Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

The reality is that the bridge would be complete by now if the initial backfill had been completed within the programmed 6 days and not drawn out to 6 weeks by the Civil Team but as it stands we are on course to complete before xmas. I realise I haven’t blogged for nearly 4 weeks and I am not sure where that time has gone, I did have good intentions during the week but with a TMR to write and trying to push productivity on site before I know it its 7 in the evening and with an hour commute I should be getting home if I want to remain married. The last 2-3 weeks have been extremely exhausting if I’m honest, I go on holiday in 3 weeks’ time and I am trying to push for the bridge works to be complete by then which if I can achieve will be 12 days ahead of programme. To the credit of the subby they have bought into my vision and stepped their game up and we have now completed all abutment retaining walls, both approach slabs and will start installing the pre-cast parapet sections next week. I feel like I am constantly badgering (persuading) people to work that little bit faster or smarter and feel like I actually own this bridge and want to see it come to fruition before I leave. As a result I have at times lost complete confidence in the supervisor as he has no interest in working at the same capacity as I currently am and I have found I have taken on more of his responsibilities in order to keep momentum when I should be gradually giving him more responsibility. Most of the supervisors from what I hear have a fairly poor work ethic and rarely supervise anything at times, this has been an immense cause of frustration for me coming from a background where a SNCO is generally highly competent and can be left alone to manage quite complex tasks to having a supervisor who can barely spell and will spend 2 hours at lunch shopping. The main issue is how JH trains his people, which is adhoc at times but largely non-existent. The supervisor I have for instance is a really nice guy and we do get on very well but his work effort is sporadic at best, he has good weeks and then it seems he needs a bit of a rest before he gets another wind. I have often had chats with him about how to improve how he operates and to his credit he takes it on board and he has improved as a supervisor over the last 8 months. This is largely due to the fact he received no training to be a supervisor in the first place and received a field promotion form leading hand to foreman as there was a slot to fill. The majority both supervisors and engineers seem to be on contract for this project only and so have no job security and most have been applying for the next employment over the last 2 months since all contract staff will be gone by xmas. The constant message from JH is that there is no work probably until the end of next year and by the way your all off the project by the end of Nov but will try to find you work if we can – this has not had a good effect on morale and most importantly productivity.

Well, slight rant over I’ll get back to the bridge. At present we are about 4 days ahead of programme with a key activity coming up which is installing the parapets. In reality we should be able to install the 24 panels at a rate of 6 a day but that is only if we get the prep work right. Each panel weighs 3T and is held in place by three L shape brackets that fix onto the deck/wingwalls/retaining walls. The fixing anchor as you can see from the diagram has been cast into the appropriate element and there is a levelling screw at the back edge that can be adjusted and sits on a steel plate that is epoxy glued on to the concrete. This has the potential to take a long time if the prep is not right as the tolerance is only mm between each panel. Once the panels are in the traffic barriers are formed over the bracket which tie in the panels and form the parapet barriers along the length of the bridge. On Eastwood Bridge we had one of these panels move out when we poured the barrier which gave us issues when we installed the metal traffic railings and throw screens which sit on top. I think this was due to the anchor fixing slipping as the bolt sits through a slotted hole and I think the additional force generated from wet concrete caused the bracket to slip which tilted the panel outwards as opposed to the bracket actually failing. To remedy this I intend to weld all the nuts and reinforce the brackets with straight bar diagonals welded on once all the panels are installed and we are ready to pour the barriers.

Other issues last week were with the approach slabs where the steel was wrongly fixed. I went out to check the steel 2 hours before we were meant to pour as I couldn’t get out earlier due to end of month cost reports due that day and the Project Verifier was already there who also spotted the mistake which I didn’t think looked good. The supervisor should really have spotted this when they started but it seems no one decided to look at the drawings beforehand. The chief steel fixer is a grumpy git but extremely good at its job and it has been very rare that he has got something wrong although I have picked up a few things recently. I can only assume he thought the steel was the same arrangement as the RW bases which have the larger dia steel bars at the top of the slab due to the increased tensile stress at the top generated from the wall resisting the backfill. The approach sabs have the larger dia bars at the bottom and so at the 11^th hour we had to strip both approach slabs which lost us a day which is quite crucial at this stage. It also means I lose a day on the parapet installation as I need to be able to traffic the slab early in order to get on the deck to install the deck parapets. Looking at previous concrete strength we have achieved 80% strength which is required for loads over 15T at around 5 days. As a result I requested an extra cylinder to be tested at 5 days as well as the usual 7 and 28 days which will be tested on Wed next week and I can make a call as to whether we can traffic the deck or wait until 7 days.

The remaining work on Dickson following the parapet installation will be the traffic barriers, walkway (including services installation), traffic railing and throw screens and the type F traffic barriers that extend out from the parapet barriers for a further 25m on both sides and abutments. I am still negotiating with a slipforming subcontractor to do the type F barriers in 2 weeks’ time so I can see it done before I go on holiday as I have done a lot of leg work (plus a TMR on it) and would really like to see the process in action.

     Aerial photograph taken of Dickson Rd Overbridge for the recent edition of the project newsletter

As for work on any of the other bridges it is all on hold at the moment and I don’t intend to get side tracked from Dickson to carry out any further defect work. I have been told that will fall to someone else once I have left but I am still costing 9 out of the 14 bridges on the project. Luckily I have just done that for the last time last week although I only managed 6 within the 24hrs we were given to get the forecasts in. The only major movements of money on the bridges are primarily Dickson Rd but this should also start to slow as the major structural work is now complete.

In other news little Ethan is just about walking and is enjoying his new found freedom. We went to the international fleet review at the start of the month and managed to get a prime view of the fireworks display (which was apparently bigger than new year’s) right in front of the opera house and harbour bridge. Ethan managed to stay awake until the last big fireworks crescendo which you would think would wake him up a bit. The bush fires in the Blue Mountains have been pretty horrific with the air full of smoke at times even in the city centre. The project is not that far from some of them and coming into work last mon you could taste it in the back of your throat. It also affected visibility around the local roads. One of the girls in the commercial team lost her house after leaving in the morning to take her daughter to a hospital appointment she returned and it had gone but her neighbours 2 houses down were untouched. Apparently the embers can travel for up to 50km and still burn your house down.