Over Thanksgiving break I had the opportunity to view one of the sites that my dad's construction company was working on, this was a good opportunity for me to compare ConTech's safety procedures with that of some of the largest companies in the United States. The site that I visited is called "Cannon Corners US Border Patrol Crossing Station", it is a new crossing station from northern NY into southern Ontario. It was also good for me to get out and see some of my old co-workers from my days of a labor in the field. Attached is a daily log report and some photos from around the exterior of the site, because it is a government building I was not allowed photo's inside the building.
11-22-11 Daily Log Report (Reddick Construction)
In this photo you can see ConTech employee's installing new metal flashing on the exterior of the building at the roof line. They are in an all terrain lift with a man basket attachment, since they are above 6' off the ground they are also tied off inside the basket. This may seem like an excessive amount of safety but it is what OSHA requires and does help to save lives so ConTech follows the guidelines.
Here you can see the exterior of the building and the new site work being done off the main road under the building. This site work is being completed by Luck Brothers along with the paving on site. There has been a good line of communication between ConTech and all subcontractors on site up to this point so far and because of this there have been no work stoppages to date that I know of.
Here is the small outpost constructed on the outskirts of the site. This building is currently having its exterior finishes installed including: metal siding, shingle roof, and exterior lighting. This is being completed by multiple trades and companies including ConTech and S&L Electric.
As you can see here the weather can drastically change in northern NY, when the workers went home on Tuesday night there was no snow, when they came back on Wednesday morning there was 6" of snow on the ground. The first thing that needs to be done is to clear the site in all work areas of snow if at all possible, this increases the safety of the site and reduces the risk of an accidental injury. After that is completed the workers can continue on the same jobs they were doing the the day before.
This final photo is just another reminder of how quickly weather can change and how the contractors must react in order to continue work progress and meet their schedules. ConTech is ahead of schedule on this project and is not going to let something like 6" of snow stop them from keeping that schedule.
It was good for me to get on a ConTech site again, its been since summer since I had seen one, and especially one like Cannon Corners. This is a very high profile job from one of ConTech's main employers, the federal government, so they must upkeep a very high safety standard which is the case on all ConTech projects. There has not been a single job that I have worked on where PPE was required for all workers and all visitors, and ConTech has a very good tract record with OSHA and other construction governing bodies. It would be interesting to see how the companies down here would react to 6" of snow, would they shut the job down for the day, or would they be able to logistically handle the sudden change in weather?
No comments:
Post a Comment