By rosebell
Following a serious near-miss incident that stopped work on HS2 london tunnels, a phased restart of work has commenced on HS2’s London tunnels on September 29.
This incident which occurred during the disassembly of a gantry crane at the Green Park Way vent shaft in west London, forced contractor Skanska Costain Strabag (SCS JV) to halt the work. Although no-one was physically injured, the incident posed a serious risk to those involved and an investigation is under way.
While a review of safety and leadership across all SCS JV sites is being undergoing, in accordance with an HS2 spokesperson in light of this review, on Monday, October 20 a phased restart of work across SCS JV’s 19 sites began.
Involving a concentration on improved management of change, supervision and leadership engagement, initially works commenced across three sites with additional safety measures being put in place, whereas a further eight sites returned on Tuesday, October 21 and Wednesday, October 22.
According to the spokesperson:”More sites will restart in due course as we continue to implement any additional safety measures which are considered necessary following the review. We will not compromise on safety and sites will only restart when SCS and HS2 Ltd are fully satisfied that all appropriate measures are in place to protect the workforce.”
Considering that the incident remains under investigation, no more details are available and the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has been made aware of the incident.
The spokesperson also added: “Safety would always be our top priority which is why all works were halted on the London tunnels section of HS2. Additional measures are being implemented by our contractor, Skanska Costain Strabag joint venture, to ensure the safety of the workforce and we continue to closely monitor performance.”
As a 22.5km stretch from the approaches to Euston station through to the Copthall tunnel in Hillingdon, the HS2 London tunnels area’s main works civils contractor is SCS JV. Most of this route is in twin-bore tunnels.
