Charles Ackerman, the Senior Project Manager for Safety, at Welliver, the Contractor for the North Wing expansion project, was kind enough to allow me to tag along while he took one of his three daily safety inspections.
Charles Ackerman, Senior Project Manager at Welliver
He explained some of the safety procedures and concerns as we walked through the site. One thing I noticed immediately is that the job site looks safe. Everything is neat and orderly. The floor is swept. There are no trip hazards. Nothing looks as though it will fall from above. Debris is piled in separate piles, cement blocks with cement blocks; insulation with insulation for example. Yellow tape across an area means “Proceed with Caution.” Red Tape means “Do Not Proceed.”
It is a bit eerie to look at the empty Museum office spaces where so much activity was going on just a year ago. The spaces look smaller than they did when they were fully occupied. Here are some pictures:
Behind North Wing
North Museum Offices
Charles told me that more items are going to be recycled than you might expect. All steel, iron and copper pipes will be recycled. All wire will be recycled. All other metals get recycled including metal studs, ceiling grids, handrails, I beams and rebar. Old ceiling tiles will be ground up for insulation. Sheetrock is used in sanitary landfills. Concrete will be ground up and used again in new concrete.
Here are a few more pictures:
Danger zone
Red tape prevents anyone from walking where bricks are being thrown from above. The bricks are sprayed with water to suppress the dust.
Yellow tape indicates Caution
Demolition in Progress
More demolition