Site Safety Partnership Signed for New Transport Facility in Rhode Island
Contractors and employees who will be constructing the new Warwick Intermodal Station transportation facility in Warwick, R.I., will benefit from a site safety partnership among OSHA's Providence Area Office, the Gilbane Building Co., and the Rhode Island Building and Construction Trades Council. The partnership is designed to provide training in the recognition, prevention, and avoidance of construction hazards, particularly to smaller contractors who may lack training resources, and to build and reinforce a culture of safety and health throughout the project.
"This is a comprehensive, proactive, and cooperative effort to ensure that a significant project is constructed in the safest manner possible," said Marthe Kent, OSHA's New England regional administrator. "Our common goal is a continuous and effective safety and health emphasis that will eliminate injuries and illnesses and their associated human and financial costs."
Under the partnership, Gilbane, the project's construction manager, will develop and implement a comprehensive safety and health program that equals or exceeds OSHA guidelines. It will include OSHA's 10-hour construction safety course for supervisors and employees; regular, documented in-house safety inspections; weekly safety training sessions; and the collection and analysis of injury and illness data. "An additional benefit for contractors and their employees is that they will be able to take the vital and useful safety and health information they obtain on this project and carry it with them to future jobsites," said Patrick Griffin, OSHA's area director in Providence.
The project involves the construction of a 4,500 car pre-cast parking garage over the Amtrak right of way, a commuter train platform, and a multi-level car wash and fueling stations for rental cars. It will employ a 150 to 200 person workforce and is expected to be completed in the fall of 2010. The partnership was signed in Warwick by OSHA's Kent and Griffin; Gilbane Project Executive Louis del Sesto; Gilbane Rhode Island District Manager John Sinnott; Gilbane Senior Regional Safety Manager Frederick Bockman; and R.I. Building Trades Council President Michael F. Sabitoni.