Jordi Cabedo, director of Quality, Safety and Environment at Núñez y Navarro: “Prevention does not end with the construction. La Rotonda is a living building that will have users: clients and employees”

Núñez y Navarro has won the first prize in the category “Best Management Practice in Prevention” at the 5th edition 2016 of the Asepeyo awards which are given annually by the mutual accident insurance company. One of the people who led this occupational risk prevention project was Jordi Cabedo, Director of Quality, Safety, and Environment (QSE) at Núñez y Navarro, who was also in charge of accepting the award on behalf of the company. Proud of the company's way of doing things, he spoke to us about the proposal presented to the contest, and about how the process of rehabilitating this building went.

First of all, we want to congratulate you and give you our best wishes for the award.
Thank you, but the merit is not mine alone. It belongs to the entire technical team and construction workers, the safety coordinator, and the technicians in our department.

They have just received the award for “Best Management Practice in Prevention” for the comprehensive prevention management in the rehabilitation of the La Rotonda building, against giants or companies such as Allianz or Securitas, Norbega (Coca-Cola), Sacyr, institutions like the Miguel Hernández University of Alicante. What does this tell you?

That our commitment to safety and well-done work is recognized, and it was also the first award we had applied for. We were very excited that a prestigious entity would acknowledge our work. Regarding the scope of the award, I didn't know what competition we would face. I knew there were other construction companies and that it had been granted to other large companies in previous editions.

In any case, you have been the public face of this project...
My position is head of the quality, safety, and environmental department at Núñez y Navarro, but this has been a collaborative effort with everyone involved, from the internal technical team to the installers.

What responsibilities does your position entail?

I am in charge of the in-house prevention service at JOSEL (the majority society within the Núñez y Navarro company). It is a service included within the company's security department, which also takes on the management of the quality system and environmental matters within the real estate area of development and construction.

I understand, then, that this goes beyond a simple analysis of occupational risks for a company.
Yes, as safety officers we cover all the preventive needs of Nuñez y Navarro in their business areas. From providing training for a worker, conducting drills, investigating accidents, to the complete safety evaluation of a property, a parking lot, or the management of the hotel chain. It encompasses, among many, all the actions of risk prevention.

Would it be about seeking the danger of risks where people do not see them?

Well, to be successful with prevention, it cannot be approached as an extra subject. It must be included in the day-to-day of the 'well done' work, integrating safety measures into each operation as a normal and usual practice from the awareness of the professional themselves.

All this in an attempt to create a preventive culture with your own people and the organization's subcontractors. The more planning there is and the more you think about doing the job well, the less likely you are to improvise and for something bad to happen.

Before the La Rotonda project, could you highlight one that you have collaborated on previously?

From the Technical Area of Núñez y Navarro and the Quality, Safety and Environment Department (QSM), we have carried out more than 60 projects. It is true that La Rotonda has been the most special project we have had recently, which lasted five years. But within those 60 projects, we have exceeded 300 million euros in turnover, taking on the internal coordination of safety and health since 2002 with magnificent results; without any serious accidents or administrative penalties.

If we have to highlight some projects for their magnitude, it could be the housing developments in Torre Vilana or the Eixample district of Barcelona, or the construction of the Hotel 1898. However, I wouldn't emphasize one over the others in terms of occupational risk prevention.

How is this large Rotunda project managed in terms of Occupational Risk Prevention?

There are different agents and important documents throughout the process:

Every construction project must include an integrated safety and health study from the design phase. Once this project is approved with the corresponding administrative license, we begin to build. The execution phase starts. And there the safety and health study becomes a safety and health plan, which is carried out by each builder/contractor which is in turn reviewed and approved by the Safety and Health Coordinator. This figure is appointed by the developer (Núñez y Navarro), who in our projects is Alberto Roás, architect and senior technician in Occupational Risk Prevention from our QSM department.

Alberto, como coordinador de la seguridad, asume el control de la prevención, asegurando que los planes de seguridad de los contratistas sean los correctos y velando por su implantación en la ejecución de la obra. En esta fase se hacen visitas de control, reuniones de seguimiento, simulacros de emergencia, informes, evaluaciones de riesgos, investigación de accidentes… todo esto y más acciones preventivas se han hecho durante 250 semanas en la obra.

In the case of La Rotonda, at what point does your work begin?

