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RaShawn L. Austin is the Executive Director of Health and Safety at Iceland, New Yorkbased at Forte Construction, a general contracting firm involved in transit and public works projects throughout New York State.
The opinions are the author’s own.
America’s most populous cities are known for their fast pace of life and their construction projects are expected to follow suit.
With demands for affordable housing and improved infrastructure increasing, discourse often revolves around the speed of development, with critics ready to point to any delays, shortages and cost overruns that stand in the way.
as we have We celebrate Construction Safety Week, is a critical reminder that speed is no substitute for safety. The hazards on a construction site are many, and it is crucial that today’s construction professionals focus on the best ways to mitigate them.
In a bustling urban area like New York City, a similar level of activity occurs underground than on the street and even dozens of stories in the air, making this surveillance even more critical.
For my company’s workers and project managers, many of whom are involved in modernizing elevators and escalators to make the city’s subway stations more accessible, underground construction activity presents a unique challenge .
The city that never sleeps doesn’t stop while you dig, either. How do you keep your workers safe and keep these stations open to a public blissfully unaware of the dangers around them?
Stay alert
First, we don’t delve into anything before verifying that the area is free of all potential hazards. The reasons for this are too abundant.
Unlike suburban environments, where utility poles appear above ground, utilities in densely populated Manhattan run underground. Workers operate heavy machinery in confined spaces, often working around sensitive heating and electrical infrastructure.
Alongside New York’s critical underground infrastructure lies another set of pipes, valves and cables abandoned and unmarked by generations past. And as the terrain changes over time, that equipment may not be in the same places they left it.
Our crews constantly come across long-forgotten electrical and gas systems that must be safely relocated before digging further. The consequences of not doing so could be disastrous.
Twenty-five years ago, New Yorkers experienced the infamous explosion of the steam pipe in Gramercy Park. One of Manhattan’s 109 miles of main steam lines was damaged at a construction site, spewing asbestos over a six-block radius. The accident caused the death of three people in an apartment building, 24 injuries and 200 more displaced for months.
The long-term effects of these types of disasters remain a major issue for construction safety teams in the city, and diligence is key to avoiding a similar scenario in the future.
Digging underground also carries a risk of flooding, as the water table beneath New York City is uneven and can pop up unexpectedly. Accidental drilling into the water table, which has happened many times, causes a number of problems, including flooding and subway closures.
loosen up
All of this means that workers must refrain from just charging forward with the work in question. Too often, the prevailing mindset overvalues speed and efficiency (time is money and delays are costly, after all), but every construction team should do their due diligence before starting any work.
Despite the instinct to rush as tight timelines approach, workers should take the time to drill pilot holes during the exploration phase and make sure to call 811 before a shovel hit the ground The National Excavation Hotline provides information on any hidden utilities that may be in your target area.
Communication is another vital part of the security equation. If a worker encounters an abandoned line or any other unexpected obstacle, which happens all the time, they must immediately report it to their supervisor so that it is considered abandoned or active.
Public transportation in New York City is really making strides on the accessibility front. Moving forward, let’s make sure progress doesn’t come at the expense of safety.
This story has been updated with the correct city where Forte Construction is based.