Building Design + Construction cover story features SSOE Group and Community Hospital and Wellness Center. SSOE’s HC experts Eric Murrell and Bob Siebenaller contributed to this article. Article highlights the hard-earned wisdom of building teams when negotiating the many obstacles associated with expanding and renovating occupied hospitals. Continue reading →
SSOE Group works with Santé Partners to create a healing environment for post-hospital senior rehabilitation. See how this environment contributes to physical and mental well-being by providing seniors with surroundings that provide amenities such as healing gardens, a bistro, and spaces for families to visit in comfort. Continue reading →
SSOE’s Dave Jechura, Mark Hoffman, and Mike Eschenbrenner give their expertise on water usage, treatment and reclamation in the January issue of Food Engineering Magazine. Continue reading →
No matter how many building projects you undertake, early in the process you face myriad decisions that significantly impact capital, operational cost, and time. Now more than ever, the pressure is on to eke out any advantages, from the initial programming phase forward.
To get a perspective on your decision making, imagine a scale. On one side of the scale are information gathering, research, and intelligence. On the other side are calculated risk and a bold-faced clock that ticks away potential revenue that is lost until you become operational or open for business. Keep in mind that striking the right balance is not all up to you. Professional input is there for
the asking on all these decisions.
Decision #1: Selecting the best site for a specific building project.
The challenge is to get critical information in hand to intelligently compare several sites in a reasonable amount of time. There are three issues you can’t afford to neglect as you go through the evaluation process: What will it take in terms of time and money to develop them, to build on them and, possibly the most challenging, what kinds of entitlements will be involved?
Any time a catastrophic event occurs that is related to an industrial or manufacturing process, there is speculation as to how it could have been prevented. Was it human error? Were the safety standards followed? Did the company know there was a potential hazard?
Many companies equate assuring worker safety with following OSHA mandates. Although OSHA’s regulations apply to a long list of situations, not all environments where hazardous materials are handled are covered. Despite the fact that OSHA has been in force since the early 70’s, there are many vulnerable areas in terms of safety they have yet to address. Then too, with new technologies and products come new hazards.
That leaves the onus to fully protect workers on the companies themselves. To make this easier, SSOE advises its clients to apply “ready-to-use” OSHA procedures voluntarily even to areas or industries that are exempted or are not yet covered. One method for identifying potential safety hazards is a Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) that OSHA requires of companies engaged in the processing or handling of hazardous chemicals.
The Three Ws of a Process Hazard Analysis
PHAs take place in a single meeting, or series of them, and have a prescribed format.
New Business Leader Joins Columbus Office
Scott Hathaway has been named business leader in SSOE’s newly opened Columbus, Ohio office. In the course of his 15 years as a civil engineer, he has developed special expertise in coordinating site entitlements for both new and existing clients and developing new business. Scott has extensive experience with projects in the South and Midwest as well as internationally. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from The Ohio State University and is working towards becoming a LEED® accredited professional. You can contact Scott at 614.766.3675 (JHathaway@ssoe.com).
SSOE is Named ‘Hot Firm’ by ZweigWhite
SSOE has been named one of the fastest-growing architecture, engineering, and environmental consulting firms by management consulting and research firm ZweigWhite in its annual ranking, The Zweig Letter Hot Firm List. SSOE has made the list the past 2 years, advancing from being ranked 136 in 2007 to 40 in 2008.
The list features architecture, engineering, and environmental firms that have outperformed the economy and their competitors in terms of growth and profitability. It considers firms in both the U.S. and Canada.
A complete list of the 200 fastest-growing architecture, engineering, and environmental consulting firms was published in the November 3, 2008 issue of The Zweig Letter and is also available online at www.hotfirm.com.
