Five questions for Charly Simmen, safety officer at the Göschenen construction site
The major construction site for the second Gotthard road tunnel brings together the forces of nature, state-of-the-art technology and human expertise. Charly Simmen, safety officer for the Göschenen construction site, makes sure everything runs smoothly. In this interview, he talks about his everyday work and the particular challenges on and in the mountain.
Mr Simmen, you are a safety officer on one of the largest construction sites in Switzerland – what exactly does your day-to-day work involve?
I am a member of the site management team in Göschenen. The management plays a key role in the construction process and is the link between the client and the different actors. In my role, I am also responsible for ensuring compliance with safety standards. This includes continuous risk assessments, coordinated safety concepts, regular inspection rounds of the construction site and consultations with emergency services. Employee training is also an important part of safety. Generally speaking, accident prevention plays a key role on the construction site.
What are the biggest safety risks in the construction of the second Gotthard tube?
Tunnel building is one of the most fascinating, but also the most difficult tasks in the construction industry entailing a wide range of risks. These range from natural hazards and geological challenges to the interaction of the different actors and their complex workflows. Increasing mechanisation with a correspondingly high volume of construction site traffic is an ever-growing challenge.
Regular training sessions are therefore crucial for everyone’s safety. Raising awareness and fostering the understanding that everyone is responsible for their own safety is also part of this.
In addition to your work as a safety officer, you guide visitors around the construction site. What impresses them most?
We try to familiarise visitors with the complexity, challenges and dependencies of a major construction site at over 1,000 metres above sea level. On the tour, the size of the construction site makes an impression, as do the technology and the steps involved in proceeding from excavation to finished concrete tunnel. In the end, everyone realises: there is much more to tunnel building than digging a hole! There is a great deal of expertise and technology involved, plus the motivation and fascination to constantly face the special challenges of the mountain.
Is there a question that you are asked particularly often on guided tours?
The information centre houses a very impressive model of the tunnel boring machine. Most questions naturally come from that. At 110 metres long and 12.3 metres wide, it is undeniably very fascinating!
You have spent decades on tunnel construction sites – what excites you about this job?
There are several aspects: on one side are the diverse and complex challenges inherent to major construction sites. On the other side, the duration of a major project offers the opportunity for innovation and further development in many sub-domains. But I’m also fascinated by the pioneering spirit: building a tunnel means going where no-one has been before. In the end, something lasting remains – created with considerable technology and know-how. That is what makes this work unique.