News

Editorial Committee

AdvisorCorporate Safety Committee

EditorZarith Sofia Ahmad Magad

Circulation OfficerZhuo Shumei

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WritersOng Ho Peng Yoong Yew Meng Lee Thong Perng Lim Chang Woei

Henry Ho Sze Beng Lee Zi Xiong Teo Soon Hwee

LTA 28th Safety Workshop and 18th Construction Staff Award CeremonyThe 28th Safety Workshop organised by Safety Division was held on 8 November 2012 at the HSO Auditorium. It was attended by more than 100 officers from Rail, Road Projects and Engineering Groups. The forum served as an excellent platform for project teams to share the safety challenges they faced and how they were overcome.

CE, Mr Chew Hock Yong, graced the event, and in his speech, he introduced a number of safety initiatives that LTA has put in place as part of the Zero Accident Movement that was launched at ASAC 2012.

24TH EDITION / ISSN 1793-1665 DEC 2012

SafetyLTA 28Th SAfeTy WorkShop And18Th ConSTruCTion STAff AWArd Ceremony

Figure 1: CE, Mr Chew Hock Yong

Figure 6:Winners of the Construction Safety and Environmental Awards

Editorial Page

There were four presentations given by two LTA officers and two guest speakers from National Environment Agency (NEA) and Ministry of Manpower (MOM). The topics were:

1. Regulations on Construction Noise and Control Measures by Mr Zhang Kang En from Pollution Control Department, National Environment Agency (NEA)

2. Stop the Assumptions, Stop the Accidents by Mr Kevin Teoh from Occupational Safety & Health Inspectorate, Occupational Safety & Health Division, Ministry of Manpower (MOM)

3. Overcoming Safety Challenges at Rochor by Senior Project Engineer Li Qiufang

4. Safety Challenges in the Delivery of Rolling Stock by Executive Project Engineer Joel Lim

Project staff who have gone the extra mile in ensuring high safety and environmental standards were recognised at the event. A total of 11 staff received the construction safety award, and another 8 were presented with the environmental award.

featured Articles02 Highlights of Annual Safety Award Convention 2012

07 Project Safety Commendation Award Winners 2012

09 Safe Use of Heavy Machinery on Site

11 Salient Changes to the Environmental Requirements of LTA General Specifications 2012

13 Overview of Systems Software Safety For Rapid Transit System

Contributions or Feedback to:

Land Transport AuthoritySafety DivisionNo.1 Hampshire Road, Blk 5, Level 4, Singapore 219428Tel: (65) 6299 6476 Fax: (65) 6396 1188Email address: zarith_sofia_ahmad_magad@lta.gov.sg

Safety News is also available online at http://www.lta.gov.sg/content/ltaweb/en/industry-matters/safety-and-health-and-environment/construction-safety-and-environment/safety-news.html

Figure 2:Guest SpeakerMr Zhang Kang En from NEA

Figure 3:Guest speakerMr Kevin Teoh from MOM

Figure 4:Senior Project EngineerLi Qiufang

Figure 5:Executive Project EngineerJoel Lim

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Panel of Judges (PoJ)

Figure 4: Panel of Judges (L-R) : Mr Bernard Leong (PCS), Mr Lim Jit Heng (SCAL), Mr Lim Beng Kwee (BCA), Mr Bernard Soh (SISO) and Mr Kevin Teoh (MOM)

The panel of judges comprised of senior representatives from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Building and Construction Authority (BCA), Singapore Contractors Association Ltd (SCAL), Singapore Institution of Safety Officers (SISO) and Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore (Private) Limited (PCS).

The Panel of Judges were impressed with the 4 finalists for their exemplary WSH management and site practices.

finalists’ Presentations

This year we had four finalists. They were from Contract 482, Ssangyong Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd; Contract 483, Samsung C&T Corporation; Contract 920, Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co., Ltd; and Contract 921, Ssangyong Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd. Each finalist was given 10 minutes to showcase their good practices based on the theme of the Convention with a presentation and a theme-related skit. At the end of all the finalists’ presentations, the audience voted for their preferred presentation through SMS.

Figure 5: Skit and Safety Song presented by Contract 483

The skits were greatly enjoyed by the audience. Contract 483 left a deep impression on the audience ending their skit with a safety song which has lyrics focusing on safe lifting operations. Not surprisingly, Contract 483 won over the audience for the best presentation award. Contract 920, however, was the overall winner of the Convention and won the Contractors’ Challenge Shield.

ContraCtors’ Challenge shield (asaC ChamPion)

Figure 6: Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co., DTL2 Contract 920, proudly receiving the LTA Contractors’ Challenge Shield

awards Conferred

The following awards were presented during the Convention:

• Certificate of Excellence to the four finalists from Mega category and two contractors from E&M category for their outstanding WSH performance.

• Safety Achievement Award to a contractor who has shown consistent outstanding safety performance and has been an ASAC finalist for the past 3 consecutive years.

