Measures of health and safety

at work related to historical and art monuments

restoring activities

For hundreds of years it has been known and felt that Romania, through its culture, spirituality and history represents a “Europe in miniature”, a Latin isle in the Eastern part of the continent, an orthodox isle of Latinity.

The Romanian people represents a balance of culture and faith, and Romania is the place where there are cathedrals, monasteries, hermitages, museums, old boyar homes, manors, castles etc., all expressing the pure Romanian architectural style or various small influences.

All these old edifices, through their construction, architecture, painting and location, made Romania be and remain a European country. Nevertheless, with passing time, these masterpieces who undoubtedly preserve the history of the country, that at worst disappeared, such as Targoviste Metropolitan, Saint Kingly Nicholas from Iasi, milestones of Romanian mediaeval culture, or, in the happiest case, the masterpieces that still persist, irreparably degrade and age, thus requiring the need of restoration.

Restoration constitutes the methodological moment of recognizing the work of art, in its physical materiality and in its double polarity, esthetic and historical, so as to be transmitted over in the future. Another definition of restoration, less philosophical, would be ‘any intervention meant to redeem to every product of human activity its efficiency’. In this direction and spirit, one could say that the Commercial Company DEDAL BAHAMAT S.R.L Galati was born in 1991, company that I represent here and now. Our company is certified and specialized in construction – mounting works, but especially in consolidation works, namely, restoration of historical and architectural monuments.

The company is authorized in this sense by the Ministry of Culture and Cults and is a founding member of the National Union of Historical Monuments Restorators and member of the European Association of Architectural Patrimony Restoration Contractors, with the office in Paris – France since 1996. Since its creation and up to the present, the company has contributed to the completion of the following objectives that have been restored and received.

Precista Church, Galati

Ovidenia Church – Odobesti, Vrancea County

Hermitage church Dălhăuţi, Vrancea County

“Plătăreşti Monastery Church”, Călăraşi County

“Saint Cross” Church, Odobeşti

“Saint Archangel Michael”, Braila

We have 12 restoration works in progress and 8 emergency interventions on monuments. I am keen on mentioning that this consolidation – restoration works have been designed and funded through the care of the Ministry of Culture and Cults, the National Office of Historical Monuments, Bucharest. The consolidation works, especially the restoration of monuments, have got a high-risk degree, requiring increased attention of the company. The accident risk during these works is much higher; the work is carried out on buildings with deteriorated structure from foundation up to the cornice, both on the inside and outside.

Accidents may be triggered by partially crashed domes, cracked walls in the towers of the churches, the structures being excessively bulky with very low stretching strength and direct shearing, also being very fragile. Technologically speaking, the works start with the rebuilding of the foundations by grouting, digging, armoring and concreting beneath the foundation, the works being done on 1 – 1.5 m portions. These channels are ensured with supports executed function of the nature of the ground, covered with provisory sun blinds keeping into account the natural hazards (rains, snow, etc.). These special measures of safety and work health are even more special as they involve specialized personnel for monitoring and execution. All these works are done following designs and execution technologies approved by our Labor Protection Department, with the continuous monitoring of the site manager. During this kind of works we monitor the evolution of the damages and cracks in order to avoid any work or technical accidents. In order to stop the evolution of the damages in the walls, we remake the continuity of the material through mortar injection for cracks up to 3 mm, then we apply massive fabrics of bricks with metallic mandrels inserted in drilled holes, then we rebuild the niches that weaken the linings, and last but not least the relining on the entire thickness of the walls of the damaged lintels, relining that is being done with recovered bricks and mortars that have almost the same composition as the old ones.

This assembly of works, both on the inside and outside, is performed on scaffolds, usually wooden, following a design and being arranged in a systematic and compact manner. Mobile scaffolds may also be used, especially on the inside on already built floors, having the possibility of anchoring them to resistant elements.

At this intervention, more than one time, walls must also be supported with wooden props and very well fixed buttresses.

