Online reports – Economy – Safety deficiencies: Suva ordered a halt to construction at the Sissach depot

© Photo by Peter Knechtli, OnlineReports.ch

“Contractually obligated”: Idle state construction site Sissach Werkhof

Dangerous assembly without scaffolding: Embarrassing verdict for Austrian timber construction company – and the Baselbieter Building Directorate

From Peter Knechtli

Explosive decision by Suva: Yesterday Thursday, the Swiss accident insurer imposed a temporary halt on the canton's construction site at the new Sissach depot. The reason is massive safety deficiencies: the timber construction work for the major contract was carried out without scaffolding or safety nets. There is a great silence.

Work on the construction of the new workshop for the Baselland Civil Engineering Office was in full swing. With a volume of 1.5 million francs, this is one of the largest timber construction contracts the canton has ever awarded. The Austrian timber construction company Sohm was chosen. The client is the canton of Baselland, represented by the Construction and Environmental Protection Directorate (BUD). Construction management is being carried out by Rapp Architekten AG.

“… then he is a mouse”

Yesterday Thursday morning – part of the 40-meter-long roof of the hall has already been erected – the construction site received a visit from a Suva expert. He didn't hesitate for long and shut down the construction site because the breach of safety regulations was too serious. There are around seven meters between the edge of the roof and the ground. “If someone falls off there, they're dead,” a professional familiar with the matter told OnlineReports. The Suva expert, however, gave OnlineReports “no information about the case because we understand data protection.”

An inspection by OnlineReports yesterday Thursday afternoon revealed that neither a safety net nor scaffolding had been installed at the building. BUD spokesman Nico Buschauer According to OnlineReports, all 10 to 15 carpenters who had been working for a long time were “secured with a five-point safety belt”. When asked by OnlineReports, David Schreiber, president of the industry association “Holzbau Schweiz Region Basel”, said that the belt security was permitted “for a maximum of one day”: “It is not permitted to erect in this way for days.”

Buschauer went on to say that the scaffolding builder had “been delayed”. A sign at the entrance to the construction site imperatively demands that “everyone wear a helmet”. However, OnlineReports saw a worker without a helmet handling a hammer.

Project manager “is not allowed to say anything”

This raises various questions as to who is responsible for the safety deficiencies complained of. Project manager Margot Meier, a member of the management board of Rapp Architekten AG, was curt when asked whether she was also responsible for safety on the construction site: “I'm not allowed to say anything.” Instead, she simply said that the construction site was back in operation and referred the matter to the Baselbieter Building Authority.

In fact, in addition to the construction management and the timber construction company Sohm, the canton also has a duty. Because as a building owner, it is precisely the canton that should set a good example and not allow itself the slightest risk on its own construction sites. What is controversial is that the tender documents state that a facade scaffold is “available on site”. According to association president Schreiber, this formulation is clear to all tradesmen: “The building owner pays for the scaffold, the construction management organizes it.”

According to BUD spokesman Buschauer, “the severity of the violations is now being clarified.” The contractor is “contractually obliged to comply with all safety regulations.” Possible sanctions could go as far as temporary exclusion from tenders in the canton of Baselland. When asked to what extent the canton also bears responsibility, Buschauer said: “The canton has overall responsibility, but the contractor and the construction management also have a duty.”

The silence of the Sohm company

How powerful the Swiss subsidiary of the parent company in Alberschwende in Vorarlberg, founded in Widnau in St. Gallen, is remains unclear. There is no production facility there, in any case. It is more or less a domiciliary company. When OnlineReports called, a woman answered and immediately put us through to Kilian Sohm, the son of the company owner. He is the head of marketing at the parent company, which has a good reputation in the industry.

He was completely tight-lipped. When asked about who was responsible for the construction freeze, the name of the Swiss managing director and the employees working in the Swiss branch, he did not want to comment “to be on the safe side”. Instead, he referred the matter to Rapp Architects in Münchenstein.

OnlineReports then turned to CEO Thomas Sohm. He presents himself in the best possible light on his company website: His vision of wood as a building material “arouses enthusiasm and causes a stir in specialist circles – even beyond the country's borders”. But when asked about responsibility, the decision not to use scaffolding or the origin of the wood used, the top boss also remained silent: no answer.

Turmoil already in the awarding of contracts

Such blocking does not help reputation. The awarding of the contract to the Austrian company in accordance with GATT/WTO guidelines already caused considerable uproar among Swiss timber construction companies. In November 2016, SVP district councillor Christoph Häring successfully submitted a motion requiring the government to “adapt the project specifications and, where possible, the procurement guidelines in favour of resource-efficient building materials of local or national origin”.

Chamber of Commerce Director Christoph Buser told OnlineReports: “That is the price of this awarding practice. When foreign providers come, they are not clear about which safety regulations apply in Switzerland. The tendering authority must keep a closer eye on this in the future.”

The wall of silence and the mutual shifting of responsibility for the safety of this major contract are likely to give further impetus to the political discussion surrounding the state-owned construction site of the Sissach depot.

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13 July 2018

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“Wood in abundance”

Very well researched, thank you very much. I am bothered by Buser's statement, there needs to be more control.

In my opinion, the main mistake lies in awarding the contract to a foreign supplier, especially here where wood from our region is available in abundance. At the last annual meeting, Forestry President Schoch was rightly annoyed that the authority's intention to promote local wood was only paid lip service in such cases.

Elmar GaechterHölstein