Construction Informer

Construction projects are always stalling for a variety of reasons. Sometimes the plans are a “wee bit” too energetic, like the Seattle luxury condo hotel that discovered it couldn’t sell but 21 of the planned 176 units. So it was scaled back to just 44.

Other times the market is blamed like when another condo project in Ocean City, MD, barely got past the groundbreaking when it came to a halt. In that case local property owners have had to deal with runoff from the site and the whole issue has become a side show that is fascinating the community.

A community center under construction at Ramstein Air Base in Germany crash landed because of a dispute between the U.S. and one of the contractors over change orders. So, the German government has stepped in and offered a special funding account so subcontractors can be paid and then get back to work.

In NYC the construction of a ticket booth in Times Square that was supposed to be completed in 2006 is still up in the air and according to some sources the officials there have not been interested in revealing what the delays are about.

Now, some are claiming there is a dearth of stalled projects because of the housing crises and the drying up of that prodigious stream of credit that fed unprecedented construction activity for almost a decade.

Claiming the subtitle of, “Finishing Today’s Projects for Tomorrow’s Business,” the Unfinished Construction.com people are now listing projects in need of completion and trying to match finishers with them. Owners and brokers pay to advertise their unfinished projects on the site. Looking oddly like archaeological finds with a modern flare the stark block walls without roofs evoke the feeling of great plans gone awry.

Failed projects will always be with us since in some cases there isn’t enough after-the-fact maneuvering in the world to overcome one that is poorly planned and executed, and also because sometimes things just don’t work out.

Some days it seems construction is getting to be a pretty dangerous activity. Here are some incidents from May 20:

• A crane operator in Iowa was killed when the crane he was operating tipped over, fell through the deck of the bridge it was operating on and fell to a train track below;
• A hotel under construction in San Diego exploded from an apparent gas leak injuring 17, three seriously;
• A construction crew that was breaking up concrete hit a high pressure gas line in Culver City, CA rupturing it;
• A driver died when he crashed his car into the back end of a parked earth mover in Fort Worth; and
• A dry wall installer in Tyler, TX was crushed against a ceiling beam by the scissor lift he was working from.

Many of you may have seen this information before but we do tend to forget over time so here are the leading causes of fatalities in the construction sector.

• Falls from heights is the cause in 33 percent of the incidences;
• Struck by something accounts for 22 percent of the deaths;
• Caught between things makes up 18 percent;
• Electrical shock is responsible in 17 percent of the deaths; and
• Other makes up the remaining 10 percent.

Here is some deeper data that may help you to better estimate your risks:

• Trade contractors have the largest percentage of deaths by falls;
• The largest percentage of "struck by" deaths occurs in heavy construction;
• The percentage of deaths caused by electrical shock is almost the same for heavy construction as it is for electrical work;
• For general building contractors 45 percent of the deaths resulted from falls;
• 60 percent of the deaths of electrical workers were caused by shock.

Awareness has its benefits.