Gunns has now completed the construction of the access road on to the pulp mill site in the Bell Bay Industrial Zone. Work started in January following months of careful planning to ensure all safety, design, engineering, environmental and heritage aspects of the work were fully considered prior to construction.
The 1.2km road that runs from Gunns Bell Bay wood chip mill to the pulp mill site has posed many safety, engineering and environmental challenges for the construction team. Ten people have been working on the project full-time with up to 20 people involved during peak periods in the construction.
The road has been designed to meet Austroads - Rural Road Design Guidelines and the standards of the Department of Infrastructure, Energy & Resources and will be as good as any other rural road in the state. Supervising contractor Morris, who was the road supervisor at Burnie for 38 years, declared the pulp mill site access road to be the “most difficult job ever”. This was due to the challenge of extracting major rocks from the ground while working under 220kV power lines. Working under power lines meant the rocks could not be blasted and posed many issues for excavator and dozer operators.
According to Morris the health and safety requirements of the job were of paramount importance with all Gunns employees and contractors undertaking training and inductions to ensure they were fully briefed on working near the power lines. Stringent conditions were implemented with a full time safety observer from Aurora being present on site to supervise all aspects of the work under 4 separate spans of power lines.
Strict environmental controls were also in place to meet the conditions of the permit and minimise the environmental footprint, for example all run off from rainfall had to be captured and disposed of to ensure it did not enter the Tamar River. The topography of the site also made the construction work difficult. Culvert pipes were built to deal with any potential storm events that could impact on the creek that runs through the site. Both State and Federal environmental departments conducted audits of the work being carried out.
Neighbours were informed that work would be carried out on the site and notices were posted in local newspapers to advise the community.