Related Links: Senior Moments: Are Older Workers at Greater Risk of Injury? Fred Dryden operates an excavator for the heavy division of Barletta Cos.' reconstruction of the 97-year-old Larz Anderson Bridge near Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass. At 60, there is a good chance he's older than some of Boston's infrastructure. As an operating engineer, he has managed to avoid many of the physical hazards to which other construction crafts are prone and plans to stay on the job until age 65."I like my work because I'm always doing something different," he says with a smile. "I've got wheels, so
Related Links: Dayton Daily News Story on Sturgill's Heat Stroke Citations A Dayton, Ohio-based roofing contractor is contesting U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration citations after a 60-year-old worker died last August from complications caused by heat stroke on an 82-degree F day.The temporary employee of A.H. Sturgill Roofing Inc. had been working in direct sunlight on a commercial flat roof in Miamisburg, throwing rubber roofing material into a dump truck on the ground, according to OSHA. The employee, who was not named, had to be hospitalized Aug. 1 and died 21 days later.The two serious violations are for failing
Related Links: Why NYC is Outsourcing Crane Exams 2012 Updated Requirements for New York City Crane Operators N ew York City building officials imposed $64,000 fines against a crane operator and a contractor for failing to inspect and improperly operating a mobile crane that collapsed in the borough of Queens. The accident injured seven workers on an apartment-building jobsite on Jan. 9."The operator was attempting to lift a load of more than double the weight capacity for this particular crane," said Robert LiMandri, the buildings commissioner, in a statement.At the project site on Jan. 9, Paul Geer, the crane operator,
Related Links: ENR: Jobsite Safety ENR: No Compromising on Safety Savvy contractors have significantly cut jobsite injuries in the past few decades by transforming safety practices into a science. Recent innovations include using more statistics as well as the latest technology. Some firms are taking a cue from psychology and employing behavior-modification techniques.Companies use statistical data from outside resources such as OSHA and the Construction Industry Institute (CII) at the University of Texas at Austin, but many also compile their own. They track recordable injuries, medical treatments, near misses and lost-time cases using tools such as job-safety analysis. Then they
Photo by Peter Reina Damaged tower crane dangling after crash. Photo by Peter Reina Related Links: Helicopter Strikes Tower Crane at London High-Rise Project Agusta 109 Helicopter Accident specialists with the U.K. government have launched investigations into the early morning Jan. 16 helicopter crash into a crane attached to a 180-meter-tall residential building under construction in central London. Both the helicopter pilot and a man in the street were killed. Six days after the accident, the building contractor started removing the damaged crane and ordered a replacement to complete the Tower, One St George Wharf project later this year.The twin-engine
Peter Reina for ENR The luffing jib of the tower dangled precariously atop the London skyscraper after being hit by a helicopter. Related Links: YOUTUBE Eyewitness account (video, audio) A helicopter flying in fog and clouds struck a tower crane at a London high-rise project early this morning.Two people in the helicopter died after it had crossed a busy highway and crashed in a nearby street, according to news reports.At about 8 a.m on Jan. 16, the helicopter struck the luffing jib of a tower attached to the new skyscraper rising at 1 St. George Wharf, in the Vauxhall section
Related Links: Demo Crew Member Killed at Gatlinburg, Tenn., Plant Where Two Workers Died Last Year New Tank for Tennessee Treatment Plant Where Three Died Failures of a North Carolina company to protect employees from loose soil and rock and inspect for possible hazards on a demolition worksite ended up in a $7,200 fine imposed by the Tennessee Division of Occupational Safety and Health.Roberson Construction & Land Development, Enka, N.C., was cited for three “serious” violations after Michael Eugene Wells was killed on Feb. 23, 2012, when an earthen wall collapsed during demolition of the Gatlinburg Wastewater Treatment Plant’s equalization
Photo courtesy ConstructionWorld.in Enclosed work spaces at height can eliminate falls and protect surrounding buildings and bystanders, scaffolding experts say. Related Links: Fluor Boosts Safety Audits CEOs Share Strategies for Emerging Markets There's a flip side to the success story of booming construction in emerging markets such as India. At the moment, construction is the most dangerous industry in India, recording the world's highest accident rate among workers. Yet while construction labor accounts for just 7.5% of India's workforce, it suffers 16.4% of fatal occupational accidents, according to government data.Risky BusinessRecent fatalities at Metro Rail sites in Chennai and Mumbai
Related Links: Questions Raised About Disassembly Process Following Fatal UT Dallas Crane Collapse OSHA statement on citations issued Federal safety officials have cited Harrison Hoist Inc., Grand Prairie, Texas, for six serious safety violations, and and proposed a penalty against the company of $29,400, in connection with a tower crane collapse during disassembly at the University of Texas at Dallas that killed two workers July 7th.The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Harrison Hoist for failing to ensure that the disassembly procedures positioned workers to minimize their exposure to danger and failing to ensure the procedures were developed by
Photo courtesy of NIOSH Hydraulic fracturing kicks up massive amounts of silica dust, a known health hazard linked to lung cancer. Photo by Tudor Van Hampton for ENR Chris Sneden, marketing manager for 3M, demonstrates a new tablet app on the National Safety Council exhibit floor in Orlando. Related Links: NIOSH on Frac Sand Dust Is Part of a Road-Milling Crew's Daily Grind The Occupational Safety and Health Administration says it is halting the development of a long-awaited silica dust regulation to study the respiratory hazards created during hydraulic fracturing operations. New research released earlier this year shows that fracking
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