The tunnel consortium FBC (Femern Belt Contractors), which is excavating the tunnel channel and carrying out the majority of the work at sea on the tunnel project, completed three million working hours in a row in January this year – without any accidents at work.
Usually 24 accidents per million hours
According to figures from the Danish Employers’ Association, you can normally count on approximately 24 occupational accidents per million working hours in the construction industry. Thus, FBC appears to be a bit of an overachiever of the class. Gintaras Vagelas, who is Heath & Safety manager at the building company Femern A/S, is also very satisfied with the preliminary statistics from FBC:
– It’s a great milestone, and it’s something we’re proud of. Of course we want zero accidents – or at least as few as possible, and that is no easy task on a construction site of this size, says Gintaras Vagelas.
Hasn’t reached goal
However, he also emphasizes that it is still too early to rest on one’s laurels:
– We cannot say that we have reach our goal yet. This is the one contract (there are no figures available from the consortium FLC, which is responsible for the tunnel construction itself, they have not disclosed their occupational injury statistics, ed.). We are working with target zero for the entire project, he says.
NINA makes the difference
Gintaras Vagelas attributes Boskalis’ (the one company in the FBC consortium, ed.) NINA program (No Injuries No Accidents) much of the credit for the low number of reported occupational accidents:
– NINA means quite a lot. These are skilled people who have the necessary knowledge. A lot of time has been invested in that work, and there are many years of experience behind it. They have been working on this for 10-12 years, says Gintaras Vagelas.
Employees must take ownership
An important part of the NINA program is that the employees take ownership in relation to safety – and that management supports it. And FBC’s employees have taken this to heart:
– There are over 30 observations per month where the employees report back that there are security risks, and so far we have had over 1,500 observations in total, says Gintaras Vagelas.
Is occupational safety a personal responsibility or the responsibility of management?
Right and duty
– It is both. Each and every employee must be able to say stop, and you must be able to feel management support for this. Occupational safety is not just a right – it is also a duty. Everyone must be able to come home in the evening without injury, says Gintaras Vagelas.
– Every month we reward an employee for the best security notification. And when one comes in, it is immediately dealt with at the next morning meeting, says Femern A/S’ health and safety manager.
On sick leave for one day or more
An occupational accident is defined, in this context, as an incident in connection with work, which means that an employee is sick for one day or more.
FBC has continuously had 200-500 employees on the construction of the Fehmarnbelt tunnel. FBC’s part of the work is expected to be completed during 2024. FBC consists of the two Dutch companies Boskalis International B.V. and Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors B.V.
