An interview with the engineer, Salvatore Farina, Director of the Governorate’s Directorate for Infrastructures and Services

The technological beating heart

A technological heart filled with humanity that cares for the environment. A structure aimed at making a leap in matters of development, with particular attention to the development and safeguarding of staff and to upgrading their security skills. The following is an interview with the engineer and former Italian army chief, Salvatore Farina, who was appointed Director of the Directorate for Infrastructures and Services of the Governorate of Vatican City State by Pope Francis, on 15 February of this year.

How would you describe the Directorate?

It is a key Directorate for the entire Governorate. With many areas of responsibilities and different areas of application: from big renovations, to the ordinary and extraordinary maintenance of technical systems, to looking after the Vatican Gardens, to the power supply and waste management.

The Directorate also plays an important role during ceremonies, because it handles the maintenance and the installation of systems, and the set up and organization of equipment for celebrations and encounters with Pope Francis, in Saint Peter’s Square and in the Papal Basilicas. It therefore has to provide skilled and prompt interventions in order to guarantee technical support and services to Vatican City State.

In addition to fulfilling our regular duties, we are engaged in efforts to further improve our work through increased participation, communication and dialogue, ongoing upgrades and formation, and by strengthening ethical and behavioural values. This is why all the Directors and I are often on construction sites, in laboratories, on the sites of key systems and warehouses, and in close contact with the staff, with problems and their subsequent solutions.

Can you describe the responsibilities of your Directorate in greater detail?

The Directorate for Infrastructures and Services is responsible for the ordinary and extraordinary maintenance of all the properties and infrastructures of Vatican City State and its extraterritorial zones, including technical interventions in the Major Papal Basilicas and in the extraterritorial zone of Castel Gandolfo.  

With the cooperation of its Technical Offices of Planning, Operations Management and Maintenance, the Directorate examines and oversees building and installation works, in accordance with regulation in effect in Vatican City State, and handles project contracts. The work the Directorate is called to do is based on a specific long-standing organization that identifies expected costs and time frames, respecting existing administrative procedures, especially in negotiations and financial activities.

The Directorate is also responsible for: maintenance of the Vatican Gardens, protection of the environment, waste management, including its disposal and treatment, throughout the territory of the State and in the extraterritorial areas. Our goal is to make the Directorate increasingly more innovative, prepared, energy-saving, and focused on protecting the environment, in accordance with existing State and International norms regarding contract procedures.

And lastly, as the Technical Office of the State, we are also responsible for the State cadastre, road traffic circulation, and toponymy.

How many people work in the Directorate, and in which sectors?

The Directorate has about 300 employees, and is very well-structured. Each member is important, from the eldest to the youngest worker, from the engineer who plans to the surveyor who supervises, to the manual labourer who takes action. No one is more indispensable than the other because it is teamwork.

It is composed of 60 engineers, architects, surveyors and administrative workers. Other members of staff include highly qualified technicians, team leaders, workshop foremen, who work in building maintenance, power, heating and plumbing systems, and in mechanic, carpentry and marble workshops.

The project’s team and management coordinate both new construction works, such as the barracks of the Gendarmerie and those of the Swiss Guards, and extraordinary renovation works like the fire station, as well as carrying out maintenance works. Some of our technicians are permanently employed in the Vatican Museums. The administrative personnel is responsible for assigning contracts and for ensuring that the code regulating contracts is respected. The majority of our working community covers executive roles in all the sectors mentioned above. There are also women employed at the planning and executive level and we are pleased to highlight that this is a growing trend.

How do you implement the suggestions Pope Francis made in his Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’?

The Directorate is particularly involved in implementing strategies and policies to increase efficiency in energy saving, to diversify sources of energy and to adopt technologies that have low environmental impact. It is a very important ethical, cultural and technical change that we try to pursue with various concrete projects.

The most important measures we have adopted to achieve these goals are the use of electric and hybrid vehicles, a reasonable use of natural resources such as water and energy, the redevelopment of the technological patrimony of the State (for example, refrigeration units with refrigerants with low GWP, global warming potential, and the upgrade of the heating system). Our responsibilities also include the supply of car fuel that is less polluting (green fuels), with lower carbon emissions. We also have a supply contract with ACEA for electric energy that is 100% from renewable sources.

The common denominator in the above-mentioned areas of intervention is the impact of energy and production systems on the environment.

From the energy point of view, is the State achieving the objectives of reducing carbon emissions?

Our objective is to reduce our emissions by 20 percent by 2030. In 2010, we started developing the planning stage of services and projects aimed at implementing environmental policies in the energy engineering sector. Among them are the district heating system with highly efficient energy systems and streamlined production systems and heat exchange, waste management and treatment that uses the concept of recovery and reuse and not disposal, through the adoption of low impact systems --part of our waste management is handled by Hera, which recycles our undifferentiated waste, which is very important -- the rationalization of energy consumption, also via photovoltaic systems which are currently being installed at the entrance to the Vatican Museums and in the warehouses in the “Vignaccia” area, and charging stations for electric vehicles of the State and of employees. Thirty five charging stations have already been installed.

With regards to protecting the environment, we are responsible for the maintenance of “green areas”, including their redevelopment, for safeguarding biodiversity, for the State’s reforestation programme, which has planted 300 hundred trees of various species in the last three years, and for the elimination of the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, replacing them with natural based products and organic fertilizers.

What are some of the measures you have put into place to protect work safety?

The personal safety of workers at the workplace is a top priority for the Directorate. In addition to security, we safeguard the work environments and areas of all employees, in accordance with existing regulations on matters related to health and hygiene and technical urban planning.

With regards to security in temporary and mobile work sites, we have established “Coordinators of Security in Planning stages and implementation”. Employees regularly participate in professional courses with external training companies, on the prevention of risks from biological agents, asbestos, fires and electrical equipment. Among them, I recall the course on Basic Life Support Defibrillation (BLSD), how to use defibrillators, how to use construction lifts that serve as stabilisers, Level 2 fire officers, the formation of security supervisors and supervisors for emergency management in fire risky activities, courses on the risks associated with radon, electromagnetic fields, levels of noise in work areas and asbestos.

Some of our activities also involve the reduction of common waste: the digitalization of documents and the subsequent reduction in paper waste, drinking water dispensers and air filtration systems, and waste sorting in offices.

As I said at the beginning of the interview, I like to think of the Directorate for Infrastructures and Systems as a Working Community, in which we are all united by a spirit of service and Christian Fraternity  to do “More Together”, every day.

(Nicola Gori)