CONSTRUCTION SAFETY. For those closest to the construction site of the Naturvetenskap Life project, blasting is a recurring and unavoidable feature of everyday life. Below is a description by Skanska’s production manager about the safety practices that protect nearby operations as work progresses.
New construction in the immediate vicinity of other buildings is nothing new for Skanska.
“Every construction project in urban surroundings means a lot of attention needs to be paid to neighboring activities. At Skanska we are required to meet high demands imposed on us by laws and regulations. In addition, we have internal procedures that help us to never lose our focus on safety,” says Henrik Lindström, Skanska’s production manager for Naturvetenskap Life.
“The security measures we have put in place here at Medicinareberget – and that we always observe – exist to keep everyone in nearby safe. I understand that it can seem alarming to be right below a construction site where blasting is under way. Those of us working on construction sometimes need to remind ourselves that it is different when you are at the top of the hill and have a clear view of everything.”
The status at Medicinareberget
Work is proceeding, and there have been no incidents during either blasting or other activities.
At the moment large amounts of rock material are being piled up daily as a buffer against the blasting in the hole where the former cooling center stood.
A heavy enclosure also is being set up in the area in front of the truncated culvert. It consists of heavy concrete barriers connected together in the same way as was done at Medicinaregatan.
Regarding the slope down toward Medicinarelängan, Skanska will set up a barrier of timber mats, a method that works well even on uneven surfaces. First holes are drilled for the heavy iron supports that hold up the timber mats that are then mounted on end. The barrier will be positioned about 20 m from Medicinarelängan, depending on what machine access to the area Skanska has. The meter-high barrier will prevent rocks from rolling down without blocking light to the rooms farthest down.
At another location
The construction of Biomedicum in Solna, a building similar to Naturvetenskap Life in many ways, also required dealing with nearby operations during groundwork preparations like blasting and then during the actual construction. The greatly expanded site is interspersed between other operations (picture below), but construction was still completely feasible.
Watch this video from a webcam that documented the site preparation for Biomedicum
TEXT AND PHOTO: HELEN EASTERLING
