Brief

Analyse, assess and manage all the occupational health and safety aspects pertaining to workers involved in the EXPO 2015 event, including the construction and dismantling of works at the exhibition complex.

Project challenge

management of workers’ health and safety for a particularly complex event, where not only the spatial and temporal dimension of the activities are critical, but also – and above all – the specific aspects of the event managed, with particular reference to the presence of workers and visitors from all over the world, with profound differences in terms of training, social context and cultural background.

the Prevention and Protection service for workers involved in the event was designed and implemented through an integrated, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach, with the continuous and active involvement of all the organisations concerned in various ways (e.g. the Municipality of Milan, Fire Brigade, Civil Protection, emergency services, etc.).

Solution

NIER Ingegneria specialists took on the following roles:

• Head of the Heath & Safety Prevention and Protection Service, both for the EXPO Clusters and for EXPO 2015;
• Health & Safety Prevention and Protection Service officer;
• Security officers, with the following main duties:
  • Management and supervision of public access, management of hall queues and monitoring during day and night events.
  • Collaboration with the Fire Department and the rescue teams in the management of first level emergencies.
  • First safety intervention in the event of a fire alarm in the EXPO halls to make the areas safe and remove potential dangers/risks for visitors or other users.
  • Management of fire emergencies, first aid and monitoring of fire prevention systems pursuant to Italian legislation (Italian Legislative Decree no. 81/08 as amended).

The working group was extended to include an Environmental Specialist, the Workers’ Health and Safety Representatives and the documentation management staff.

Main tasks related to the EXPO 2015 common areas:

• Drafting of a Risk Assessment Report pursuant to European legislation (Directive 89/391/EEC as amended).
• Preparation of a Risk Assessment Report on the risks generated by interference between concurrent activities in the same workplace, pursuant to European legislation (Directive 89/391/EEC as amended).
• Preparation and testing of the EXPO Area Emergency Plan and related Procedures in collaboration with the Prefecture, Fire Department and Emergency Response services.
• Verification of professional technical suitability.

Main tasks regarding clusters/pavilions:

• Management of Occupational Health and Safety for the Countries hosted in the nine Clusters.
• Preparation of the Risk Assessment Report addressing interference between concurrent activities carried out in the same workplace for the countries hosted in the nine Clusters, according to European legislation (Directive 89/391/EEC as amended).

Achieved results

The main activities conducted include:

• Emergency simulations according to various scenarios (e.g. first response, fire prevention, etc.).
• Verification of the professional and technical eligibility of approximately 300 companies and 4,000 workers.
• Provision of over 16,000 hours of OHS training for EXPO workers.
• Security management of approximately 4,700 events.

In addition, innovative approaches were introduced such as:

• training of workers’ health and safety representatives with the help of cultural mediators who assisted with translations into English, French, Arabic and Spanish
• operational radio communications within the EXPO Area based on TETRA technology, for company personnel and members of external forces such as the Police, Fire Department, and emergency services in general.