Canadian Occupational Safety

APRIL/MAY 2018 19 with more work cancellations than usual due to snowfall, extreme cold and wind. "It can be ever ything from a cr ystal clear lovely evening to intense fog that you can hardly see your hand in front of you face and rainy winds of 70 knots howling across," says Treen. "All of this while lifting these massive segments up." Working in such difficult conditions can be tiring, so fatigue was certainly on the radar of Halifax Harbour Bridges. It asked to see crew schedules throughout the project to ensure workers had suitable rest days. These workers would not traditionally be night shift workers, so it was very important to monitor them for signs of fatigue. "Switching over to working nights is a different animal," says Treen. "If somebody comes in exces- sively fatigued, we need a system to pull them off and keep them out of trouble and maybe assign them other duties." FEBRUARY 2017: FINAL DECK SEGMENT INSTALLED Considering the size and scope of the project — and the fact that it had only been done once before in the entire world — Hollett deems it very successful. Halifax Harbour Bridges reviewed the monthly safety performance reports for the constructor and the contractors, and the injuries were pretty minor over the course of the Big Lift. From the start of the project in 2010 to date, work was never stopped due to a safety incident and there were no fatalities. "They did a wonderful job in managing their safety," Hollett says. "An ambulance was only called twice. That's pretty darn good, really." But an excellent safety record over the course of the Big Lift project was not the only thing Halifax Harbour Bridges celebrated. "There was a few marriages and a couple babies born over the course of the project," says Eppell. "But no bad news." below, a dropped objects prevention program was very important for this project. "Dropping something onto a piece of sensitive military equipment, even if it was as small as a nut, could have long-ranging implications," says Treen. There were also businesses, pedestrian walkways, residential areas and roadways under segments of the bridge. If any worker dropped anything, Halifax Har- bour Bridges wanted to know about it. MARCH 2016: THE BIG DELAY The majority of the work on the bridge was done during overnight closures. The bridge was supposed to re-open for the morning commute at 5:30 a.m., but one day it didn't open until 9:50 a.m., with just one lane open in each direction. The third middle lane — which changes direction based on traffic flow — did not open until 11 a.m. "The entire city went into gridlock. It was a catas- trophe. You couldn't move anywhere. It just plugged everything solid," says Treen. Despite a few late openings like this and working in tight deadlines, Halifax Harbour Bridges ensured the contractors never wavered on safety — something that Treen uses as an example for other employers. "We always hear the complaints from companies and from people saying, 'Oh well the safety stuff takes so much time and we don't have time to do that. We're under pressure, deadline and everything else, but that's a pretty heavy duty pressure deadline — when you know there's thousands of cars waiting at 5:30 a.m. to cross that bridge," says Treen. Snider, the CEO of Halifax Harbour Bridges, had been put under the gun by the media a few times for delays, but he stayed firm in the importance of safety, even though it caused a lot of grief, says Treen. "I give him credit for keeping his heels dug in and saying, 'No. We're not going to do this unless we can do it safely. Nobody's going to die on this job.'" SEPTEMBER 2016: LIFTING GANTRY MODIFICATIONS Throughout the project, the bridge not only moved up and down, but it somewhat unexpectedly moved hori- zontally. The device that was used for replacing the segments — called the lifting gantry — was a steel frame with strand jacks on it that were clamped on to vertical orange hanger ropes. Be- cause the bridge moved longitudinally, they weren't vertical anymore, meaning the cable going through the clamps was bent. When workers went to remove a clamp, one sprang off and landed on the deck because it was load-bound, says Eppell. "At that point we had to modify the procedure. We put in a longitudinal strut to jack the lifting gantry so that it would take out the kink, in effect, removing any force and allow you to move the clamps," he says. Whenever there was a near-miss event that had the potential for any type of injury, such as this one, Hali- fax Harbour Bridges would request that American Bridge Canada hold a safety stand-down to discuss what happened and how it could be prevented. "When something like this takes place, pretty much work activities get put on hold until they resolve the issue," says Hollett. JANUARY 2017: THE BIG WIND The conditions the individuals working on the Big Lift faced were not easy. Much of the work took place at night, so visibility was always a concern. The contractors did a great job of lighting and eliminating dark corners as much as possible, but working at night is still difficult, says Treen. "Your depth perception is not the same at night as it is in the daytime hours. You've got shadows that affect your depth perception as well as the glare. Depending on how you're positioned, you might be looking into one of these bright lights," he says. Nighttime work was made even more chal- lenging when the weather was not co-operating. Some nights they were not able to work due to the weather. In January 2017, there were a few weeks HOW DID THEY DO IT? Starting near the Dartmouth, N.S. shore, deck panels (in either 20- or 10-metre lengths) of the Macdonald Bridge were replaced overnight. A lifting gantry was positioned on the suspender ropes and the existing panel lowered to a barge in the harbour. A new panel then was lifted into position in the same manner. One deck panel was replaced every three or four working nights. On the Halifax side, the bridge deck panels were replaced in 10-metre lengths over land because they could be brought in by truck rather than on a barge. Over its duration, the Big Lift saw the complete replacement of the road deck, floor beams, stiffening trusses and suspender ropes on 46 deck segments of the Macdonald Bridge, which accounted for 2,500 feet of the bridge. Now, much of the bridge infrastructure is new, leaving only the towers, main cables and anchorages on the suspended spans as original. In the end, the re-decking resulted in the bridge profile being raised 3.3 metres to increase the shipping clearance. Upcoming Changes to the CRSP ® Eligibility Criteria The BCRSP is a self-regulating, self-governing organization accredited by the Standards Council of Canada to ISO 17024 (Personnel Certification Body) and by BSI Management Systems to ISO 9001(Quality Management System). Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals/Conseil canadien des professionnels en sécurité agréés 6700 Century Avenue, Suite 100, Mississauga, ON L5N 6A4 905-567-7198, 1-888-279-2777, www.bcrsp.ca Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals Effective July 1, 2018 the eligibility criteria for the CRSP ® certification is changing. Applications for the CRSP ® certification received on or after July 1 2018 will be required to meet the following criteria: • A minimum of a Bachelor's degree (4-year) in any field OR a 2-year (900 hour) diploma (or certificate) in occupational health and safety or a closely related field from a recognized academic institution. • At least four (4) years of experience where occupational health and safety is at least 50%, preventative, professional level with breadth and depth of health and safety duties. For more information on the CRSP ® certification, and the upcoming changes, visit www.bcrsp.ca

• Cover