Varsha Inner Harbour Project

“Our Varsha Inner Harbour project is a government-initiated marine-based strategic project with major activities to be executed in a marine mode,” says Project Head, Debashri Chatterjee, introducing his top-secret assignment. “It is therefore imperative for us to have a controlled marine operation to successfully complete the project with ‘Zero’ incidents.”

Having already clocked 13+ million safe manhours since the project began, EHS Manager, Diwakar Babu Y, has every reason to smile. “We have fostered and successfully maintained a safe work environment and have remained an ‘Incident-Free Site’ since inception with zero accidents,” he shares with a flourish. “What’s more, we have consistently notched 90 and above audit scores in all the IC EHS and EHS Council audits.”

Debashri is quick to add that the site has not recorded a single NCR pertaining to EHS from the Client and is thrilled to share the appreciation they received from the Engineer, M/s. Halcrow Consulting, for achieving 10 million safe manhours.

Addressing twin challenges

Logistics management is one of the site team’s major challenges, having to safely deliver 25 LMT of rock to site on a convoy of trucks that must drive through densely populated villages. The other challenge is executing in a marine environment involving diving operations at depths of 30 m.

Most of the mitigatory steps taken by the site team are pertaining to maintaining safety during marine operations. “We have identified and nominated a dedicated team to conduct marine safety training and have established a framework for demonstrating physical hazards,” informs Diwakar. An EHS Knowledge Centre spreads awareness among personnel deployed on marine fronts.

The team has initiated a single-point entry to site and made it mandatory to control marine operations, and the use of biometrics and/or face detection at the boat point restricts unauthorized entry. A rescue boat along with a team is available at site 24×7, while a decompression chamber has been set up to address any complications during diving operations.

Maintaining a ‘green’ sensibility: Aware of the inherent threat of construction activities to the environment, the project team has planted 6,500 saplings at site, maintaining a survival rate of 96%.

“We have implemented all construction EHS standards vigorously at site to achieve Mission Zero Harm,” avers Debarshi.