ecchelmet 0.5 million safe manhours and counting
in tough working conditions
OH to UG Cabling Jalahalli Phase-IV Project
Ring main unit panels
PT&D IC’s UPD BU is executing the ambitious Over Head to Under Ground Cabling Phase- IV project for the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) that aims to reduce drops in voltage, fault occurrences, maintenance costs, and damage to electrical lines due to environmental factors in the C3 and N9 sub-divisions of the Jalahalli area and thereby introduce a more resilient electrical network in the city of Bengaluru.
The scope for Project Manager, Ganeswararao Tankala, and team includes underground works to lay 11 kV cables, Horizontal Directional Drilling, open trenching, RMU installation, overhead works involving spun pole erection, converting single GOS to a three GOS structure, LT AB cable stringing, installing SMDB box, dismantling existing conductors, HT cable raising, and commissioning works.
Each of our activities are critical, and thus far we have successfully completed them all by developing and maintaining the best safety procedures and systems.
Ganeswararao Tankala
Project Manager
Challenges aplenty
After surveying the complex electrical circuit of the Jalahalli area, the team prepared an action plan to understand the circuits of each of the existing feeders with BESCOM officials before starting to execute, even as detailed survey drawings were being prepared. “Bengaluru’s existing overhead electrical circuit is extremely complex,” points out Ganeswararao, “and work commenced only after shutting down the existing lines, always maintaining robust safety procedures.” Executing in the middle of a densely populated area with heavy traffic and a veritable forest of overhead circuits and underground utilities like power & communication cables and gas & water pipelines was a nightmare. There was constant pressure from the client to complete the work on time, limited time for complete shutdown, frequent changes of workmen, ROW issues, and other challenges.
Open trench and HDD works were particularly trying for EHS In-charge, Vinoth Kumar G M, considering the population and the traffic. “Most of our underground works were carried out at night when there was less interference,” he points out. “Bengaluru’s power distribution network is spread like a net over the city, and it was challenging to identify whether there was any back feeding power source from domestic or commercial premises in that span of line that we needed to execute even after shutdown. Any back feed is an electrical hazard that could lead to electrocution.”
Our customer’s feedback has been ‘Excellent’ in all quarters of every financial year. Our audit score in all internal audits has been 85%+, and our internal KPI score is more than 87% over the last two years! The numbers tell a story about us achieving our goal of ‘Mission Zero Harm’.
Vinoth Kumar G M
EHS In-charge
Driving the EHS agenda
With 170 employees and workmen, including subcontractor employees, and with multiple activities happening at a site spread over approximately 250 sq. m, a major task before Ganeswararao, Vinoth, and team was to set up and implement a stringent EHS management system. “Each of our activities are critical, and thus far we have successfully completed them all by developing and maintaining the best safety procedures and systems,” remarks Ganeswararao with a thumbs-up.
Detection of underground utilities using GPR
A major reason for their success is their training programmes on HIRA, SOPs of work activities, behaviour-based safety, defensive driving, traffic management, and more, conducted using e‑formats & VR after identifying the training needs
of people.
The Pre-Task Plan (PTP) is strictly implemented for Shutdown and Non-shutdown works. Line surveys and PTPs are prepared 72 hours prior to execution for shutdown works and 24 hours prior for non-shutdown works, and uploaded to the digital safety app, SHEiLD, by the site engineer to be approved by the Section and EHS In-charges. “We have PTPs too with the Cluster Operation Head and Project Manager as the final approvers for emergency shutdowns and non-shutdown works,” informs Vinoth, “and we follow dedicated Permits to Work (PTW) like shutdown clearance permits, permits to work between the site engineer and subcontractor supervisor, hot & night work and workat-height permits, and excavation clearance permits.”
