via Youtube
The weight of dirt is serious business and the force it provides should not be underestimated. Depending on the moisture content, soil can weigh around 2,000 pounds per cubic yard. Many construction workers die each year from trench collapses due to improper shoring and benching techniques, but weight and force calculations are also extremely important in the design and construction of retaining walls.
Read morephoto via SmartSite
We have a lot of safety rules in construction and it’s practically impossible to monitor your job site for compliance of every single rule. To complicate matters, many rules are based upon exposure limits, especially when airborne particles are involved. OSHA recently reduced the allowable exposure limit of silica dust, which is found in concrete, stone, and brick, before additional PPE or engineering controls are required. This rule change has caused a lot of grief among construction industry groups, who called the rule technologically infeasible, because what contractor is really set up to measure when 50 micrograms of silica dust per cubic meter of air is actually reached?
Read morePhoto by tup wanders, CC BY 2.0
In March 2013, Flintlock Construction was building a hotel at a Manhattan construction site known as the 325 Project. OSHA inspectors visited the site and delivered three separate scaffolding violations that added up to a total of $249,920 in OSHA fines. Flintlock Construction immediately filed an appeal and that appeal was heard in July 2015.
Read morePhoto courtesy of H Brown Inc
There are some things in life that are promised… such as taxes, death, and buying something used that you will later wish you hadn’t. Whether it is a Craigslist flat screen TV or a used car, it is always smart to be slightly wary about used goods.
Hoisting equipment and construction are no different.
Read moreMaracana Stadium in Brazil, location of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2016 Rio Olympics and a location of the 2014 World Cup. Photo by Rodrigo Soldon, CC BY-ND 2.0
Though the venues of the Rio Olympics may look great on camera, the behind the scenes issues that occurred left Olympic officials stunned. It seemed that Rio was behind schedule from the start, which may have fueled some of the job site conditions that resulted in 11 construction workers’ deaths over the course of the project. Even back in 2014, John D. Coates, the Vice President of the Olympic Committee told reporters that Brazil was not ready for the Olympics “in many, many ways” and also called their preparation worse than Athens, Greece in 2004. Brazil was also the host of the 2014 World Cup and 8 construction workers were killed on the job, including 2 that were killed by a collapsed crane at San Paulo Stadium. Zero deaths were reported during the building process for the 2012 London Olympics.
Read moreMeth pipe. Photo by Drew Stephens, CC BY-SA 2.0
OK look, there are certainly a lot of pressures to get buildings completed on time, but I’d never thought I’d hear of construction workers being GIVEN crystal meth in order to finish a building on time. But, that’s what multiple sources are telling Radio Free Asia (RFA) is happening right now in North Korea. According to RFA, the project managers working on a “showcase” construction project in Pyongyang, which includes many different buildings, are under extreme pressures to finish on time.
Read morePhoto by John Cooke, CC BY-SA 2.0
Heavy haul or over-dimensional trucking is no small feat (yes, pun intended). Such a task demands careful execution and planning in order to ensure success and avoid injuries or crashes.
Listed below are seven tips that will help you to move your load safely.
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Keeping your feet safe on the job site is a no brainer and boots with toe protection are almost always required. The problem with gloves has always been trying to find a balance between adequately protecting hands and maintaining dexterity and functionality. Too much protection could cause your hands to be immobilized or reduce your ability to actually use the tools you’re being protected against. But gloves that are too comfortable may only act as an extra layer of skin and you’re left nursing a black and blue index finger.
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Wrecking balls got a big publicity boost in 2013 when Miley Cyrus released her hit song, but, they’re not really that popular with regards to demolition. Wrecking balls are slowly becoming extinct in the construction industry, making way for more precise hydraulic excavators and explosives. Made of forged steel, wrecking balls typically range between 1,000 to 12,000 pounds. Needless to say, they’re big, they’re heavy, and they don’t belong around operating streets and buildings. Which leads us to the video below…
Read moreRemember that day in school when the lesson was about the acceleration of free falling objects. The science teacher asked an interesting question. If you dropped a feather and a hammer out the window at the same time, which would hit the ground first? According to Galileo, all things should fall at the same rate, regardless of their weight, right? That’s a valid theory and it was actually illustrated at the end of the Apollo 15 moon walk. In 1971 astronaut, David Scott, performed the experiment and had both items land simultaneously.
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