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The construction industry, an engine that has helped power New York City’s tremendous growth in recent years, is slowly starting to reawaken, offering one of the first optimistic economic glimmers as the city struggles to recover.
And it also provides a glimpse of how the coronavirus pandemic has fundamentally changed the workplace in the nation’s largest city and the epicenter of the outbreak.
— The New York Times
For the New York Times, Matthew Haag reports on the recent reopening of several thousand NYC construction projects and how the ongoing COVID-19 crisis calls for new social distancing and hygiene measures on job sites: "Roughly 5,200 construction projects were operating again as of Tuesday, from... View full entry
After previous studies showed that patients in healthcare facilities were becoming ill due to dust generated by construction activity researchers from Washington State University and Clemson University asked 129 construction managers and field supervisors from the top healthcare contractors in the... View full entry
The study, commissioned by Austin Mayor Steve Adler, found that keeping the city’s jobsites open without any special safety precautions could triple the number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations in the general population — from 10,000 to 30,000 — and raise construction workers’ risk of hospitalization eightfold by the middle of August. — Construction Dive
According to Construction Dive, the study found that the risk of increased hospitalizations and worker illness can be significantly diminished through measures such as temperature screenings, use of personal protective equipment, tool disinfection, hand washing stations, and rotating shifts... View full entry
Computer vision paired with artificial intelligence is already in use on construction sites, analyzing photos and video of a site to spot safety hazards and identify possible construction errors. But an idea pitched from a construction contractor has spurred A.I. vendor Smartvid.io to add social distancing monitoring to its feature set. — Engineering News-Record
According to ENR, Smartvid.io, a company whose AI is already able to spot workers and PPE use from video and still images, received a client request to also monitor social distancing on construction jobsites in light of the COVID-19 crisis. Since the technology could already track people on... View full entry
California Governor Gavin Newsom has issued renewed guidance instructing that the state’s construction sites can remain open for the time being as long as social distancing guidelines are being followed. Politico reports that Newsom reiterated his intention to keep the state’s... View full entry
Demand for routine bridge inspections is expected to rise four times its current level to reach a market valuation of $6.3 billion by the end of 2029, according to research firm Fact.MR. A push for infrastructure modernization in the Asia-Pacific region the largest share of the market at 35%. — Construction Dive
According to Construction Dive, the need for more bridge inspections will be driven by a combination of aging infrastructure, exposure to damaging environmental conditions, and an increase in traffic volume, all of which speed up the deterioration of bridges. This is expected to raise... View full entry
Engineering News-Record (ENR), a leader reporting news and projects in the construction industry, has recently announced its 2020 ENR Awards of Excellence. Judges have selected 20 winners for this year's "Best of the Best Projects" competition. Among those 20 honorees, Zaha Hadid Architects'... View full entry
An ironworker was killed...while performing work on the $1.5 billion Amazon Air hub project at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) in Hebron, Kentucky, an incident confirmed via an emailed statement to Construction Dive from the general contractor, Whiting-Turner Kokosing JV. The Boone County, Kentucky, coroner has identified the worker as 46-year-old Loren Shoemake and said he died from blunt force trauma. — Construction Dive
According to Construction Dive, a full investigation is underway led by OSHA. In a statement, Amazon said, "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, along with the contractors and construction teams during this difficult time," reports Construction Dive. View full entry
In 2018, 60 workers died due to temperature extremes, according to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data on workplace fatalities.
Though the climate crisis is creating conditions where workers are facing hotter temperatures on a more frequent basis, there are no federal safety protections for workers in extreme temperatures, and only three states, California, Washington and Minnesota, have heat stress workplace protection standards.
— The Guardian
The Guardian's Michael Sainato takes a look at the increasingly dangerous nature of outdoor work as climate change makes extreme heat a greater danger for people who labor outside. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 783 workers in the United States died and more than... View full entry
Construction and design behemoth Skanska USA has opted to create a full line of "Personal Protective Equipment" (PPE) designed to meet the particular needs of a rising cohort of women in the construction workforce. The equipment is being developed for these workers in order to "ensure their safety... View full entry
China’s growing obsession with glass bridges may be coming to an abrupt end, after a series of accidents led one province to close down all its glass-bottomed attractions.
Hebei, a scenic mountainous province in northern China, has quietly closed all 32 of its glass bridges, walkways and mountain viewing platforms over the past year for safety reasons [...].
— The Guardian
Despite being breathtaking engineering marvels, China's fascination with glass-bottom bridges hasn't been without setbacks: in August 2016, the world's highest and longest glass-bottom bridge, the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon glass bridge, opened in central Hunan province — but had to close... View full entry
The cracks discovered beneath the rooftop park were classic brittle fractures. The tapered 4-inch-thick steel beams—2.5 feet wide and 60 feet long, with a horizontal flange on the bottom—undergirded the 5.4-acre park on the building’s fourth level, and buttressed the roof of the bus deck on the second level. By themselves, the cracks formed a point of weakness with potentially hazardous consequences. But they also suggested the possibility of a larger crisis. — Popular Mechanics
Popular Mechanics offer a detailed recap of the events following the discovery of two cracked structural steel beams in the brand new $2.2 billion, Pelli Clarke Pelli-designed Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco in 2018. View full entry
The United States Senate has taken up consideration of The School Safety Clearinghouse Act, a measure that would create a centralized database holding information on school safety measures. The federally funded and held archive would provide a vetted "resource where officials can find best... View full entry
Researchers at Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland have introduced a multimedia app for architects and designers that identifies construction hazards related to building design elements using video and images. — Construction Dive
Led by Professor Billy Hare of Glasgow Caledonian University, the team of researchers tested the application among a pool of 40 designers that included "an even mix of experienced and novice architects and engineers." The team asked the group to review a set of CAD drawings for design-related... View full entry
In 2017, the last year for which data are available, 183 people died in Texas in occupations relating to construction, installation, repair, maintenance and extraction, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s one every two days.
This rate may underestimate the scale of the problem, as the deaths of workers without papers may not be reported to authorities.
— Global Construction Review
A report from Global Construction Review delves into troubling data coming out of Texas, where official construction-related deaths number in the triple digits. One potential reason for rising deaths in construction and related industries could lie in lax inspections. According... View full entry