VR training for workmen
Since shutdown-related works carry high risk, apart from making safe battery limit areas with the client’s support, the team has introduced several new technologies to protect the workmen from electrocution like helmet-mounted Induction Testers, pen-type induction & HV testers, 11 kV grade rubber hand gloves, FRP ladders, LOTO at main isolation points, LOTO of MCBs at the consumer’s premises, shorting and earthing of existing HT & LT UG cables, and HT & LT bushing of existing distribution transformers using heavy-duty shorting clips to prevent back feed. “In addition, we place extra discharge rods near the work area and on metal structures of GOS & DTR for the current to leak onto the ground in our safe work zone,” shares Vinoth. “Since inception we have completed 900+ safe shutdowns, and our OTP system controls unauthorized shutdowns.”
Other safety measures include a 4‑colour token system (Red & Green for workmen at height during shutdowns & non-shutdowns; Blue & Yellow for ground workmen during shutdowns & non-shutdowns, respectively), daily EHS reports about activities to be done during shutdown, reflective caution boards in English, Hindi, and Kannada at all work zones like open trenches, HDD work, excavated pits, and beside heavy traffic. Excavated areas are equipped with flashers and blinkers to alert drivers and the public, while open trenches are hard barricaded.
Ganeswararao ticks off more, mentioning regular EHS audits like cross-BU EHS audits, internal EHS & cross-BU surprise audits, and weekly EHS walkdowns & EHS committee meetings along with the project team and subcontractors’ representatives to address all EHS-related points.
Establishing engineering controls
To make sense out of the welter of underground utilities and ensure their safety during execution, the team uses a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) system to survey their work location to ascertain the precise path and depth to lay the new UG utility. The Path Finder helps to detect the presence of underground utilities. Based on GPR reports, the existing UG utilities are cross-verified 24 hours before execution, which helps the team to track & detect multiple power cables and their depth in real time.
Digitalization contributes significantly to Ganeswararao’s robust EHS efforts, and apart from SHiELD, he mentions deploying digital tools like VR for training, WISA, and GPS-enabled Safe Start and Safe Stop messaging to subcontractors.
0.5 million safe manhours & 4,500 training manhours achieved and counting …
Vinoth is justifiably proud that their project has achieved 0.5 million safe manhours since inception. “We have successfully completed 2 internal EHS audits, 2 cross-BU EHS audits, 2 surprise audits, and an external audit conducted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), without any NCRs and major observations,” he shares with great satisfaction. “Our customer’s feedback has been ‘Excellent’ in all quarters of every financial year. Our audit score in all internal audits has been 85%+, and our internal KPI score is more than 87% over the last two years! The numbers tell a story about us achieving our goal of ‘Mission Zero Harm’.”
Over 4,500 training manhours have been spent on behaviour-based safety, toolbox, and awareness training sessions. Workmen engaged in critical tasks like shutdowns, work at height, lifting operations, and/or equipment handling are given job-specific training. In addition, several awareness campaigns have been conducted on defensive driving, road safety awareness, emergency preparedness, health awareness initiatives like yoga, AIDS, & ‘No Tobacco’ awareness sessions, and monthly motivational programmes for employees and workmen.
Pole with transformer containing GOS
Being a good corporate citizen too
On the sustainability front, the team has disposed of 130+ MT of scrap materials to authorized vendors to ensure efficient and environmentally friendly collection, disposal, & recycling of scrap materials. They have planted 1,000+ saplings at the project store yard and government schools in the vicinity put up a transparent roof in their indoor store yard to save energy, and reused scrap materials like wooden planks to prepare fire bucket stands, while damaged FRP discharge rods are used as barricading rods in the store yard.
In the realm of CSR, they have distributed study materials to 180 students at a primary government school, collected
25 units of blood at a blood donation camp organized in association with Swamy Vivekananda Voluntary Blood Bank, Bangalore, and distributed 100 blankets to the underprivileged during winter.
Certainly, Ganeswararao Tankala and his team have a lot to be proud of apart from delivering a tough project in time and safely.