At the consolidation of damaged arcs and domes wooden scaffoldings are installed, manufactured by a design that takes into account the loads, the protection of the paintings that cannot be extracted but also work safety. Permanently we are ensuring no heavy car passes by during the consolidation so as not to produce vibrations, no heavy cranes are working but we use small mechanical equipment.

We should not move further without mentioning the execution of the provisory or definitive roof, where there is always the risk of fall from height and where, more than anything, we must take into account weather conditions, as the appearance of moisture, ice, wind, can increase the risk of falling of the workers or materials.

The roofs of the monuments that need consolidation and restoration usually have portions of fragile framework, rusted plates or broken tiles where one can fall, on the inside or outside of the building. Initially, we make an inventory and identify rotten elements, and in the same time we also evaluate the structure of the construction determining the risks, in order to take all measures to prevent falls.

At the old roofs we have in view the reconditioning of the fumes chimneys, which are mainly constructed from bricks. All the personnel of the company that takes part in these activities must be able to work at height, conclusion that will be drawn after the medical examination at a specialized clinic. They will be endowed with safety belts, anchored in a strong point of the building. It is strictly forbidden to throw various materials from height, these being discarded through metal or wooden tubes to prevent the diffusion of the dust, and the other materials are lowered with manual pulleys.

At the opening of a new site and of the shops, we evaluate the risks for the safety and health of the personnel so as to establish preventive measures, depending on the nature of the objective: emergency intervention or works performed on longer periods of time, as definitive works. Such an analysis allows us to make a hierarchy of hazards as per their dimensions and to efficiently allot resources for priority measures, quantifying their dimensions on the basis of the combination of two parameters, the gravity, frequency and maximum consequence on the human body, thus obtaining partial risk levels for each risk factor, viz. global risk level for the entire site analyzed.

The management is seeking, even since the creation of the company, which all employees who have contracts on determined periods or provisory character should benefit of the same protection as the other employees with contracts on undetermined period. Still as a measure of safety and health at work, the Labour Protection Department, when performing the general instruction of the newly employed, informs him on the risks to which he is exposed at the work site, as well as on the preventive technical and organizational measures, including first aid, prevention and firefighting and evacuation of the personnel in cases of high hazard risk. The company has been taking measures of authorizing the performing of jobs and professions as per the acting laws, so that during the period 1996 – 1997 the company organized qualification and refresher courses where 85 workers graduated.

In 2001 – 2002, 15 workers graduated the refresher courses as bricklayer – restorator and carpenter – restorator, and in 2003, 11 unqualified workers graduated from qualification courses sustained at the History Museum, Galati and Ministry of Culture and Cults, as bricklayer – restorator and carpenter – restorator and plater – restorator.

We have the responsibility, as per art.53 of Order 50/20.11.2002 of the Ministry of Work and Social Solidarity, to organize medical examination for all workers employed by out company, consisting in:

a)  medical file or professional medical analysis and clinic examination;

b)  auxiliary medical files – clinic and paraclininc

The company has provided as many times as necessary funds and conditions for the medical examination of all employees.

We have periodically provided (each semester) for the checking of the level of noxious within the level admitted in the carpentry store through measurements performed by the certified laboratory, after which we increased the number of exhausters.

The Labour Protection Department is ready any time to present the documents and to give any information to the labour inspectors during controls or analysis of eventual work accidents. Through the protocols of the labour inspectors regarding the fulfillment of the measures proposed, there are stipulated the deadlines for the completion of the application of these measures that we have respected. Also through the Labour Protection Department, all work accidents have been notified immediately and on due time to the Territorial Labour Inspectorate, as per he law.

Company management is permanently concerned in providing, maintaining and checking of work equipment and personal protective equipment and did not allow any activity of the personnel without them utilizing correctly the equipment, this being valid for both temporary and permanently employed workers.

The above-mentioned safety and health measures enabled us to eliminate as much as possible unfavorable events during our activity. The improvement in each domain of activity is a matter of concern for all the personnel, thus trying to make every worker and engineer aware of his/her own activity.

Viorel Ţicău

Technical Manager

SC Dedal -Bahamat SRL