• Certificate of Merit to two contractors from the Mega category, three from Major category, one from minor category and one from E&M category for consistent good WSH performance over the assessment period.

• Project Safety Commendation Award to three LTA Project Safety Committees with the best effort and WSH performance in ensuring and promoting excellent WSH standards at its worksites.

• Certificate of Best ASAC Theme Presentation to the finalist of the Mega category for delivering the best theme presentation as voted by the audience.

• Construction Environmental Excellence Award to two contractors who have shown outstanding environmental management at their worksites.

• Construction Environmental Merit Award to five contractors who have shown consistent environmental management at their worksites.

• Accident-Free Million Man-hours Recognition Award to main contractors who have achieved a considerable accident-free man-hour milestone without reportable accidents or major incidents. There were 10 main contractors receiving the award.

• Subcontractors’ Safety Recognition Award gives due recognition to subcontractors who have made a significant contribution to good WSH performance. Altogether, 10 deserving sub-contractors were commended for their good WSH performance.

introduCtion

LTA hosted its 14th Annual Safety Award Convention (ASAC) at the Nanyang Polytechnic Auditorium on 18 September 2012. The Convention was graced by the Minister of State for Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Transport, Mrs Josephine Teo, and was attended by a capacity audience of about 1200 guests comprising of LTA staff, QP teams, contractors, sub-contractors and professionals from the local construction industry. This annual convention was first launched in 1999 to give due recognition to deserving contractors for their relentless effort in raising the safety and health standards at their worksites. At the same time, it recognizes their contribution to protecting the environment and the public.

theme of asaC 2012

The theme for this year’s Convention was “Safe Use of Heavy Machinery at Work”. Heavy machinery like cranes, piling machines, excavators, tunnel boring machines (TBMs) and such are extensively used on our construction sites. The safety involved in the operations of these machinery are of utmost importance. The theme was chosen to create awareness among site staff and contractors on the risks of operating these heavy machinery on site.

Figure 1: Guest of Honour, Mrs Josephine Teo, Minister of State for Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Transport, delivering the opening address

guest-of-honour oPening address

The Minister announced in her opening address that LTA will be launching the “Zero Accident Movement” and she was glad to note that there were 42 Chief Executives from the contractors present at the event to pledge their support for the movement.

She also iterated that in order to reinforce the safety message, LTA had enhanced its Safety Performance Scheme (SPS) by increasing the bonus payouts for contractors with good safety performance and had also raised the qualifying benchmark. To meet the higher safety benchmark, contractors are expected to deploy more resources to improve safety management on site. In addition, LTA will incorporate the requirement for a Behaviour-Based Safety (BBS) programme in future contracts. The BBS programme aims to correct “at-risk” behaviour and reinforce safe working attitudes among workers.

In her concluding remarks, the Minister urged contractors to step-up their efforts to keep our workers and worksites accident free.

launCh of “Zero aCCident movement”

One of the highlights of the Convention was the launch of the “Zero Accident Movement” by the Minister and the signing of “A CEO Commitment Charter” by the 42 Chief Executives of contractors’ pledging zero accident on sites.

Figure 2: Launch of “Zero Accident Movement” by the Minister

Figure 3: A group photo of the Minister and CEOs after the launch of the “Zero Accident Movement”

ComPetition Categories

The competition was divided into four categories:

minor Civil contracts with value below $20me&m E&M contracts with value above $20mmajor Civil contracts with value between $20m to $50mmega Civil contracts with value above $50m

Table 1: ASAC Categories

A total of 55 contractors participated in the competition. The contractors were scored based on their monthly Environmental, Safety and Security (ESS) assessments, safety performance statistics and a round of internal audit conducted by LTA’s project management teams. Four finalists were subsequently short-listed from the Mega Category to compete for the Contractors’ Challenge Shield. They were then audited by an independent panel of judges based on their site conditions, WSH practices and overall WSH management system. They also had to deliver a theme-related presentation at the convention. The scoring criteria were 80% based on the results of the site audit and 20% on the presentation at the convention.

Highlights of Annual Safety Award Convention (ASAC) 2012H

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The Winners of ASAC 2012 The Winners of ASAC 2012

safety achievement award recipient

Figure 7: Safety Achievement Award – Samsung-Soletanche Bachy JV, DTL1 Contract 908

Best asaC theme Presentation recipient

Figure 8: Mega Category (Finalist) – Samsung C&T Corporation , MCE Contract 483

lta Project safety Commendation award recipients

Figure 9: Mr Yap Boon Leong, Director (Roads Construction), receiving the Project Safety Commendation Award

Figure 10: Mr Chelliah Murugamoorthy, Director (DTL Stage 3), receiving the Project Safety Commendation Award

Figure 11: Mr Yee Boon Cheow, Director (Rail Systems), receiving the Project Safety Commendation Award

Certificate of excellence recipients

Figure 12: Mega Category (Finalist) – Ssangyong Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd, MCE Contract 482

