News

In the week between April 25 to 29, 2016 the third edition of the Safety Week was organized on all Warbud's construction sites in Poland The organizer of the event was the Association for Safety in the Construction Industry - an informal organisation of leading Polish General Contractors set up in 2010. The main objective of the Association is to eliminate fatal accidents from Polish construction sites.

There were trainings, meetings with experts and a number of other fascinating activities. Warbud S.A.'s activities were attended by the total of 2658 people, including 699 employees of our firm and 1623 employees of our 336 subcontractors. On all the construction sites of the 10 signatories of the Agreement a special poster was displayed advertising the event. The slogan for this year's edition of the event was "Turn on thinking - plan and react".

In Warbud S.A. the Safety Week was officially started by Mr Leszek Żelaśkiwicz, Member of the Board, on the construction site of Premium Housing Estate in Warsaw's Bemowo District.

In each of Warbud's construction sites 15-minute meetings were organised named Safety Quarters. They were intended for the whole personnel and their idea was to encourage people to predict, plan and react. The intention of the Quarter is to inform the personnel of the hazards and how to eliminate them as well as about the requirements for safe execution of work. The technical staff conducted OHS instruction sessions which were focussed among others on hazards connected with noise, rules of using scaffolding systems and accidents on the construction sites.

On chosen sites, among others Wood Wrocław, Forum Gdańsk or Ogrody Naramowickie in Poznań there were the so-called "responsibility mirrors" installed on some walls. That was a surprising element drawing people's attention to who is really responsible for safety of work on a construction site. A worker looking at the mirror sees his own reflection and the inscription on the mirror frame: "This is the person responsible for safety".

A visits of technical schools students on the Wood Wrocław construction site. Warbud being a responsible contractor may have an influence on the type of persons it may employ on its sites in the future. We may support the teaching process by showing our construction sites and allowing students to smoothly shift from construction theory to practice. In addition to the opportunity of exchanging professional knowledge and asking questions about construction methods and organisation of work, an important element for the students are the chances to meet the people who graduated from the same type of school. The students may find themselves what professional perspectives are open to them. During this year's Safety Week the students attended trainings on the safety of steel fixing work and tool part in first aid workshops.

First Aid Workshops were organised among others on the Wood site in Wroclaw and Premium in Warsaw. The trainings included a presentation of video materials as well as theoretical and practical activities. Their main objective was to provide the students with knowledge and revise the knowledge connected with reacting in a situation when human life is at hazard. The trainings were run by a qualified medical rescuer.

On many Warbud's construction sites there were presentations organised by suppliers and producers of safety equipment. A Honeywell employee discussed aspects of working at a height and demonstrated the operation of personal protection equipment to be used for such work, that is cables with fall arresters, self-braking and self-clamping devices. On the construction site of Jaworzno Power Station an employee of the company WERTYKAL ran a training on the use of safety harnesses. The company Hilti presented new OHS solutions connected with the use of power tools.

On one of our construction sites there was a presentation made by Ms. Dagmara Tyc, Director of Polska Izba Gospodarcza Rusztowań (Polish Chamber of Commercial Scaffolding).

On the construction site of Ogrody Naramowickie Housing Estate in Poznań we organised practical workshops on using fire extinguishers which were run by the company ISKRA in a simulated fire situation. The workers had a presentation of the rules on how to reacting to fire and how to behave in the case of fire on the construction site. During the training the workers found out about the most common causes and types of fires on construction sites. They were also instructed what to do in the case of fire, who to notify, whether to use a fire extinguisher and what type of extinguisher depending on the type of burning material. The purpose of the exercise was to refresh the knowledge and practical skills connected with correct behaviour in the case of fire.

The Safety Week was the time in which the signatories of the Agreement doubled their efforts to achieve the "zero accidents" goal. Most common accident causes are as follows: ROUTINE, LACK OF REFLECTION, UNDERESTIMATION OF HAZARDS AND CARELESSNESS. Be cautious in order to prevent accidents! Open your mind! React to alarming signals and act in accordance with well-established safety standards!

Being one of the initiators of the Safety Week Warbud planned a number of actions aimed at increasing employee and subcontractor's awareness in the field of occupational health and safety. It is not possible to list here all the actions as there were so many construction teams who showed a lot of involvement in the project. Site managers and employees of our Health and Safety department showed a lot of initiative by organising all the events down to the smallest details. We give them our sincere thanks for that.

We also encourage all those for whom human lives and health is the highest value to show such initiatives throughout all year. Together we may change the awareness of our workers and therefore reduce accident numbers.