« A gastropub and sports bar coming to Pacific & Flatbush: another incursion on residents or the best alternative near the arena? CB calls for caution | Main | Another Sports Bar Showdown Near Barclays »
April 27, 2011
Building Inspectors Tour Atlantic Yards In Brooklyn During Construction Safety Week
CBS New York
It’s Construction Safety Week. What better time for the city to showcase precautions in action at the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn?
How about never?
Buildings inspectors like Eyal Amos distributed posters, banners and orange bracelets to the hard hats at the Atlantic Yards project.
“We’re not here only to give them violations and what not, [but to] get them all going back home at the end of the day to their families. We don’t want to see people dangling, falling off the edge of the building,” Amos told WCBS 880 reporter Marla Diamond.
Amos said the inspectors visited the site each week.
“We’re trying to see that the workers themselves have a good practice, whoever needs to wear harnesses, whoever needs to have hard hats, people have the right equipment,” said Amos.
On Tuesday, Amos observed workers on the skeleton of the Barclays Center arena, which will become the home of the current New Jersey Nets basketball team.
“We want to see them tied off. We want to see them having harnesses on,” said Amos.
Related coverage...
A|N Blog, ATLANTIC YARDS UPDATE
With the exception of the World Trade Center, there’s probably no better place to call a press conference dealing with construction issues than Atlantic Yards. At the moment the controversial project practically guarantees a large press turnout. This Tuesday, the Department of Buildings used the site as a backdrop to launch a new safety campaign for the 7th Annual Workers Safety Week with a particular focus on getting workers to wear harnesses.
...But while DOB officials talked safety on the site, off site Dean Street Alliance president Peter Krashes complained that there were still problems for workers and neighbors. “If the community is affected, then the workers must be, too,” he said of dust and noise. “The problem with Atlantic Yards is there are holes in oversight by the Empire State Development Corporation.”
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Behind the Scenes at Arena Site: City Leads Tour
“This is the largest construction site currently in New York City,” said Eugene Corcoran, deputy commissioner for the Department of Buildings, leading a press tour through the arena site.
Accompanying the various reporters and photographers were officials of Forest City Ratner and Hunt Construction (the main contractor on the job), union workers and others.
...Teams from the DOB inspect the arena site once a week due to size and complexity, according to officials. Mark Gladden, construction manager at Hunt Construction, pointed out that the firm has worked on sports arenas throughout the U.S., including CitiField in Queens and AT&T Park in San Francisco. Many of its subcontractors are national subcontractors who follow jobs from town to town, he added.
...Both he and Bob Sanna, director of design, development and construction for Forest City Ratner, emphasized that the workers on the site are union members. At any given time, there are about 160 workers on site, Hunt said.
Posted by eric at April 27, 2011 9:13 AM