Rauno Nordman, the site manager at Salpausselkä Builders, does not press the helmet, as he wears a lightweight mountaineering helmet at the Päijät-Häme Hospital renovation site in Lahti.
His career path has gone a long way to completing his diploma in engineering in the fifties through a vocational school. Along the way, a lot of practical experience and common sense has taken hold, along with a touch of theoretical knowledge.
A heavy helmet wears a neckband
Rauno "Rane" Nordman dares to interfere even with the overall meaning of occupational safety regulations. According to him, there are exactly three mandatory safety equipment, namely a helmet, footwear, and a safety vest, but even there, the regulation feels reasonable. It says you usually have to wear safety shoes. Protective goggles must be worn when necessary, and the helmet states that it must be used in construction work. The interpretations of the construction industry and big construction companies are much stricter than the regulation, and you have to wear helmets even in park work. There is not an inch left for the masters.
Previously, the master could tell the group that the milling site was so far away that a helmet was no longer needed. This is no longer possible even with Painters.
Nordman himself was annoyed by a case where a workman could no longer wear a helmet because of neck problems, but the use of a hard hat by a "doctor's order" is not well regarded by the labor protection authorities. The unfortunate alternative is to leave the building younger and healthier.
"Helmet wear at the end of the site can be questionable. It is so that the constant use of the helmet causes neck problems in the old pants. It would be best if the site manager were allowed to use common sense in this matter as well," he says.
He does not understand the benefit of having a bathroom helmet, for example, in having the head pressed continuously. Many tilers close the door!
Only in extremely exceptional work has there been room for discretion, albeit often after severe torques. At the NCC National Library site, conservatives were allowed to put off the helmet during conservation work, as the helmet could even scratch valuable paintings in confined spaces.
The weight of the helmet has just been increased. First came the hearing protectors, then the goggles and now the lamp. It is justified by the fact that a power outage at the construction site can be done, but I guess that could be done with a flashlight.
Good eye protection, but not always
Another annoyance for Nordman is the use of eye protection, which in itself is a good thing and has dramatically reduced the number of eye injuries.
"But if you have to work in a dark cellar, it is more important to use a helmet with a lamp than with solid glass." They do not always want to fit in the same helmet.
The words cover the fact that there are hardly any accidents at Nordman's sites and that he is also praised by the jury for the Construction Site of the Year competition, as well as for the exceptionally good dustiness of the site.
Nordman hopes that there will be room for maneuver to ensure site safety and achieve the agreed technical result.
Dust-free construction site
"Preferably, I also set goals with the employees, and they get to think about how to achieve them. For example, I do not require frequent cleaning on sites where high-purity premises are being built. Instead, I may say that the places are kept in order. It's much more efficient."
"Cleanliness, dust and humidity management are very close themes for us. They have all been central to this site," Nordman says.
Dust control for Nordman is above all a matter of rationalizing the pressure ratios for ventilation, and of systematically reducing the amount of dust when approaching a destination. By doing so, the pressure ratios of the spaces are matched, and thus dust cannot be transported uncontrollably to where it should not be transported.
"The air cleaning of a construction site must begin at the latest when the sheath is over, so that dust and other contaminants emitted from the various stages of work are left for the workers to breathe and eventually remove from all surfaces. Here, the rational, detailed phasing of the work is a prerequisite for any success."
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