better as compare to others. This is not

enough and as a leading contractor and experienced company, Lagan has to play a vital and

guiding role, enforcing HSE practices in their activity area.

In order to achieve sustainability, Lagan has to ensure the complete enforcement of their HSE

plan as this will address all economic, social and environmental issues related to project

particularly during construction phase.

I wish them good luck in achieving their desired goals.