Figure 13: Mega Category (Finalist) – Samsung C&T Corporation, MCE Contract 483

Figure 14: Mega Category (Finalist) – Ssangyong Engineering & Construction., Ltd, DTL2 Contract 921

Figure 15: E&M Category – Singapore Technologies Electronics Limited, Contract 1320

Figure 16: E&M Category – Singapore Technologies Electronics Limited, Contract 960

Certificate of merit recipients

Figure 17: Mega Category – SK E&C (Singapore Branch), DTL2 Contract 915

Figure 18: Mega Category – Penta-Ocean Construction Co Ltd, MCE Contract 485

Figure 19: Major Category - Or Kim Peow (Pte) Ltd, Contract ER368

Figure 20: Major Category – Sato Kogyo (S) Pte Ltd, Contract ER295

Figure 21: Major Category – McConnell Dowell South East Asia Pte Ltd, Contract ER337

Figure 22 : Minor Category – Lee Hong Construction Co. Pte Ltd, Contract ER 375

Figure 23: E&M Category – Siemens AG/Siemens Pte Ltd Consortium, Contract 953

Construction environmental excellence award recipients

Figure 24: Mega Category – Aipine Bau Gmbh (Singapore Branch), DTL2 Contract 918

Figure 25: Mega Category – Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co Ltd, DTL2 Contract 920

Construction environmental merit award recipients

Figure 26: Mega Category – Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co Ltd, DTL1 Contract 902

Figure 27: Mega Category – SK E&C (Singapore Branch), DTL2 Contract 915

Figure 28: Mega Category – McConnell Dowell South East Asia Pte Ltd, DTL2 Contract 916

Figure 29: Mega Category – Samsung C&T Corporation, NSLe Contract 156

Figure 30: Mega Category – Sato Kogyo (S) Pte Ltd Daelim Industrial Co. Ltd JV, MCE Contract 487

Figure 31: Major Category – McConnell Dowell South East Asia Pte Ltd, Contract ER337

Figure 32: Major Category – Singapore Piling & Civil Engineering Pte Ltd, Contract ER361

sub Contractors’ award recipients

Figure 33: Dongah Geological Engineering Co., Ltd

Figure 34: Hua Tiong Contractor Pte Ltd

Figure 35: Kori Construction (S) Pte Ltd

Figure 36: OHIN Construction Pte Ltd

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The Winners of ASAC 2012

Figure 37: Sambo E&C Co Ltd

Figure 38: Wai Fong Pte Ltd

Figure 39: Yong Chan Metal Engineering Pte Ltd

Figure 40: Yu Gyo Engineering & Trading Pte Ltd

Figure 41: Zhao Yang Geotechnic Pte Ltd

Figure 42: 68 Systems and Project Engineering Pte Ltd

accident free million man-hours’ award recipients

Figure 43: Category 1 (contracts $120 million and above) and achieved above 2 million man-hours worked – Ssangyong Engineering & Construction Co Ltd, Contract 482

Figure 44: Category 1 (contracts $120 million and above) and achieved above 2 million man-hours worked – Samsung C&T Corporation, Contract 483

Figure 45: Category 1 (contracts $120 million and above) and achieved above 2 million man-hours worked – Sato Kogyo (S) Pte Ltd/Daelim Industrial Co. Ltd JV, Contract 487

Figure 46: Category 1 (contracts $120 million and above) and achieved above 2 million man-hours worked – Ssangyong Engineering & Construction Co Ltd, Contract 921

Figure 47: Category 2 (contracts below $120 million) and achieved above a quarter of 1 million man-hours worked – Or Kim Peow Contractors Pte Ltd, Contract ER368

Figure 48: Category 2 (contracts below $120 million) and achieved above a quarter of 1 million man-hours worked – Balfour-Beatty-Gammon JV, Contract 1750

Figure 49: Category 2 (contracts below $120 million) and achieved above a quarter of 1 million man-hours worked – China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd, Contract 929

Figure 50: Category 3 (for E&M Projects) and achieved above a quarter of 1million man-hours worked – Singapore Technologies Electronic Ltd, Contract 1320

Figure 51: Category 3 (for E&M Projects) and achieved above a quarter of 1million man-hours worked – Kawasaki Sifang Consortium, Contract 151A

Figure 52: Category 3 (for E&M Projects) and achieved above a quarter of 1million man-hours worked – Shinryo Corporation, Contract 973B

Ong Ho PengManager, Safety & Health

Safety Division

introduCtion

The Project Safety Commendation Award recognises the pro-active efforts by LTA Project Safety Committee(s) in the promotion and implementation of high workplace safety and health (WSH) standards at LTA worksites.

