With 5 weeks remaining, it’s crazy to think that I am over halfway done with my internship. Everyday offers something new to learn and has provided me with invaluable experience.
One of the more interesting parts of this project has been all of the considerations that must be made for working in and around a hospital. Constantly, areas where work is taking place must undergo risk assessments. These assessments break down all of the potentially harmful effects that can be caused by our construction work. This can be anything as major as a fire or power outage, or as seemingly minor as a window leak or dust infiltration. But, nothing can be taken lightly when working with hospital patients. To deal with these obstacles, it is our job as construction manager to put together a plan and rules for reducing risks in certain areas. The plan we put together is then evaluated by the owner and revised if necessary. For example, we are about to begin the tie-in process in which we will connect the new Barnes Jewish Hospital Building to the existing Shoenberg building. Since high temperature tools will be used to complete this process, combustible materials will have to be kept 35 feet from the existing building in order to eliminate the risk of fire. This is just one of many different ways that potential health risks are mitigated on our job site.
Recently, one of my main focuses has been the installation of the building roof. There are roofing areas on over half of the buildings’ levels and each one contains challenging details and constraints. I have been organizing the potential issues into a document which includes a picture and description of the issue, as well as its location. This can then be used as a tool to track the progress made towards solving the issue.
Everything that I have been a part of so far this summer has been a valuable learning experience. I am excited for what new things my last 5 weeks will offer!