SAFETY INSITE WINTER 2011 - Site Safe

Feature: Canterbury Rebuild
To support healthy and safe workplaces during earthquake remedial work Site Safe has been
facilitating coordination between Health and Safety Managers from the major construction
companies, ACC and the Department of Labour. From 23 June "The majority of greater
Christchurch properties – about 100,000 – have today been given a green light to go ahead
with their repair and rebuilding of their homes," Hon Brownlee said. Site Safe will help pass
on more Canterbury rebuild official information as it is released.
Governance
A new alliance group has been established to coordinate
infrastructure rebuild work in Christchurch. The alliance
includes the Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Authority
(CERA), Christchurch City Council (CCC), Fletcher
Construction, Fulton Hogan, Downer Construction, MacDow
New Zealand and City Care. The alliance will use
construction labour from within the Canterbury community.
The alliance is responsible for ground level and
underground infrastructure such as roads and waterways.
Over three quarters of storm water pipes have been
damaged. The civil industry has been quick to make the
necessary repairs clearly visible by the many scars on the
roads.
Earthquake Commission - for work costing between
$10,000 and $100,000
The Earthquake Commission has set up the Project Management Office EQR (for Earthquake
Recovery), and appointed Fletcher Construction as the principal. This is for work costing
between $10,000 and $100,000. Site Safe has been providing safety induction for contractors
and tradespersons who will be working for Fletcher Construction under the Earthquake
Recovery banner. Site Safe have recently launched the ‘Contractor Site Safety Kit’ which
assists smaller sized businesses get a head start on their health and safety requirements for
the earthquake recovery work.
Private insurance – for work costing over $100,000
There are three main insurance companies who are handling claims over $100,000 – AMI,
State and Vero. Main construction contractors who are undertaking contracts are Hawkins
Construction, Mainzeal and Arrow International. Workers and businesses are to comply with
Site Safe passport and site specific safety planning as required in all other major work.
The building scene – shaky ground
Buildings are a combination of parts which sits on land – which is now constantly moving. A
whole raft of issues may come out of an after-shock which can sometimes happen at night.
What began in September as a minor issue is by now, a major issue. To give an idea of how
unstable the ground is; driving around the Christchurch suburb of Kaiapoi, signs read “your
speed shakes our homes” and cars are encouraged to stay under 30 kms per hour.
Construction sites are to be monitored at least daily to see whether new hazards have arisen.
3