At this year’s Annual Safety Award Convention (ASAC), the three winners of the Project Safety Commendation award are:(a) Downtown Line Stage 3 (Civil Construction Team 1)(b) Circle & Downtown Lines (E&M)(c) Road Construction Sub-group

Best PraCtiCes and innovative ideas

The three winners of the Project Safety Commendation Award shared some of the best practices and innovative ideas they have adopted:

(a) downtown line stage 3 (Civil Construction team 1)

Commitment and involvement by senior managementCommunication is a key factor towards good safety and health management. Our Project Director, Deputy Director and Principal Project Manager spared no effort to get in touch with the workers and supervisors through toolbox meetings. The objective is to demonstrate leadership commitment and to emphasize the paramount importance of Safety and Health in the course of executing our work

Figure 1: Mr Chelliah Murugamoorthy, Director (DTL3 CT1) conducting a toolbox meeting before commencement of work for the day.

safety and health related training Safety and Health related training are regularly organised and conducted as an effort to promote continuous learning and creating awareness. In some sessions, external speakers had been invited to share their experience:

• AECOM Asia Ltd – Safe working in cutterhead and prevention of compressed air sickness and barotrauma

• Seagull Frontier - Inspection of wire rope with Non-Destructive Test (NDT) device

• Makita Singapore Pte Ltd - Safe use of powered tools

Figure 2: Safety training given by Makita on the safe use of powered tools

Figure 3: Using Electro-magnetic NDT device to check steel wire rope integrity.

(b) Circle & downtown lines (e & m)

innovative safe use of a-frame ladder

Falling from height is one of the most frequent hazards encountered on site with potentially severe consequences. The use of the A-frame ladders is common for most E&M system-wide contractors, as they can be easily transported from point to point. However, there had been many instances in which workers were required to work beyond 3 metres at height.

In order to prevent and discourage workers from climbing above 2 metres on the ladder, a metal plate is riveted to the top 3 steps of the ladder. Workers will therefore have to use safer alternatives such as scaffolds to work above 2 metres in height.

Figure 4: Metal plate fixed to top 3 steps of a 3.5m A-Frame ladder

safe work Procedures refresher CoursesSafe work procedures require constant emphasis and reminders, so that practicing safe work procedures become second nature to each worker at site. Refresher courses on established safe work procedures had been conducted for all workers by the main contractors. During these sessions, demonstration of safe work procedures was carried out and employees were tested on their safety knowledge. This has proven to be very helpful in reinforcing the safety knowledge of the workers.

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Figure 5: Safety refresher training carried out by contractors

(c) road Construction subgroup

Bi-annual safety & environmental sharing sessionRoad Construction Sub-group Safety Committee works closely with the contractors to instil good safety culture in those working in the projects. Besides the regular safety meetings with contractors at the respective projects level, top management from contractors involved in all road construction projects were invited to come together for the bi-annual safety & environmental sharing sessions to share lessons learnt, safety initiatives and renew their commitment to Safety. It is crucial for contractors’ top management to spearhead and drive safety culture in their organisation as all their employees look towards them for direction and guidance.

Figure 6: Safety & environmental sharing session attended by contractors’ top management

Identification of Lifting Team for Lifting CraneIt is important that only competent personnel who are familiar with the lifting plan and who have good knowledge of safe work procedure for lifting are allowed to be involved in lifting operation. A systematic way has been implemented in the worksites to identify the competent lifting team by displaying their names, appointment and photographs on the crane chassis.

Figure 7: Photographs of lifting team displayed on crane chassis to ensure only the competent personnel are carrying out the lifting operation

ConClusion

The three deserving teams that won the Project Safety Committee Award have definitely demonstrated pro-active attitudes and exemplary conscientious effort toward improving safety standards in LTA construction sites. Their conviction to safety should be emulated by other project teams to raise our safety standards to a higher level.

Yoong Yew MengDeputy Safety & Health Manager,

Safety Division

Lee Thong PerngDeputy Project Manager (Communications) Rail System (Signalling & Communications)

Lim Chang WoeiSenior Project Manager

Road Development

introduCtion

At Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co., Ltd (STEC), safety is an integral part of all our operations. Steeped in this belief, STEC’s WSHE management, led ably by our General Manager (GM) Mr Jin Aiping, has created a strong work culture to enable the team to achieve safety excellence.

Heavy machinery are required for a myriad of tasks on site but its use are often fraught with potential danger. However, all such danger can be addressed and indeed eliminated through a series of safety initiatives, work procedures and risk assessment.

This article aims to highlight the safety initiatives that form the cornerstone of STEC’s positive safety culture, and a foundation of our success.

Figure 1: STEC Chairman with LTA DCE during the Annual Safety Pledge Signing Ceremony 2012

daily tool Box meeting and health sCreening

Daily tool box meetings are conducted for all site personnel three times a day (i.e. at 0800 hours, 1300 hours and 1900 hours). This is to ensure an efficient communication of safe work procedures for all the works to be carried out on that day. In addition, precautionary health screening of all heavy machinery operators is conducted daily to ensure that they are fit for work.