Prevention in this project began with the purchase of the land. We had to coordinate with the previous owner to clean up all the debris left in the hospital, including biological waste. Then, a preliminary security check of the facilities, review of the building's risk points such as the chimney or the ornamental elements of the facade. All to ensure that it did not pose a danger to third parties (pedestrians, neighbors) until the construction began.

When the work had already begun, we remained at the forefront of the project with the guidance of the technical management, coordinating with the 20 contractors and for all 750 workers...

And prevention is still not over. It's something I wanted to highlight, La Rotonda is a living building that will have clients in the new offices, others who will leave their car in the parking lot... This obliges us to ensure the safety and emergency measures of the building, to guarantee the prevention at the workstations of the concierge, the parking agents, the installers... We must keep the spirit of safety from the construction alive to continue with prevention.

In a project like La Rotonda, external companies such as TRAC have been involved. Is it complicated to involve external companies and agents in prevention?

It has been complicated by the fact that we have slightly changed the organizational model. We have gone from being a developer-builder who managed the entire project to transferring the builder role to different contractors. This entailed the obligation to coordinate them and transfer-share our know-how on prevention to them. It was not an easy path, but in the day-to-day, we were accompanied by the technical construction team of Núñez y Navarro: Daniel Soria, Miguel Usero, Miguel Navarro, and Xavi Diaz, who made the effort easier and shared.

How long does the planning for a project like La Rotonda typically take?

Well, you always have to plan at least 15 days ahead, to be proactive and have a vision of what will come next. The project took time to be studied by all the technicians, but once we got started, we go week by week resolving the issues that have been detected and discussed during the visit that day, but above all analyzing the upcoming risk tasks.

How do they coordinate or ensure that their recommendations are respected or followed?

As we have discussed before, a key figure has been Alberto Roás, the health and safety coordinator for the entire project. He is the person who leads all the safety measures and their control and has worked with our construction team and the various contractors to ensure the implementation of the relevant safety provisions.

Has there been any major obstacle or complication when carrying out the La Rotonda project?

There have been no complications, although it has been a complex project. I would highlight the controlled demolition, which was very well-managed while coordinating with the new structure. It was necessary to clearly define the execution guidelines and the corresponding safety measures. There was a great understanding with the two major contractors, which were HERCAL and ENCOFRADOS CASTELLS. But at no point was there an urgency to 'stop the work'.

There was also a special control element which was the 24-hour pharmacy on the ground floor of the Paseo de Sant Gervasi, a place that we had to protect because we demolished and built on top of it.

At the moment when there are several companies doing different tasks, does everything become complicated? For example, catering, the stage, lighting... Is it more difficult to coordinate everything?
Yes, it is more complicated because there are several parties to coordinate and often they all need to work in the same space. In this case, we anticipate to determine the order of priorities and avoid overlaps. We must have it very well controlled through the site managers because otherwise the worker ends up poorly, making decisions based on their own interest and risk.

Has it been easier to raise awareness among the day-to-day workers or the technicians, middle managers, and visitors that might be on the construction site?

We have had some high-altitude fall risk activity, requiring the use of personal protective equipment, such as harnesses, which demands very strict supervision.

Sometimes it's disappointing that they themselves are not aware of the need to be well protected. Therefore, this has been an activity where we have occasionally had some conflict. But with their managers, construction teams, and architects, we have had none.

Can a prior safety report halt or modify the initial concept of a project depending on its findings?

We may not be able to change a project, but we can change the way we approach it, how to tackle it, and especially what auxiliary means will be needed.

What benefits has a project of this magnitude brought to you? How would you assess its effectiveness?

The benefits have been the ability to complete the project with a high final technical quality without suffering any serious or significant accidents or incidents. The effectiveness of the safety measures was assessed with weekly coordination visit reports, in which eight safety parameters and two environmental parameters were scored. And in which, after 224 reports, a high average score of 9.4 was obtained, above the average for the set of works (target value 8.5 OHSAS 18001, company).

Besides La Rotonda, what is the most complicated or special project you have had to face?

Architecturally and technically, La Rotonda has been complex. With others, I would have to remember. In all of them, we have had phases, operations, or units that were complicated or risky: for example, work in confined spaces; such as the internal cleaning of wells. But on a global level, none as significant as La Rotonda.