Innovative safety approaches adopted by Tata BlueScope Building Solutions enabled GE India to complete its project successfully. To set up a manufacturing facility in Pune, GE India wanted an engineered steel building solution that would create a safe working environment while meeting all their operational requirements. The company collaborated with Tata BlueScope Building Solutions for the project. Stringent planning To mitigate all risks involved, the Tata BlueScope Building Solutions Team prepared a ´Safe Work Method Statement´ and a construction EHS plan. It also introduced new policies such as ´No Supervision-No Work´ and ´No Night Work´. The team conducted a pre-entry inspection and green tag certification of all equipment daily. The company did not allow the use of hydra for material loading and unloading for safety reasons. It also prepared a detailed site layout plan for safe storage of materials and equipment movement in the yard. As safety risks were involved in loading, unloading and stacking of structural steel material, stacking with the height indicators was proposed. Safe erection methodology The following approaches were adopted on site for safe project implementation: Reduce height risk: To ensure safety while working at height, three levels of protection were introduced. These included working in boom lift at height, mandatory use of full body harness with double lanyard, SKY-WEB® II Fall protection system to ensure safety during roof liner panel installation. Induction stickers for instant identifcation of workers were provided. Sitting on erected rafters, purlins, girts was not allowed. To restrict unauthorised entry, the work area was barricaded and to prevent fall of tools from height, all tools were tied while working at height. The roof access staircase of British scaffolding type for roof access and an access control system was implemented during roof installation. Edge protection was also provided at the roof edge. The erection of components such as brace rods, girts, flange braces, pipe struts, sag angles, SKY-WEB® II, crane platform, flashings were fixed using boom lifts and cranes. EHS tracker helped in mitigating safety risks before the start of each activity. ´One Activity-One Supervisor´ principle was followed. Innovative work methods: The company also introduced innovative work methods such as the POD erection method. This included fixing a 36 m long POD containing four rafters with purlins. This reduced the risk of working at height, since most of the erection activity was done at ground level. While the Purlin was erected using boom lift and crane, the strut pipe was erected by cranes and two boom lifts. After installation of the MR-24® roof system, aluminum roof walkway with permanent roof life line system was installed to ensure safe access to the roof in future. Detailed ´Pre-execution EHS planning´, effective use of risk mitigation techniques, rigorous implementation of EHS tracker, erection supervision by a dedicated construction safety team, use of boom lifts, SKY-WEB® II Fall Protection System, adoption of innovative construction techniques and Tata BlueScope Steel´s zero tolerance approach to safety violations resulted in completion of the GE project safely. The accolades Commenting on the success of the project Srikant Srinivasan, Director-Manufacturing, GE India, Pune, says, ¨Tata BlueScope´s dedicated construction safety team supervised our building erection and followed latest construction techniques that significantly reduced safety risks at our site. The EHS partnership with the entire Tata BlueScope Building Solutions project team has been truly wonderful. A number of EHS best practices has been leveraged at the Chakan site. In addition to enhancing safety, the EHS team devised safe work methods to increase productivity and efficiency.¨ (Communication by the management of the company)