Figure 2: Temperature reading for the Crane Operator

lifting oPerations

weekly Crane Boom-down inspections

We are among the first construction companies initiating the weekly crane boom-down inspection in all our projects. During the inspection, each crane boom will be lowered down for thorough inspection by the lifting team. This is to ensure that the crane boom structure, boom wire rope, wire rope drums and safety devices are in good working condition. This practice

also encourages a sense of ownership to the risks associated with the lifting operations among the lifting team members.

Figure 3: Crane Boom-Down Inspection by a trained personnel

wire rope inspections by third Party Consultant

To enhance the wire rope inspection regime, we engage a third party consultant to conduct periodic wire rope inspections for all the cranes and gantry cranes deployed on site. During the inspection, non-destructive test (NDT) is carried out and remedial measures will be immediately implemented if necessary.

Figure 4: Wire Rope Inspection by Consultant

illumination of main and auxiliary Blocks

In order to enhance visibility at night for the crane operators and lifting team, the main and auxiliary blocks are painted with a ‘green’ reflective colour. This is in addition to providing sufficient illumination and boundary demarcation on site.

Figures 5 & 6: Illumination of Main and Auxiliary Blocks

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site aCCesses and demarCations

Clear designated site accesses are provided for site personnel and machinery zones are demarcated with prominent signages. This is to prevent unauthorized entry into the heavy machinery zones and accidents involving site personnel and machines at all times.

Figures 7 & 8: Designated Personnel Access and Machinery

Demarcations with Prominent Signages

safety Promotions

To reinforce the importance of safety, we organise weekly Workplace Safety and Health (WSHE) quizzes, monthly WSHE promotions and annual WSHE campaigns / competitions to create a sustainable safety culture. Site personnel and contractors who have demonstrated their pro-activeness in the WSHE practices are rewarded with vouchers, prizes, trophies and certificates. Safety skits and drawing competitions are also held to educate and increase the level of awareness of the importance of safety on site.

Figure 9: Skit on Safe Use of Machinery by Sub-Contractor During the WSHE Campaign

in-house CorPorate maChinery Posters

In order to further enhance safety awareness on site, STEC had designed and displayed exclusive in-house corporate machinery posters in various languages. These posters serve as a constant reminder to all site personnel on the safe use of heavy machinery on site.

Figure 10: Corporate Machinery Poster

Close Coordination and monitoring of heavy maChinery movement

All heavy machinery movements are planned and discussed during the daily coordination meeting of the construction team. A machinery movement chart is displayed and closely monitored to prevent any unsafe machinery movement and uncoordinated work activities on site.

Figure 11: Display of Machinery Movement Chart

ConClusion

Over the years, we have built up a strong WSHE culture with the commitment of our top management, aided by the unwavering support from LTA’s Newton Station Project Team. STEC believes that “safety is the measure of our suCCess”. As a testimony to our stringent safety standards,, we are proud to achieve the highest accolade – The LTA Contractors Challenge Shield during the recent 14th Annual Safety Awards Convention (ASAC) 2012.

Henry Ho Sze Beng Corporate WSH Manager

STEC Singapore Branch

introduCtion

LTA General Specification (GS) for Safety, Health & Environmental requirements on sites provides details which are often over and above the legislative standards, for preventing and mitigating incidents, injuries and environmental harm at LTA construction sites. The contents have been revised regularly over the years, ensuring the specifications remain robust and relevant. Given the heightened awareness on environmental protection and greater urge for higher quality living environment, significant changes were introduced to environmental considerations in GS 2012.

Core environmental enhanCements

environmental worker on site

Having adequate numbers of environmental workers on site is one of the key factors to ensure proper implementation and up-keeping of environmental control measures. GS 2012 stipulates the minimum numbers of environmental workers as shown in Table 1 and provision of clear identification using a green arm band. Workers with green arm bands should only be tasked with work for the sole purpose of environmental control and maintenance.

Contract value number of environmental workers to be provided

Above S$1 million to S$20 million

At least 2

Above S$20 million to S$50 million

At least 4

Above S$50 million At least 6Table 1: Number of Environmental workers based on contract value

site office energy management

In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on energy management and energy efficiency and to reduce dependency on fossil fuels. Various corporations are taking up initiatives to reduce the use of non-renewable resources. Examples are: substituting diesel with biodiesel, installing solar panels to generate electricity and designing green buildings which consume less energy. Being a developer with significant number of site offices in Singapore, LTA requires the use of energy-saving appliances and to adopt energy conserving practices as part of the new GS enhancements.

Figures 1 and 2: Energy and water efficiency labels

For instance, electrical appliances such as refrigerators and air conditioners shall be affixed with the Energy Label as shown in Figure 1 and have an energy efficient rating rated “Excellent”. In addition, energy efficient lighting shall be used on sites. Besides focusing on the energy efficiency of these electrical appliances, equal amount of effort must be placed in providing regular servicing (a frequency of at least once a year) to ensure the economical running of air conditioners.

