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.
Lagans 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, Lagans 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, Lagans 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

1|Page
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 Lagans 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.

2|Page
. 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 persons 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 Lagans 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
3|Page
 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 Pakistans 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 personnels 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, its an extensive and tough job
and each supervisor has to cover huge area and no. of people but Lagans has assigned dual
role to some site workers, who regularly report to HSE supervisor of the concerned area.

4|Page
 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 Lagans had
submitted:

5|Page
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 individuals 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.

6|Page
Figure 4: Washroom Figure 8: Workshop

Figure 5: Closed Vicinity Figure 9: Closed vicinity

Figure 6: Kitchen Figure 10: Preparing food

7|Page
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 Lagans
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.
8|Page
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:

With reference to
Weekly Report no. Covered topics
Sustainable Development

01 General Overview

02 Salient design features of the project Cover airport design and

economic costs.
Detailed design outlook of airside,
03
landside and building side

Covers sustainable design,

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

9|Page
 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.

10 | P a g e