This paper describes the challenge of managing health and safety during construction of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The workforce on the Olympic Park site in east London peaked at 12 000 and a total of 30 000 people will have worked on the project through its lifetime. Through careful planning, implementation of strategies with a proven track record and clear leadership, the Olympic Delivery Authority managed to achieve an accident frequency rate comparable to the average for all British employment, significantly better than the construction sector. The project's health programme also provided a degree of care and campaigning not previously experienced in construction.
The UK Olympic Delivery Authority began to define the methodology for an ambitious construction programme on the 2·7 km2 Olympic Park site for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which came with significant constraints. The construction programme included 14 Games time venues and other buildings; the infrastructure and utilities sufficient to service a small town; 300 residential and commercial buildings to be demolished and 2·6 million m3 of soil to be remediated. This £6 billion construction programme was to be completed in 3·5 years. At its peak this resulted in 4500 vehicle movements each day, 81 tier 1 contractors, and 3000 tier 2 contractors together with their subcontractors and suppliers and up to 9000 people involved in construction.
The complex and challenging project to move two sets of existing power lines from pylons into tunnels was fundamental to unlocking the Olympic Park site for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. As the first major construction project for the games, the careful planning, collaborative working and innovation used by the project team set a benchmark for all subsequent contracts on the park. This paper describes the fundamentals of the project, which included ten shafts and 13 km of tunnels in difficult ground, as well as the challenges that were overcome and the key features of success.
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