Similarly water efficient products such as basin taps & mixers, low capacity flushing cisterns, urinal flush valves and shower heads are also recommended to be used. Based on the Public Utilities Board (PUB) Mandatory/Voluntary Water Efficiency Labelling Scheme (WELS), the rating should be “Excellent” or have three ticks on its water efficiency label. All these requirements emphasize the importance of energy management at site offices, as they will be utilised throughout the whole duration of the project, which may typically take up to 5 years. Therefore it is of utmost importance for work sites to manage their energy usage within LTA’s corporate environmental policy to ensure energy efficiency is achieved.

noise Control on site

As public expectation rises for quieter living environment, mitigating construction noise has become increasingly challenging. LTA’s construction works are unique in nature and sometimes have to be carried out continuously throughout the day and night. The sites are also often located near residential premises. Thus, LTA faces a greater task in managing noise and needs to ensure that noise control specifications are more stringent than the industry norm in order to achieve higher noise management standards.

The following are excerpts of the new and enhanced noise control requirements stipulated in GS 2012:

• The contractor is required to appoint an acoustic consultant to conduct a noise impact assessment (NIA). The NIA shall at least include noise simulation, assessment of the impacts to surrounding sensitive receivers and recommended mitigation measures (e.g. full acoustic enclosure).

• Provision of noise barriers, which must be at least 10m in height or break the line of sight from receiver, along site boundaries facing any residential/ sensitive premises before any work commences.

Figure 3: Full length noise barrier installed at site

• Sound-reduced generator sets housed in acoustic sheds shall only be used when it is not possible to use power supplied by PowerGrid.

• The contractor is obligated to monitor and measure the effectiveness of the mitigation measures, such as full acoustic enclosures throughout the construction duration of the project. The contractor is also required to review the mitigation measures and re-submit the Noise Management Plan once permissible limits are found to be breached.

Salient Changes to the Environmental Requirements of LTA General Specifications 2012

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• Slurry treatment plants must be housed within a full acoustic enclosure whenever possible. Otherwise, an acoustic enclosure with only one opened face oriented away from any residential/ sensitive premises can be considered.

Figure 4: Fully-enclosed enclosure on site

• Launch shafts for all sites must be housed within a full acoustic enclosure taking into consideration all safety and health precautions.

• Absorptive materials provided for proposed full acoustic enclosures shall be non-combustible and able to achieve noise reduction of at least 10db(A).

• Piling works will not be allowed to be carried out from 7pm to 7am unless both machine and method are of a quiet nature.

• Residents must be informed and portable acoustic barriers must be provided for traffic diversion works that need to be carried out during the night to minimise the impact to road user.

• Deployment of portable acoustic panels/enclosure before commencement of milling and patching works that are carried out at night is required.

Figure 5: Portable acoustic panels for work carried out at night

Despite the efforts put in place, public feedback on noise disturbance from construction site is still expected to continue. LTA will embark on a two-prong approach by implementing all noise abatement control on site as far as possible, and continual engagement with surrounding stakeholders. Thus, noise control requirements in the GS shall be regularly reviewed

to ensure high standards are set for the LTA contractors to implement good noise management and controls.

design Capacity for storm water storage/sedimentation system

Changing weather pattern and forecast of higher rainfall in Singapore had prompted the Public Utilities Board (PUB) to amend the Code of Practice (COP) for Surface Water Drainage for the requirement on design of storage capacity; from rainfall intensity base on 1 in 2 years storm, to 1 in 5 years storm.LTA had also subsequently updated the GS to ensure the amendment is correctly reflected.

Biodiversity

Requirement on biodiversity protection was a new addition to the GS. LTA has a number of recent projects that borders or intrudes into areas of biodiversity, such as construction of a new road between MacRitchie Viaduct and Adam Flyover and construction of Thomson Line Depot encroaching into Mandai and Central Catchment Nature Reserves.

Such projects with potential impacts to the diversity of flora and fauna would be identified in the advance stage for the advance engineering (A/E) consultant to conduct a Biodiversity Impact Assessment (BIA). The section stipulating the GS requirements for biodiversity protection would only be applicable to contracts with BIA conducted during the A/E stage.

In addition to implementing the recommendations in the BIA, the contractor would need to ensure that:

• Environmentally-friendly methods for vector control such as Bacillus Thuringiensis Israelensis (BTI) and search & destroy are used as compared to applying anti-mosquito (AM) oil, chemical larvicides or fogging.

• Sound-reduced machines are used on site and noisy activities are barricaded with sound barriers or panels

• Lightings used are directed downwards where work is carried out and refrained from pointing the glare towards habitats as it would affect nocturnal animals.

• Site utilization plans consider preservation and protection of native trees as far as possible. This includes taking into consideration the methods to prevent harm to the branches and roots of identified trees or shrubs that can be preserved and protected. (Refer to NParks Conservation of Trees and Plants Guideline for reference).

• Measures are implemented to prevent chemical, diesel or silt discharges into nearby waterbodies.

ConClusion

The increase in awareness for environmental protection and worldwide promotion on sustainable living may have influenced the general public to have greater expectations for construction industry to do their part in minimizing disturbances and pollution. Thus, it is also critical that LTA sets a higher environmental standard to stay ahead of public’s expectations.

