Dr. A. Wayne Evans, MD, DRCPSC, has recently been consulting to West End Connectors, the company
performing the tunnel boring (TBM) component if the Eglington Subway Extension in the GTA. The specific portion of this enormous engineering feat is known as a Hyperbaric Intervention (HI). Dr Evans and his organization have been engaged to manage the problems that could occur from work in the compressed air working environment. This is based on his extensive hyperbaric experience as well as his understanding of engineering principles related to pressure environment management or PVHO
“We are very please to be a member of the team a supporting this impressive landmark project.”
Little known is that in the modern era of tunnel boring, exposure of workers to compressed air and the risk of what is know as the bends has been a problem for decades. In fact, During the construction of the Toronto subway (TTC) in the 1960s, construction workers were exposed to the dangerous working environment decompression illness.
In some sections of the tunnelling. the rock face needs to be pressurized to prevent flooding. There are limits on the time that workers can work in the compressed air environment known as a caisson, and therefore many safety protocols are required to ensure the safety of workers in this environment. One of these is the availability of hyperbaric recompression chamber services to limit and support recovery in the event of decompression illness. At this presentation, Dr Evans provided an explanation to the team of how the compressed air environment can affect humans as well as explaining some of the hyperbaric technology used to manage such potential problems. Dr Evans and his team are responsible for providing management advice as well as access to Hyperbaric facilities, in the event it is required. This will help ensure the safety of workers on this critical project.
