Metro Phase III to lay stress on safety, health

Two major mishaps and loss of 60 lives during the construction of Delhi Metro's phase II has impelled Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to make the guidelines for Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) stringent. This move aims to raise the standards of health and safety at construction sites under the 103km phase III.

Two major mishaps and loss of 60 lives during the construction of Delhi Metro's phase II has impelled Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to make the guidelines for Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) stringent. This move aims to raise the standards of health and safety at construction sites under the 103km phase III.

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For the first time, Delhi Metro has made training of contractors, workers and site engineers involved in the construction sites of phase III mandatory. "We have tied up with IIM-Ahmedabad to provide this training," said Anuj Dayal, spokesperson, DMRC.

On October 19, 2008, a mishap at the Metro construction site at Laxmi Nagar caused the death of two persons. On July 12, 2009, a major accident at the Zamrudpur construction site had killed six persons. The next day, a crane mishap took place at the same site during debris clearance.

"Phase 3 is the most complex project and we have to carry out construction in heavy traffic zones like the Ring Road and Outer Ring Road. Any mishaps in these places would not only cause damage to our workers but the general traffic as well," said a DMRC official.

During construction for projects, DMRC provides induction training, refresher training and specific training to persons with safety-related tasks, including crane operators, slingers, welders, electricians and plant operators.

Besides all this, the corporation has made arrangements for specialised training for contractors as well as site staff for Phase 3 contraction works. These include at least one week site training before the induction at the construction site, special training modules for competence building like concrete technology, road safety training.

"This training will be provided to the contractors by our safety team to ensure that the construction sites along city roads are safe and free of accidents,” said Dayal.