Brendan Flaherty manages various construction projects at OSU, including a renovation project at the Moritz College of Law involving removing old lockers and tiles in the locker room. Basic safety practices like wearing hard hats and safety glasses were followed. The tiles contained asbestos, so a special group had to be called in to remove them due to the respiratory risks of asbestos. An electrical lockout tagout system was used to prevent circuits from being accidentally powered on during work. By August 2012, the project was complete, resulting in a comfortable common area.
2. Preface
In May of 2012 I was fortunate enough to be able
to shadow Brendan Flaherty for a few weeks. He
works for OSU and manages various construction
projects. At the time he was on a project at the
Moritz College of Law. I was allowed to sit in on
weekly project meetings, as well as walk through
the project site to see the progress made.
3. The Project
In the basement of the Moritz College of Law there is a locker room. The
project included the removal of all the lockers, as well as the tile in the locker
room and the hallway leading to the room. There was also a fair bit of
electrical to be done as all of the lighting was being replaced and TVs were
being put in.
4. Basic Safety
Basic construction safety was practiced at all times. Even
though we weren’t actually working on the project, when
we would go through the site we would always wear our
hard hats and safety glasses. This seems very simple, but it
is the basis for all construction safety.
5. Asbestos
The tiles being removed from the site were old asbestos tiles.
Prolonged inhalation of asbestos can cause a variety of respiratory
problems, so extreme care must be taken when coming into contact
with it. A special group had to be called in to remove the tile on this
particular project.
6. Electrical
There is always danger present when working on anything
electrical. On this project they used a lockout tagout
system to prevent anyone from accidentally turning on an
electrical circuit that was in use.
7. The Result
By August of 2012 the renovation was complete and the
result was a comfortable common area with beautiful
wooden lockers, warm wooden floors, and several TVs to
catch up on the news and just relax.
