Tag Archives: job site

Construction Water towers fulfill multiple of requirements on a job site

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Construction jobs require gallons of water and if it a big project than a continuous supply of water essential for accomplishing different jobs as also for the job site workers who are staying at the spot temporarily. Keeping the requirement in view, temporary or portable water towers are sometimes built in a large and long-term construction sites. The best thing about construction site water towers is that these can work even during power cuts. The hydrostatic pressure formed due to height is sufficient to supply water within the total area; however, for lifting water to a certain height like when construction work is going on at a height of 50-100 ft. from the ground level pumping water is necessary.

Why do construction sites require a water tower?

Following are the primary requirements of water on a construction site:

  • As a welfare facility for the workers or laborer engaged there
  • For continuing different geotechnical operations
  • For any hydro blasting or hydro demolition work
  • For washing, cleaning and dust suppression
  • For percolation testing of floors, concrete slabs, and roofs, etc.

Portable water towers for construction sites

Companies expert in providing portable water towers normally delivers the complete system and erect the tower with thereservoir as per the demand of contractors or engineers. They also provide water tanks on regular basis to fill-up the tower regularly. Typical portable water towers possess 8000-12000 Gallon capacity. Portable water towers generally use an engine driven thehydraulic pump and a cylinder. The cylinder is attached to a discharge pipe of different diameter. A 12-inchdiameter discharge pipe can supply water at 2500 GPM.

Features of a typical construction site water tower

Though different capacities of portable water towers are available. Following are the common specifications of a typical construction site water tank:

  • Rectangular steel tube is used for fabricating the base to give the system more strength and prevent material buildup.
  • Six legs are used having 5-6-inch diameter to support the reservoir in the raised position.
  • Normally 2 water inlets of 3-inch diameter are used to fill water.
  • The reservoir is systemized for auto shutdown with 8-inch diameter float.
  • The reservoir is attached to a ladder at the rear for accessing the top of the reservoir.

Benefits of construction site water tower

Having water tower provides a multiple of benefits to the contractors, some of these benefits are as follows:

  • These towers are portable, that means, they can be moved from one location to another as and when required.
  • Water towers can be erected at variable heights depending on the requirements at the job site.
  • Can be filled with any types of pumps in very short time.
  • They are usable with thewater pump or standpipe.
  • They can be quickly uninstalled

A water tower has multiple purposes. It basically stores water for continuous use in a job site. Contractors choose water towers instead of a tank when the job site requires ahigher flow of water and when maintaining a tank at the ground level is not possible. Water towers are extremely flexible and inexpensive process of storing and using water on a construction site.

A lien on the construction can lead to serious problems

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You take up a big project, complete the work on time but forget to pay your contractors their dues. This can lead you to some serious problems in the future. If you do not pay your contractor for their work, they have every right to place a lien on the construction project and you will then find it difficult to get a completion certificate. More to this, banks will not entertain you when it comes to refinancing or for that matter any sort of financial assistance. Banks do not get into projects that have issues. They want projects whose title are clear and have no issues whatsoever. It can cause several other issues to the constructor when it comes to selling the apartments in a condominium which he has constructed for residential purpose. If the title on the property is not clear, he will find it absolutely difficult to sell it to the public.

The construction company has to ensure that he clears the dues of the contractors should also ensure that the contractors are also paying to the sub-contractors because if they are not paid then they can also adopt the same methodology and create issues for the company. The sub-contractor can also place a lien on the project and can put a halt to the sale proceeds. It has been seen that liens are ideally placed as a last resort when contractors do not see any other option to get their money they go for placing liens. Once a lien is placed on any construction project, it gets recorded in the credit rating of the company. This means that credit rating of the company gets hampered which eventually affects the overall goodwill of the company. Construction companies do not want to play with their goodwill and therefore they do not want to take any potential risk by not paying their creditors or contractors.

Further to this, a dip in their credit rating can also cause problems to them when it comes to getting loans from banks. Construction companies with poor credit rating do not easily get loans and if at all they manage to get it from any financial institution then the interest rates will be really high. This in turn will have a negative impact on their business. They will never want such things to happen and therefore should try everything to avoid getting a lien on their project.

