COVER FEATURE
STAYING
SAFE Best safety practices for deep
foundation construction sites
By Sarah B. Hood
The piling industry is much safer than it once was.
Dennis Bell, HSE manager for Northstar Energy Services
Inc., recalls how different things used to be,
even around the turn of the millennium.
“Now, we have designated pile driving units and hydraulic
hammers,” he said. “Riggers used to climb the leads, so you had
fall issues. Now, if something happens, the clients supply a
zoom boom platform; we don’t climb leads anymore. It’s nice
to see that the industry has come to a higher level of safety.”
But even with the advances, there are still concerns.
“The piling construction industry continues to have one
of the highest WSIB premium rates in industry twelfth
highest out of 155 rate groups in Ontario,” said Paul Belair,
MBA, BASc, CRSP, CHSE, the director of health, safety and
environment for Keller Canada. Among the common industry
hazards, he lists musculoskeletal injuries, trips and falls,
contact with mobile equipment and rigs, injuries from equipment
contact with live utilities services and entanglement
from rotating parts.
Know the common hazards
In fact, the risks are “pretty obvious,” says Owen Langton,
project manager for Henry Foundation Drilling Inc.
“Large equipment, operating in a confined area … it makes
for a very busy site with a lot of heavy equipment, all in a
tight, confined space. Your crew is performing heavy manual
labour to rather exacting standards; the work shifts are quite
long,” said Langton.
“One risk that stands out, of course, is falling objects. It
takes a lot of energy to drive a big pipe into the ground; there’s
PHOTO COURTESY OF KELLER CANADA
PILING CANADA 13