Today I went and visited the site on Prices Fork for the first time, with the R.L Price sign in front of the building. It is a squat little building that was constructed of structural steel, concrete floors, metal framing, and a brick facade on the exterior. The building is located on one of the main roads in Blacksburg and I had expected better safety protocols from the workers and contractor. When I visited the site there was not a single man wearing any sort of PPE; this includes glasses, gloves, hardhat or high visibility clothing. Even though this is no a very large project and probably costs under $500,000 to build it still was amazing to me that no sort of safety measures were being taken. Attached is a daily log form of the workers and subcontractors and some photos of the work being performed along with the building.
11-29-11 Daily Log Report (Reddick Construction)
This photo is of the workers from R.L. Price, as you can see none of them have on any of the typical PPE that we see on all the other construction sites on campus and around town. It must be because they are a smaller company that they feel that they do not need to follow the typical OSHA standards but that is not the case for all construction companies. ConTech for instance mandates the use of typical PPE on all sites whether indoors or outdoors, state rate or privately funded, or main street Blacksburg or back roads northern NY.
As you can see here this picture shows the exterior of the building, you cannot see the structural steel anymore because it has been entirely covered up with the brick facade. The brick facade is in a typical running bond pattern that seems to be the standard in today's brick construction. Also in this picture you can see a miniature excavator loading materials into a dump truck.
I have a couple of suggestions for this site; first off I would highly recommend increasing the safety of the workers and civilians by taking a step back and looking at the project (as I did) from a civilians point of view, this would allow the contractor to see the mistakes they are making currently. I would also recommend using an AutoCAD like program to avoid having to excavate excessive materials off the site and then you wouldnt have to bring in so much gravel for the parking lot. It was a good experience for me to see this site because it represents what should not be done on a construction site in regards to safety, which i think should be every companies highest priority.
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