There have been several instances where construction companies have paid the contractors but they in turn have failed to pay other concerned parties to the project. This can be a big pain for the project owner because here he may not know all the parties who are associated with the contract and then all of a sudden you get to know that someone has placed a lien as they are not being paid. However, you check your records and see that you have paid all the parties involved in the transaction on time. You can file a complaint and state that you are clear in paying everybody and can disclose the records in front of the concerned authority. But this is unquestionably a big pain and in order to avoid this, you should pick contractors of good reputation.

Placing a lien when you are already paid can be a serious problem

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There was a time when construction companies once having taken a project will complete the entire project on their own. They will not like the involvement of any other party in the work. However, the dynamics have changed completely. Now big construction companies only take up projects and let it to other construction companies who further sub-let it to small construction companies or contractors. So one big project is worked by many different companies and the main company who initially took the work has to ensure that all the parties involved in this work are paid in full because if either of the party is not paid then it can have serious repercussion on the project.

The parties who are unpaid can place a lien on the project which means that only when they are paid first that the owner of the project will be able to sell anything to anybody. It also means that the parties who are unpaid and have placed a lien are in a way the actual holders of the property. However, once they are paid in full they will withdraw their lien and then it becomes lien free. As a lien on a project can have serious impact on the project owner in the same fashion if someone has wrongfully placed a lien to harass the project owner, it can again have serious impact on the person for taking incorrect advantage of the lien. Contractors and sub-contractors are allowed to place lien so that they can safeguard their interest if they are not paid by the project owner. But this should not be in any way misused or else the entire purpose of having a mechanism like this goes for a toss.

The law in the United States is strict enough to weed out any menace like this. People who take place wrong liens are punished once they are proven guilty. However, an equal opportunity is given to both the project owner and the contractor to prove their point and if it is found that the project giver has paid in full but it was because of some kind of confusion the contractor did not receive the money and placed a lien, then the court tries to clear out the confusion and at times also gives the contractor a warning to check things first before placing a lien.

Ideally, a lien is supposed to be placed after a series of discussion between the project owner and the contractor and nothing has come out of it. One can’t just go and place a lien when things can be solved via discussion. Placing a lien should be the last option. Therefore, it is suggested that the contractor gives ample of time to the project owner to pay him for his work. If he places a lien without giving sufficient time, it may back-fire him. By no means should the contractor do anything that will place him into problems. If proven guilty he may end up paying good chunk of money as penalty and may also have to be behind bars for few months.

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Importance of the construction signs in a job site

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In the current era, construction is one of the most important aspects of growth. With more and more buildings, roads and other constructions, the civilization will grow stronger. Over the years, the style and type of construction have hugely changed. Along with the regular constructions, large scale constructions of huge buildings, bridges, roads and highways are also being constructed every day.

In such construction sites, you will often come across the usage of heavy equipment and tools such as the cranes, the haulers, the bulldozers etc. However, there is yet another thing that is very important in a construction site and must be used by the workers. These are the construction signs.

What are the construction signs?

When you pass by a site of construction, building or repairing of an existing property, road or construction, you will often find sign boards that indicate or warn you about something. They are signs that consist of certain images or certain text information that helps you to understand

  • What is going on in an area
  • Whether there is any danger or hazard that needs to be avoided
  • The instruction that one has to follow.

Importance of using the signs in a construction site:

Whether a building is being renovated, whether a new building is being constructed, whether some repair works are taking place, there are always certain possibilities of danger. The danger lurks not only on the passers-by, but also for the employees. The construction signs can be of great help in such a case.

Safety measure – following the laws:

For every construction site, it is a law to use safety signs. Whether there is any danger in a particular area or site, whether an employee or a visitor has to follow a certain instruction, must be mentioned in that sign. The signs should be –

  • Concise
  • Clear to understand
  • Eye-catching with use of bright colours
  • Durable, so that it can be visible and last long during a project.

Anybody should understand the signs and follow the instructions, if any.

Types of construction signs:

Usually, the construction signs are made up of bright orange coloured, diamond shaped sign boards with black coloured texts and images for clear reading. In some cases, roll-up signs are also used that are spread on the roads to give warning or instruction and once the construction task is complete, the sign is rolled up and removed. The colour of the sign boards may greatly vary from time to time, depending on the type of sign that is used. It can be yellow or even white in colour.

Common signs that are used in a construction site:

  • Danger – Construction Area – Keep Out
  • Danger – Construction Area – Authorized Personnel Only
  • Danger – Hard Hat Area
  • Warning – Do Not Enter
  • Caution – Men Working Above
  • Danger – Open Pit
  • Danger – Open Hole.

Though these are the most commonly used and found construction signs, you will also find many other signs in a job site. At times, simple instructions like parking area, entry and exit also used in these sites. Choose the one that is required for your job site.

A site engineer has to carry a lot of responsibility on his shoulders

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A construction site is not a pleasant site as it is filled with dust and dirt all around but you will still find people working on the site just to make sure that things move smoothly. The work of the labors are tough as they have to continue their job in the scorching heat of the sun but there is someone whose job is tougher than perhaps anybody in the entire construction site. It is the job of the site engineer that is considered to be tougher than anybody else. He has to look after many things and has to ensure that they all fall in place and do not go off-track.

Though he is assisted by others as well but the frequency of assistance becomes quite limited during peak business hours. At that point in time, he needs to manage everything on his own. Right from man management to monitoring the performance of work, all falls on his shoulders and he can’t shrug it off. He has to make sure that all the work that is assigned to him is done within the timeframe.

An engineer is paid on the basis of the experience he has gained in the construction industry and what kind of responsibilities he has fulfilled till now. The package of the site engineer depends majorly on the kind of activities he can handle. So reading the plan and designs is just one of his responsibilities and he is expected to do more in order to be paid more. This means that today the engineers have to go through a lot of stress as well. This is why construction companies have started recruiting people who will work directly under the site engineer and will report him of any issues that happens on the site.

The project planning engineer is different from a site engineer though both have the capability to read and understand the plans and designs. However, the site engineer in most of the cases does not have the authority to make any amendments to the existing plan and that can be done only by the project engineer. Only if the project engineer directs the site engineer to amend the project plans, he can do that. His main work is to liaise with the project engineer, communicate his instruction to the labor and heavy equipment operator. One more important function of the site engineer is to check the availability of raw materials and in case if the materials are soon going to get over then check how soon fresh supply will pour in. This is quite a crucial job where the site engineer’s skills are tested quite often.

Site engineer with the help of his team tries to resolve issues with suppliers or of the laborers or any party who is related to the job. Since he is assisted by his team, he can assign some of his work to a trusted team member and focus on other activities on the site. But eventually he becomes answerable for anything that goes wrong and therefore has to be sure of things shaping up on the site.

 

 

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Workers working in construction sites are prone to various air-borne diseases

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We say that the human race is developing but it seems that we are making things that will cause more harm to us than ever. We make things for our ease but in this process, we forget that there are certain repercussions that we have to face and without wanting to know those repercussions we do things that affect us the most. Our environment is so polluted that every other day we get to see people dying of lung disorder, heart failure, and asthma attacks and so on. If we talk about people working in construction companies, we will find that they belong to the worst affected lots and are infected with various air-borne ailments. They have to go through a lot of dust that is so prevalent in a construction zone. Fresh air is so seldom for them and they are simply left with no other option than to inhale the polluted air.

It is not only the dust that they inhale but also the smoke that comes out of heavy equipment. Most heavy equipment run on diesel and after a certain period of time they emit smoke and intoxicants in large quantity that becomes unhealthy for the people around. There is primarily one reason why machines emit black smoke. It is particularly due to lack of proper maintenance of the machine. The equipment work for months without much lubrication and the engine oil also is not changed at regular intervals. This leads to problem in the engine and if the health of the engine is not good, it is bound to emit intoxicants in the form of black smoke.

What construction companies/employers must do to safeguard the health of their workers has become a matter of discussion and many companies are incorporating the following measures to ensure that the lives of their workers is not taken for granted.

Proper maintenance of machines:-

Intoxicants in the air are one of the major reasons for the falling health of construction workers and machines emit intoxicants due to improper maintenance. To get this fixed, the only way is to ensure that the machines are maintained at regular intervals. It is quite obvious that the operator may forget to send the machine for maintenance. Hence, a calendar must be prepared where you jot down the date when you will take the machine for a wash and get it serviced.

Procure heavy equipment that are environment friendly:-

Many construction companies are in the process of acquiring green machines that will not emit or will emit less toxic in the air as compared to the ones being used currently. Though the equipment will be expensive but will last for more years and will also not pose a risk to the health of construction workers.

Set up camps to check the health of workers:-

Construction companies should take the initiative where they set up camps at least twice in a year and conduct a complete health check-up of its employees. They should not just restrain it to the laborers but also include staff and guys from other departments.