Construction Informer

Fire safety is in the news and it reminded me of all the various ways fires can get started at construction sites. Some of the obvious include containers of gasoline, diesel fuel and other liquid fuels stored in unmarked locations. Without the proper signage people may not be aware they just lit up their cigarette next to a gas can. Electrical equipment can cause sparks at times so once again being aware of where to store the gas is important. Here are some other examples from recent news reports.

A 3,000 square foot home that was nearing completion sustained a half million in damages from a fire that started in the wee hours of the morning. Apparently the owners were staying in a guest house on the property. They were not hurt.

In Las Vegas the second floor of a building under construction caught fire and electrical insulation along with some tools were destroyed.

An ambulatory care center under construction in South Carolina was the scene of a fire that started from a stack of insulation that was on the roof. Buildings under construction often don’t have all the access in place yet so firefighters who would normally have approached from interior stairs ended up using construction ladders to get to the flames. In this case there wasn’t any structural damage to the building and the $9.6 million structure is still expected to be completed on time.

Construction debris on the roof of a new baseball stadium being built in North Carolina caught fire. Again, insulation was the fuel and in this case it was identified as styrofoam. Coincidentally, a relative of styrofoam insulation made of polyisocyanurate has a high R value per square inch but it too is combustible.

In another incident involving styrofoam it only took some sparks to cause a fire. In Utah workers were cutting some steel when the sparks from that operation caught styrofoam blocks on fire. This happened at an office building under construction.

So, besides flammable liquids posing the typical dangers it appears there could be a trend toward insulation fires. A daily trip around the job site with a critical eye toward potential fire hazards can net an added measure of fire safety to any project. Of course looking around for other safety hazards at the same time should yield safer work sites overall. It’s never easy to build safely, but factoring in the additional time to accommodate safety is a lot less painless than dealing with accidents.

As OSHA is publishing a proposed rule for cranes and derricks in construction the New York City Buildings Department has issued new requirements related to the application process associated with erecting and dismantling tower cranes. According to one report the OSHA change is the first one related to cranes in 40 years.

None of this may come as a surprise to anyone who has been watching the headlines on the series of crane accidents over the course of this year, but some apparently are not happy.

The Cement League, which represents union concrete workers and contractors in NYC says compliance with the city’s requirements are “not possible.” Since tower cranes are often erected on weekends the new rules don’t allow enough time for the contractors to get the necessary engineering information from the crane companies. One source claimed there may be as many as 1,000 workers out of work this week as a result.

Of course the NYC Buildings Department says ample notice has been given claiming notification as far back as March.

Interestingly, Texas, which according to this report has lead the nation in deadly crane accidents for the past three years, hasn’t been showing up much at all in the headlines.

The construction death headlines seem to be more and more commonplace. After a rash of crane, and falling-from-heights deaths over the past few weeks there are new death and injury scenarios cropping up.

A 56-year-old construction worker was killed in an Indianapolis Airport construction accident. Apparently a dump truck was backing up and it ran over him. The driver didn’t see him. There was no information as to why the worker didn’t see the dump truck.

A worker carrying plywood on a highway construction project in Iowa was hit by a car when he stepped in front of it. The driver had no time to react and hit the man, injuring him. There was no word on the extent of the injuries.

A masonry worker was using a six-foot-long aluminum pole to scrape mortar at a town home project in Illinois when the pole touched an electrical wire and electrocuted him. The man was working on a ladder that was propped against the building when he lost his balance and fell. That’s when the pole touched the wire.

There are many reasons why people get hurt and killed where they work, but in these cases it seems once again that inattention was a primary contributor.

The next volley in the battle about radon and granite countertops has been fired, this time by the Marble Institute of America. According to the Marble Institute of America the EPA has stated that “granite countertops pose no significant health risk.”

However, if you really read what the EPA wrote you might come to a different conclusion as to what it seems to be saying. I have lifted the parts of the statement that deal directly with radon and granite. There were other statements included about testing a home’s air for radon and the advisability of that.

While natural minerals such as granite may occasionally emit radon gas, the levels of radon attributable to such sources are not typically high.  EPA believes the principal source of radon in homes is soil gas that is drawn indoors through a natural suction process. While radon levels attributable to granite are not typically high, there are simply too many variables to generalize about the potential health risks inside a particular home that has granite countertops. It is prudent to limit your family’s exposure to radon whenever possible. Granite is a natural mineral formed by earth’s geology. It is mined and used to produce commercial products such as countertops. It is possible for any granite sample to contain varying concentrations of uranium that can produce radon gas. Some granite used in countertops may contribute variably to indoor radon levels. However, EPA has no reliable data to conclude that types of granite used in countertops are significantly increasing indoor radon levels. EPA is aware of a few studies that have conducted limited research on radon in granite countertops. EPA will continue to review this research. EPA will continue to monitor and analyze the evolving research on this issue and will update its recommendations as appropriate.

I don’t know about you but what I get from that is that granite could emit radon gas and contribute to indoor radon levels, but in reality the EPA has no reliable data on the subject. So, who knows why it bothered to make a statement.

As temperatures soar keeping cool on a construction job can be challenging. The State of Washington has backed away from some requirements in its battle against heat stress in the wake of a lot of complaints that they were going too far. Gone is the requirement that employers need to maintain temperature records, and the state has also simplified details regarding training and educating workers on heat-stress and implementing accident prevention programs.

However, the rules that kick in at 89 degrees if people are working in direct sun wearing regular clothes are still in effect. At that point employers have to provide at least a quart of water per hour to each employee, provide shaded rest areas and have a written plan to prevent heat stress. Last year the state uncovered and fined employers for 860 violations. Four people have died of heat stroke in that state since 1997 and hundreds have been hospitalized. There are other requirements based upon the other kinds of clothing that may be worn, like hazmat suits.

Things get really hot under a hard hat. Harvard Medical School says 30 percent of a person’s body heat is attributable to the head. Now, a company called Salisbury has released a lithium-powered fan for hard hats. The device has a computer chip that controls timed released bursts of air into the cavity space of the hat. The unit operates for one minute on and four off. There is also a glove-friendly manual switch for those times when you want to be in charge of the cooling.

As you might expect though there are other options for keeping a cool head. Erogodyne has some interesting items with no moving parts. The company claims its bandanas and headbands, triangle hats and hard hat inserts use evaporative cooling to tame the heat for 24 to 48 hours. It isn’t clear what happens after that time. The company also has cooling vests, wrist sweatbands, hydration packs and an item called a High Performance Cap that will also fit under a hard hat. These offerings are also tailored to North America since you can get bandanas with the U.S. flag, Canadian flag and Mexican flag on them. There are also many more designs for those of you in other places.

Now that summer is officially here it’s a good time to consider how you are helping your people keep their cool.