Texas &amp; Louisiana On the Scene: October 2020

Texas & Louisiana On the Scene: October 2020

As a recipient of a women’s safety harness grant from the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and Autodesk, McCarthy Building Cos. is piloting a new women’s safety harness design across its Dallas, Houston and Atlanta-area project sites.

*PHOTO COURTESY MCCARTHY BUILDING COS.*

On Sept. 20, while inspecting the US-84 Westbound Bridge over the Mississippi River between Natchez, Miss., and Vidalia, La., Stantec bridge inspector Craig Jenkins noticed a stranded dog on the adjacent bridge structure just downstream and beneath the bridge deck, more than 120 ft above the river.

*PHOTO COURTESY STANTEC*

In Dallas, Brasfield & Gorrie team members helped renovate a former church building into an education center for adults and children who take part in the multiple ministries offered by Cornerstone Baptist Church.

*PHOTO COURTESY BRASFIELD & GORRIE*

Girl Scouts Western Oklahoma held a grand opening for its new urban camp and STEM center in Oklahoma City, designed by REES.

*PHOTO BY JENNIFER JOHNSON, CEC ENGINEERING*

W.T. Byler Co. recently celebrated 500 accident-free days after its crews completed 2,823,904 safe work hours.

*PHOTO COURTESY W.T. BYLER CO.*

As a recipient of a women’s safety harness grant from the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and Autodesk, McCarthy Building Cos. is piloting a new women’s safety harness design across its Dallas, Houston and Atlanta-area project sites. The safety harness grant was created by AGC with Autodesk to help meet the need for properly fitting personal protective equipment (PPE) for women working in construction and to encourage more participation by women in the industry.

McCarthy distributed harnesses to 27 women at various jobsites, including the Emory Johns Creek jobsite pictured here.

“Having equipment specially made for women is excellent and should be the standard for the construction industry,” said Ana Popp, McCarthy senior project engineer. “If equipment and gear don’t fit correctly, then it will not function correctly. Being safe at work means having access to the correct equipment for everyone at all times.”

On Sept. 20, while inspecting the US-84 Westbound Bridge over the Mississippi River between Natchez, Miss., and Vidalia, La., Stantec bridge inspector Craig Jenkins noticed a stranded dog on the adjacent bridge structure just downstream and beneath the bridge deck, more than 120 ft above the river.

Ryan Nataluk, lead climber and rescue technician for the Stantec team, called the police for assistance and climbed to the distressed dog. After assessing the dog for injuries and fashioning a makeshift harness out of rope, the exhausted hound was lifted to safety. An officer with the Natchez Police Dept. took the dog in for evaluation, and other police officers provided food and shelter for the stray pooch over the weekend.

In Dallas, Brasfield & Gorrie team members helped renovate a former church building into an education center for adults and children who take part in the multiple ministries offered by Cornerstone Baptist Church. Brasfield & Gorrie's Jovina Clark (left) and other volunteers from the firm’s Dallas office painted the interior of the building and made other improvements. The Real Estate Council’s (TREC) Foundation and TREC members have committed more than $2.5 million and pro-bono professional services to the Dallas Catalyst Project for real estate development projects and community-driven initiatives within the Forest District neighborhood in South Dallas.

Girl Scouts Western Oklahoma held a grand opening for its new urban camp and STEM center in Oklahoma City, designed by REES. The Girl Scouts put their creative minds to work to help contribute to the design of the camp. Camp Trivera will be one of eight STEM centers of excellence within the Girls Scouts system, which aims to help place 2.5 million young women into the STEM workforce by 2025.

W.T. Byler Co. recently celebrated 500 accident-free days after its crews completed 2,823,904 safe work hours.

“We attribute our safety success not only to our employees who value and uphold safety on the jobsites, but also to our clients who set the requirements and standards,” said Wendell Rychlik, executive director for W.T. Byler.

The firm has worked a total of 8,477,236 work hours with zero lost-time accidents since August 2015.

At a W.T. Byler jobsite (below), a team celebrates a safety milestone—prior to the COVID-19 outbreak—while working on a project that included heavy haul roads, detention basins, waterways, sound levees, a rail yard and administration campus.