Water. Rest. Shade.

Heat is the number one weather-related killer in the United States, resulting in hundreds of fatalities each year. Be able to recognize the symptoms of heat related emergencies and know how to respond. Working in hot and humid weather, being in the sun, and doing hard physical work are things that need to be taken seriously. You are also at risk while doing yard work, playing sports, and other leisure activities. Continue Reading →

Injuries Are Like a Flat Tire

Consider this: you walk out to your car and you see that one of your tires is flat. You immediately think that the flat tire is the problem. That is incorrect. The fact that your tire is flat is NOT the problem. The fact that your tire is flat is the condition. The problem is that you no longer have enough air in the tire which has caused it to go flat. Continue Reading →

Who Will Answer Your Next Text?

Driving while texting or talking on the phone is considered more dangerous than driving intoxicated at .08 BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) – thus the term "InTEXTicated" driving. InTEXTicated drivers tend to have a slower response time than other impaired drivers. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, driver inattention is the leading factor in most crashes and near misses. Nearly 80% of crashes and 65% of close calls involve a driver’s lack of attention within three seconds before the event. Continue Reading →

Eye Safety Month

March is "Eye Safety Month", which serves as a timely reminder that we need to protect our eyes at all times. Interestingly, most eye injuries occur to people who are performing their regular jobs. In addition, most eye injuries occur to workers who are either not wearing the correct eye protection for the job or to those who are not wearing any eye protection. The obvious conclusion is that most, if not all, eye injuries can be prevented simply by wearing the proper eye protection for the job being performed. Continue Reading →

What is VDC?

Defining VDC has been a particularly difficult task, both at SSOE and throughout our industry. Is it simply enhanced 3D or BIM? (No; we’ll talk more about that in an upcoming post.) How can we say Project X and Y are both VDC projects when they were executed so differently? (The answer has to do with VDC being a delivery system that tailors a strategy for each project rather than a list of deliverables or technologies employed. We’ll talk a little bit about this next week as well.) The term “virtual” may be what is causing some of this confusion. Many hear “virtual” and think of a fancy new software. Perhaps we need more focus on “design and construction.” The true shift is that the divide between these two groups is blurring which is enhancing the approaches we can use to deliver projects. To help clarify the distinction between VDC and the components that make it up, we’ve developed this Venn diagram, and the corresponding definition in the center. You’ll see that the technologies, teams, and strategies employed by VDC can each exist outside of VDC. VDC “happens” when the technological tools (many that are well-established at SSOE, some that are relatively new to the industry, and some that are still in development) are utilized to bring together teams and  project strategies that have always been ideal—but never possible—because of barriers that existed. At its core, VDC means developing the project strategy that makes the most sense for each project and leveraging technology that makes that approach possible. Think of VDC as an all-encompassing umbrella made up of many components—some technology based and some strategy based. We will talk specifics about these components in coming posts, for now it’s enough to say that VDC is an integrated project delivery system with much more to offer than technology. Continue Reading →

Injury Event Triangle

Looking at the Injury Event Triangle, you will see that Three things must be in place for the event or injury to occur. There must be a Motive (Hazard / Risk), a Target (YOU), and an Opportunity (Bad Decision). Continue Reading →