ecchelmet For its EHS performance, Piramal Aranya rises above all
B&F IC’s Piramal Aranya residential project has been awarded the much coveted ‘Sword of Honour’ from the British Safety Council twice! Their sterling EHS performance has also won them the L&T Construction Safety Award – 2020, a RoSPA Gold, and certifications from the National Safety Council for consecutive years. It is therefore not surprising that Project Director, Sundaram Somasundaram (SS) considers his project a role model for its EHS performance. SS’s EHS success is not surprising either, having won similar accolades at a couple of his previous projects – Kohinoor Towers and Omkar 1973. In fact, both SS and his EHS In-charge, A V Muruganantham (AVM) have reason to cheer having won the ‘Sword of Honour’ for their Omkar 1973 project too. “I firmly believe that if a team works in unison, all the targeted tasks can be accomplished,” says SS, with quiet confidence.
Project Director Sundaram Somasundaram receving the
Sword of Honour
Situated in Byculla, adjacent to Mumbai’s zoo, the Jijamata Udyan or the erstwhile Victoria Gardens that has the largest green cover in South Mumbai, Piramal Aranya is a group of three high-rise towers, the tallest rising to 88 stories. Once completed, flat owners will enjoy some sumptuous views of the city, though presently SS and his team have chosen ‘meticulous risk assessment and pre planning’ to execute this logistically constrained high-rise project that is posing Construction Head, N Sriram several tough questions. “In-situ logistics is a huge challenge, especially in Mumbai, but with proper short- and long-term planning, we have successfully avoided logistical bottlenecks that has helped in timely formwork system erection, P&M asset erection/dismantling as well as creating an overall healthy and safe work-place.”
I firmly believe that if a team works in unison, all the targeted tasks can be accomplished.
Sundaram Somasundaram
Project Director
All smiles! Project Director, Sundaram Somasundaram & EHS In-charge A Muruganantham receiving the Sword of Honour Award from Whole Time Director & Senior Executive Vice President (Buildings), M V Satish
Keeping safe at heights
“A proactive approach is essential to successfully implement EHS culture at site,” points out AVM, “and I am positive that all high-risk activities that are likely to occur can be mitigated prior to confronting them.” With construction at Piramal Aranya rising to 280 m and more, working at heights has been one of the team’s biggest challenges. “We have adopted the Autoclimbing Formwork System (ACS) for our columns and core walls that has speeded up construction to achieve an average 6-day cycle time,” AVM explains, “while with the specially designed Safety Screens, our workmen are never made to feel that they are working at heights of 200 m plus. In fact, the double safety layers have reduced the phobia as they feel that they were working at ground level. This is in addition to every workman being vetted for ‘work at height’ prior to the safety induction.”
A proactive approach is essential to successfully implement EHS culture at site and I am positive that all high-risk activities that are likely to occur can be mitigated prior to confronting them.
A V Muruganantham
EHS In-charge
Keeping the risk of fire at bay
To address the threat of fire that high-rises often face, the team has designed and implemented an in-house automatic fire fighting system that can be operated from ground level and is extended with every ‘jump’ or after completing one level of concreting. “This system is a first-of-its kind implemented in India,” enthuses AVM, “as general fire-fighting systems of Fire Stations or industry standards do not reach beyond 165 m.”
Aerial view of the Autoclimbing Formwork System
Workmen feel safe at heights behind our specially designed
Safety Screens
Keeping P&M smooth and efficient
A matter of pride for the P&M team led by U Vinod Kumar is the recognition for Piramal Aranya as the Best P&M-enabled site based on a variety of parameters including very few incidents, higher productivity, timely maintenance, maximum audit compliance, efficient movement of spares, care of equipment, adherence to fuel norms and such like. “Timely and safe erection of the P&M assets is a huge task especially with limited logistics,” observes Vinod Kumar. “Timely maintenance ensures smooth operation, and any major breakdown is avoided by meticulously scheduling maintenance to avoid any adverse impact on site progress.”
Keeping workmen happy and productive
A best-in-class camp for their 850-odd workmen, designed considering natural ventilation, with facilities like recreation rooms, auto-sprinkler systems, gas detectors in the kitchen, storage rooms for food grains (which came in extremely handy during the pandemic times) and more have helped improve workmen productivity and retention. “We have made their camp very similar to their home,” remarks Accounts and Admin Head, Babu Mathrathan. “After all, workmen are our best assets and once they are confident that they have been well looked after, they are more productive and ready to implement the new initiatives taken by our team.”
The only view that matters!
A revealing fact that their MO is working is that their workmen have been returning to site after visiting their hometowns. The team has signed an MoU with the MCGM (Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai) to provide free daily lunch to 300 workmen. In addition, they are given a minimum protein diet of 175 g to ensure their health in a stressful and demanding environment. “We have looked at the occupational and environmental aspects too,” adds AVM, “like routine doctors’ visits to assess workmen health, using acoustic enclosures for concrete pumps to check the emission of fine cement, sand, dust and other particles, control mechanisms at batching plants and aggregate bins (with an automatic sprinkler system for suppression of particles), to name a few.”
Keeping innovations rolling
The team innovatively developed an ‘indigenous M80 slurry mix’ that eliminates the use of conventional cement slurry, which being temporary does not form a part of the permanent structure. It saves cost, reduces safety risks as contact as well as activity time are considerably reduced and avoids generating waste which would have only led to landfill.
Piramal Aranya rides on efficient project planning for which Planning Manager, Sushanta Bhowal and his team must be credited. “With new requirements from stakeholders and new EHS initiatives available, it is extremely important to do cost-benefit analysis and we have achieved multiple goals apart from setting new benchmarks within the available financials.” SS adds, “We have developed many initiatives at this project which I am sure will be assimilated at different project sites to create better working environments across the organization.”
With new requirements from stakeholders and new EHS initiatives available, it is extremely important to do cost-benefit analysis and we have achieved multiple goals apart from setting new benchmarks within the available financials.
Sushanta Bhowal
Planning Manager
At the end of the day, for an EHS professional, a ‘Sword of Honour’ is something worth celebrating and AVM has had three such occasions already at L&T Construction. “Even the 5-star audits are a learning experience,” he shares excitedly. “Here, at Piramal Aranya, our first audit was conducted by BSC’s Mr. Chris McDermott physically at site and our score was 93.82%. The second was a virtual audit by Mr. Bob Wallace and we scored 92.93%.”
Here is wishing SS, AVM and their team more sterling EHS accolades going forward.