The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has praised the safety record of the 1200-strong team working to transform former athletes’ accommodation into new homes at the site of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Village.
The workforce has achieved the milestone of a million hours of work without a reportable accident as the new neighbourhood of East Village, which will provide 2818 new homes, is constructed – far outperforming average UK workplace standards.
The ODA, together with contractor Lend Lease and the sub-contractors on site, has promoted a number of health and safety initiatives during the conversion, including:
Mike Cornelius, ODA director of village and commercial, said: “Completing East Village is the final piece of the jigsaw for the ODA and we need to keep health and safety at the top of the agenda.
“The works taking place on the Village are creating a whole new neighbourhood for London, and our workforce can be proud that they are setting the highest standards in health and safety on this unique project.”
ODA chief operating officer Gerry Murphy echoed Cornelius’ comments but cautioned workers to remain vigilant. She said: “I encourage the teams on site to remain vigilant and continue with the excellent standard they have set so far – not only in health and safety but also in the quality of their work and environmental awareness.”
The work at East Village to prepare the new homes includes the fitting of brand new kitchens, electrical works, plumbing, and landscaping. Partitions that created extra bedrooms for the athletes during the Games are being removed. The first residents will start to move in late this summer.
During the construction of the Olympic Park and Village, the ODA clocked up a total of 30 periods of one million hours worked without a reportable accident, as well as five periods of two million hours, two periods of three million hours, and one period of four million hours.
A reflection of the time and effort put in at all levels to acheive, when in this case clearly the sum of each part and initiatives were greater than the whole.
It is sad that in a post Deep Water Horizon/Texas City era, much commented on by the likes of Hopkins and Miles, that industries still put great store on occupational injury rates as an indicator of overall safety. That aside, well done, great story.