Lee Zi XiongAssistant Environmental Manager

Safety Division

introduCtion

Software is widely used in safety-critical control systems to achieve their purposes and plays an increasing important role in Railway, Defence, Aerospace and Medical industries. The software performs more varying and highly complex functions efficiently compared to the hardware system because software can be flexibly designed and implemented, and it offers the potential for higher reliability. Software is however intrinsically complex and the flexibility of software also make it difficult to predict the software failures. Simple software faults can cause major problems and several historic accidents were reported to be caused by software related failures.

Unlike hardware, software does not fail in conventional ways. All software failures are systematic which may have been caused by a faulty specification or implementation. The objective of software development is therefore to reduce density of residual errors in the software, by adopting stringent organization and development processes as well as eliminating all possible errors during the development cycle.

software safety standards

A number of software safety standards from various international organizations exist today, many of which are similar in concept but with differences in details. These software standards adopt a highly prescriptive approach, based on a demonstration of compliance with a defined process.

The following description provides a brief overview of the software safety standards used in LTA Rapid Transit System projects, namely IEC61508 and the railway application standards IEC62278/EN50126, IEC62425/EN50129 and IEC62279/EN50128.

IEC61508 is a generic standard for the functional safety of electrical/electronic/programmable electronic safety-related systems. It is not sector specific and is intended to provide the basis for the development of application sector specific standards. The latter three standards mentioned are regarded as the industry specific implementation of the IEC 61508.

The IEC61508 standard defines four discrete safety integrity levels (SILs) for specifying the safety integrity requirements of the safety functions to be allocated to safety-related systems. A safety integrity level is defined as “The likelihood of a safety-related system satisfactorily performing the required safety functions under all the stated conditions, within a standard period of time”.

Table 1: Safety Integrity Table

The definitions of the four SIL levels are given in terms of the probability of failure. Safety Integrity Level 4 (SIL4) is the highest level of safety integrity whereas Safety Integrity Level 1 (SIL1) is the lowest.

The IEC61508 consists of 7 parts and Part 3 addresses the requirements related to safety-related software. Recommendations are given as to the required use of processes, specific activities and techniques. The rigour of the process followed in developing the software varies according to the SIL associated with that software. The recommendations become more specific and stringent as the SIL level increases.

s/n. safety std description

1 IEC62278/EN50126 Top-level document that covers the overall process for the total railway system. It specifies dependability requirements for railway applications which include all aspect of Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, and Safety.

2 IEC62425/EN50129 Applies to ‘failsafe’ and ‘high integrity’ systems such as automatic train protection systems. It focuses on the evidence that must be presented for approval from the relevant authority.

3 IEC62279/EN50128 Specifically used for railway control applications. It focuses on methods which must be applied in order to develop software that meet the demand for the specified SIL. It provides the criteria for the selection of techniques and measures, depending on the software safety integrity level.

1 & 2

IEC62278/EN50126 & IEC62425/EN50129

Used to specify the safety functions allocated to software. These standards use a systematic approach to step through the design process from hazard to risk identification to system safety requirements specification and finally to a validated design which meet the required level of safety performance or integrity.

Table 2: Railway Application Standards

software develoPment lifeCyCle

Figure 1 shows the software development V-model lifecycle generally adopted in railway standards. The lifecycle breaks down the software development into defined phases, from System Input and Planning Phase activities to Software Implementation phase.

1. system requirements (input)

This phase is concerned primarily with the examination of the requirements placed upon the developer. The top-level System Requirements documents shall be produced in accordance with IEC62278/EN50126 and IEC62425/EN50129, which include System Architecture Description, System Safety Requirements Specification and any interface documents that define the interaction of the system with any other systems.

Overview of Systems Software Safety forRapid Transit System

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2. software Planning

Software planning and quality assurance aims to ensure adequate quality assurance measures are incorporated into the project controlling documents defining the software development processes. Spanning the entire development process, the planning documents are updated in parallel with the development documents.

Figure 1: Software Development Lifecycle (Source: BS EN50128)

3. software requirements

During this phase, the system functionalities described in the System Requirements Specifications (SRS) and their derivatives are translated into both functional and safety requirements that will be implemented in software. The output is the Software Requirements Specification which define a complete set of requirements for the software, which meets all system requirements required by the software safety integrity level (SSIL).

4. software architecture

Software architecture shall illustrate how and with which architecture components (e.g. operating system, drivers, application software) the requirements of the software requirements specifications will be fulfilled. The output is the Software Architecture Specification (SAS) which shall consider the feasibility of achieving the SRS at the required SSIL.

5. software design and implementation

The software structures (design) for the respective architecture elements are created (Software Design Specification). Software design should be further decomposed into modules, with each module having a Software Module Design Specification and a Module Test Specification. Mandatory requirements of implementation have to be complied with and the testing of the software components and modules (test specifications and test reports) has to be carried out and controlled.

