To start a safety program, construction companies create an array of external stimulus affecting jobsite safety. These initiatives include creating safer workplaces and machinery; implementing the most current rules and procedures; making sure workers are using personal protective equipment; hiring talented supervisors to evaluate safety programs and constantly implement the latest strategies; placing requirements on subcontractors; and providing as much training as possible.
All of this external direction has a cumulative positive effect on safety in the workplace. It raises awareness, teaches the latest techniques and rules, and it provides incentive to work safely. It also improves knowledge, performance, and motivation. However, until safety becomes personal, and employees make internal decisions to choose to be safe, all of this external stimulus within a given company has a limited effect.
A more sustainable and richer safety program for all comes from a different source, the actual employee. It is generated from deep inside every employee, whether they are in corporate management, are supervisors, or tradespeople. A company safety program reaches its highest level when everyone acknowledges and assesses his or her own safety
and the safety of those around them. This occurs when safety becomes the top priority in everyone’s thoughts, beliefs and values. It is where people focus their attention on what is most relevant, and the most relevant thing is safety.
Safety professionals and supervisors are not able to drill this concept into people, or discipline them into complying to any significant extent. It may work for a task or a limited period of time, but it doesn’t last. People have to choose to practice and exercise safety. It is up to the employee’s sense of personal wellbeing to reach the highest level of safety at work.
Successful construction companies are acutely aware of this dynamic and they strive to develop personal behavioral change. They go beyond using positive reinforcement and punishment to influence behaviors. They move safety past the plateau that occurs when people get accustomed to the systems, signals, signs, and regulations.
Personal awareness is the key. Once employees reach the point where safety is truly first on everyone’s mind, the rest will fall into place. Obviously, there is no instant, automatic way to accomplish this. It takes time, and consistent practice and messaging.
Companies must deploy a full set of external stimuli to forge a comprehensive safety program. To make it work, employees have to focus on fundamentally changing their own personal behaviors.
Plans afoot for improvements to I-95 from Greenwich to Stamford
GREENWICH — The state has plans to renovate Interstate-95 in Greenwich in 2021 after determining the concrete underpinning of the road and its bridges is nearing the end of its serviceable life.
In a letter sent to First Selectman Peter Tesei from the state Department of Transportation last week, the project, estimated at $158 million, would include resurfacing, bridge rehabilitation, a new median barrier, drainage improvements and new lights in both directions, among other improvements.
Commuters are being given a heads-up as well.
“We try to do our public outreach as early as possible so we are able to coordinate with the municipalities,” said Susan Libatique, the transportation principal engineer for the state’s Bureau of Engineering and Construction. “We wanted to get the word out to the public and let them know what is going to happen.
The project’s design is set to be completed in the fall of 2020. Several hurdles are left to clear, Libatique said, including acceptance of the project by the state’s bonding commission and the Federal Highway Administration.
It also depends on funding approvals — the plan as proposed is 90 percent federally funded and 10 percent state funded — and getting required right-of-way and environmental permits.
The project will cover more than seven miles of the highway, from the New York/Connecticut state line to the Rippowam River overpass at Exit 7 in Stamford.
Public meetings will be scheduled when the plan is further along, officials said.
“The present condition of the surface of the highway was found to be in poor condition,” Libatique said. “We need to get rehabilitate the pavement to extend the service life of the structure.” Deteriorated concrete slabs and joints of the underlying concrete pavement will be replaced, as will the underpinnings of the river bridges.
The current 32-inch median barrier sections will be replaced with a 45-inch median barrier.
The DOT has asked Greenwich to complete any utility work on town-owned roadways which intersect with the I-95 ramps to make sure that work is completed before the construction project.
“The traveling public can be better served upon completion of the project with a pavement that would not have to be disturbed for installations of this kind for many years,” Libatique said in her letter to Tesei.
Information on the project is available by emailing Libatique at susan.libatique@ct.gov or by calling her at 860-594-3179..
Emails should make reference to the project’s designation: State Project No. 56-316
Reconstruction of South Brooksvale Road in Cheshire begins, access limited until end of August
CHESHIRE — Access to a portion of South Brooksvale Road will be limited until the end of August due to a road reconstruction project that began Monday.
On Monday, the town began reconstructing about three-quarters of a mile of South Brooksvale Road between Bethany Mountain Road and Mount Sanford Road. The section of road under construction will be closed to through traffic weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Detour routes are Route 10 and Avon Boulevard.
The $993,000 project is funded through the Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program grant administered by the state Department of Transportation.
Too Much Oil … Not Enough Pipelines
Canada's problem with its oil pipeline capacity is becoming increasingly serious as opposition to new pipelines is growing in intensity. The situation will only worsen in the coming months as production continues to grow.
Despite opposition, Canada's PM Justin Trudeau last year approved Kinder Morgan's Trans-Mountain expansion project, which will see the twin pipe transport almost 900,000 barrels of crude daily to Canada's Pacific coast.
President Donald Trump also approved a crucial new pipeline project that was shelved by his predecessor: the 830,000-bpd Keystone XL that has been the target of vocal environmentalist and Native American opposition for years.
Together, the two pipelines would relieve the pressure on the existing pipeline network, but there is just one problem: the expanded Trans-Mountain will take two years to become operational. For Keystone XL, there is no deadline yet. In the meantime, Canadian exporters are resorting to increased shipments by rail to their biggest client, the United States.
The situation is ironic for environmentalists: their opposition has been a major stumbling block for pipeline capacity expansion, both in Canada and the U.S. Yet, a survey from Fraser Institute has revealed that, despite the imperfections of pipelines, they are substantially safer than railways when it comes to moving crude oil.
Common sense supports the findings: if nothing else, pipelines can't be derailed or crash into another pipeline.
This past March, railway shipments of Canadian crude oil hit an 18-month high, reaching 155,655 bpd. This was a 52-percent annual increase, highlighting the gravity of the pipeline capacity problem. A month later, the Financial Post recalled in a May story, IHS analysts warned that by the end of the year, crude oil exports from Canada will actually exceed the export pipeline capacity.
Now, a fresh report from Morningstar has repeated the warning. “Given that no new crossborder pipeline capacity is expected on line before 2019, we expect Canadian crude-by-rail traffic into the United States to continue growing as production increases,” the analysts wrote, sounding an alarm for a still-recovering industry, because oil by rail is not just more dangerous than oil by pipelines, but also costlier.
The National Energy Board of Canada forecasts that this month, total crude oil production in Canada will hit 4.03 million barrels daily. Then output will dip to around 4.01 million bpd over July and August, before rebounding to 4.08 million bpd in September. In the meantime, it's anyone's guess where international prices will be three months from now. If they are still below US$50 that would be bad news for anyone having to pay for the transportation of crude by rail. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE