Construction Safety: It’s for the Birds!
March 6th, 2023
When it comes to construction projects, often the first and arguably most important element considered is safety. However, what comes to mind when you hear safety as it pertains to the industry? Is it having the correct personal protective equipment? Operating tools and machinery with appropriate behaviors and protocols? Bringing a healthy lunch? If you are like me, these are some of the first factors that come to mind regarding construction safety, and they all have one thing in common: people. But how do we protect beyond just the people?
Just as measures are implemented to protect the people, the surrounding environment and its species are similarly protected. A few effective examples of construction design and protocol to protect the neighboring nature are as follows:
- Osprey tend to nest up high, so build them their own platform! When a project has the potential to impact a nearby osprey nest, an appropriately located and constructed platform can provide an excellent nesting spot for osprey and their soon to be fledglings.
- Barriers (often silt/construction fencing) are utilized to keep construction generated materials from leaving the site. These barriers work in the reverse as well! By installing a boundary around a site, many species, such as amphibians, will be thwarted from entering the site and encountering potentially threatening activities.
- How do you protect neighboring species without knowing what is out there? Whether via boat, drone, or plain old walking, experts will be able to identify the habitats and indicators of species in the area. By utilizing the tried-and-true techniques (boots on the ground; binoculars) with recent technology (drone footage; desktop record review), an extensive understanding of the environment can be acquired.
Next time you see a construction site, you may notice these and other practices intended for the safety of the critters nearby. Construction means and methods are composed to provide safety not only to the people onsite and in proximity, but to the species likewise. It is important to be committed to protecting the environment, as it provides a sustainable future not only for the targeted species, but in turn for the people as well.
Andrew Berman, EIT, Project Consultant at HRP Associates, Inc.
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