6. software integration test

When all modules have satisfactorily passed all test criteria, they are integrated onto a single test rig to emulate the hardware that the system will run on. A Software Integration Report shall be produced recording all test results and test harness details.

7 software/hardware integration

This integration phase shall demonstrate that the software and the hardware interact correctly to perform their intended functions and document hardware/software compatibility. All test results shall be formally recorded with all test specifications and test harness details in the Software/Hardware Integration Test Report.

8. software verification

Software verification is the set of activities performed phase-by-phase (System Input to Implementation phase) to ensure no requirements (Safety or Functional) have been missed out of the design. These activities may include modeling, testing, static and/or dynamic analysis, requirements tracing in both direction and safety analyses checking. The output from these activities is the Software Verification Report.

9. software validation

Software validation is the process of checking the final implemented design by means of analyses, modeling or selective testing. The software shall be tested on the basis of software requirement test specifications. These tests must prove that all requirements of the software requirement specifications have been met.

10. software assessment

Software Assessment is the process of checking that appropriate design techniques have been used to maximize predictability and minimize systematic failures in order to support the Software Safety Integrity Level required. Software Assessment is to determine that all performance and development factors, particularly regarding safety, have been addressed for a final “fitness for purpose” appraisal. An Independent Software Assessor is usually engaged to perform the assessment throughout the development lifecycle and upon completion of the final assessment, shall ascertain the achievement of the intended software safety integrity levels in the software assessment report.

ConClusion

The above discussion provides a brief overview of several railway application safety standards and the software development lifecycle adopted from IEC62279/EN50128. Many railway authorities, including LTA, require IEC62279/EN50128 to be followed when developing software for railway systems. This is to provide assurance that adequate steps have been taken in the software development to make the software safe.

Teo Soon HweeManager

Systems Assurance and Integration Division

* Based on Singapore Workplace Safety and Health Act Requirements

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News

Editorial Committee

AdvisorCorporate Safety Committee

EditorZarith Sofia Ahmad Magad

Circulation OfficerZhuo Shumei

or scan

WritersOng Ho Peng Yoong Yew Meng Lee Thong Perng Lim Chang Woei

Henry Ho Sze Beng Lee Zi Xiong Teo Soon Hwee

LTA 28th Safety Workshop and 18th Construction Staff Award CeremonyThe 28th Safety Workshop organised by Safety Division was held on 8 November 2012 at the HSO Auditorium. It was attended by more than 100 officers from Rail, Road Projects and Engineering Groups. The forum served as an excellent platform for project teams to share the safety challenges they faced and how they were overcome.

CE, Mr Chew Hock Yong, graced the event, and in his speech, he introduced a number of safety initiatives that LTA has put in place as part of the Zero Accident Movement that was launched at ASAC 2012.

24TH EDITION / ISSN 1793-1665 DEC 2012

SafetyLTA 28Th SAfeTy WorkShop And18Th ConSTruCTion STAff AWArd Ceremony

Figure 1: CE, Mr Chew Hock Yong

Figure 6:Winners of the Construction Safety and Environmental Awards

Editorial Page

There were four presentations given by two LTA officers and two guest speakers from National Environment Agency (NEA) and Ministry of Manpower (MOM). The topics were:

1. Regulations on Construction Noise and Control Measures by Mr Zhang Kang En from Pollution Control Department, National Environment Agency (NEA)

2. Stop the Assumptions, Stop the Accidents by Mr Kevin Teoh from Occupational Safety & Health Inspectorate, Occupational Safety & Health Division, Ministry of Manpower (MOM)

3. Overcoming Safety Challenges at Rochor by Senior Project Engineer Li Qiufang

4. Safety Challenges in the Delivery of Rolling Stock by Executive Project Engineer Joel Lim

Project staff who have gone the extra mile in ensuring high safety and environmental standards were recognised at the event. A total of 11 staff received the construction safety award, and another 8 were presented with the environmental award.

featured Articles02 Highlights of Annual Safety Award Convention 2012

07 Project Safety Commendation Award Winners 2012

09 Safe Use of Heavy Machinery on Site

11 Salient Changes to the Environmental Requirements of LTA General Specifications 2012

13 Overview of Systems Software Safety For Rapid Transit System

Contributions or Feedback to:

Land Transport AuthoritySafety DivisionNo.1 Hampshire Road, Blk 5, Level 4, Singapore 219428Tel: (65) 6299 6476 Fax: (65) 6396 1188Email address: zarith_sofia_ahmad_magad@lta.gov.sg

Safety News is also available online at http://www.lta.gov.sg/content/ltaweb/en/industry-matters/safety-and-health-and-environment/construction-safety-and-environment/safety-news.html

Figure 2:Guest SpeakerMr Zhang Kang En from NEA

Figure 3:Guest speakerMr Kevin Teoh from MOM

Figure 4:Senior Project EngineerLi Qiufang

Figure 5:Executive Project EngineerJoel Lim