Animator: Donald Lamont (UK),
Vice-Animator: Martin Vogel (Switzerland),
Tutor: Ruth Gunlaug Haug (Norway)
Report presented by Donald Lamont:
ITA WG5 met twice during WTC 2015 in Dubrovnik with 23 people from 13 Member Nations attending one or both meetings.
• We were joined on Sunday afternoon by a delegation from ITATech to discuss ITA participation in CEN and ISO standards making and in particular to consider a response to EN ISO DIS 19296.
• We had a very full agenda and consequently this will be a long report!
Participation in Standards making
• CEN and ISO standards are hugely important in three subject areas, all of which impact on the tunnelling industry.
• Machinery safety, construction materials safety and structural design.
• As standards making is now a trans-national activity, ITA with over 70
Member Nations is ideally placed to exert influence over the content of standards which impact on tunnelling.
• WG5 with ITATech support recommends that ITA should recognise its potential ability to act on behalf of the tunnelling industry through influencing the content of relevant CEN and ISO standards and look to put in place technical and financial resources to address standards participation issues in the future.
EN ISO DIS 19296
• This DIS covers mobile machines for use in underground mining operations. The scope states it does “not directly cover” machines used in tunnel construction.
• WG5 and ITATech agreed there should be a single EN/ISO standard setting out the generic requirements relating to the use of machinery underground.
• WG5 considered that as a minimum the standard should cover generic issues including fire, visibility and emissions.
• In addition there should be the capability in such a standard to include additional requirements for specific machine types including those for personnel lifting, personnel transport, concrete spraying.
ITA Report No 10 – version 2
• Version 2 of Report No 10 “Guidelines for good working practice in High Pressure Compressed Air” has been revised jointly with the Compressed Air Working Group of the BTS and was launched at the ITA Open Session in Dubrovnik.
• The report content has been increased by around 30% mainly due to additional guidance on saturation exposures.
• HPCA work is being undertaken in China, Turkey, and Hong Kong.
• The ITA/BTS guidelines are being used in Hong Kong as the basis for regulatory approval.
• There then followed a presentation on the HPCA work in Hong Kong to illustrate various aspects of the guidance.
ITA Report No 14 – Refuge Chambers
• WG5 recognised that refuge chambers were now installed on all TBMs large enough to accommodate them but were somewhat concerned at the low uptake of chambers in conventional tunnelling
• WG5 reiterated the need for regular comprehensive training for all persons who might need to use chambers.
• WG5 expressed support for a complaint from Germany over the prominence given in the published report to pictures from a manufacturer who had not participated in its drafting.
Other topics
• WG5 had a presentation from S Africa about progress
being made by SANCOT on a guidance document about safety in shaft construction.
• WG5 had a presentation from Japan on accident rates in
Japanese tunnelling.
• WG5 had a presentation from France on progress being made by AFTES GT27 with the revision of their guidance document on tunnel ventilation.
• WG5 was informed by Finland of a recent fatal accident (elsewhere in the world) in which a miner fell over the controls of an elevating work platform, activating the controls and was consequently crushed against the crown of the tunnel. This illustrated the WG’s concerns over inadequate safety standards for machinery used underground.
WG5 discussed ITA Report No 1 “Guidelines for good occupational health and safety practice in tunnel construction”. This was last revised in 2008.
The Vice Animateur had recently reviewed the text and as a result proposed that it should be revised. This was agreed by WG5.
Switzerland volunteered to coordinate the revision. The agreed timetable requires proposals for the revised text to be submitted to Switzerland by end September 2015 with the aim of having publication of a revised report at WTC
2016.