Does Green Building Equal Safe Building?
Guest Post
As ‘green construction,’ using eco-friendly materials and sustainable building methods, reduces the volume of traditional products such as bricks and metals being used, there are many who hold a belief that this makes the process safer from beginning to end.
Is this really the case across the global construction industry?
All of the positives of green construction in terms of environmental sustainability, significant energy reduction, and large cost savings are well known. Does the knowledge that they are working with ‘safer’ materials lead to construction workers losing their concentration, however?
The CityCenter Case
CityCenter Las Vegas is one of the more high profile environmental building projects in recent years, opening in early 2009. Six construction workers died in workplace accidents during the construction of the complex. Although none of the accidents involved any environmental construction materials, investigations into the six deaths did conclude that there had been failings in occupational practices, fuelled by the knowledge on-site that the project was ‘safe and sustainable.’
Thankfully, CityCenter proved to be a shot in the arm for construction when it came to dealing with health and safety diligently. While it would be wrong to target the whole industry and label every construction business as being negligent, it is clear that there were failings that ran deep throughout the sector.
Today, there is much more alignment between environmental building and occupational practice. In fact, that eco-building is now the norm rather the exception in so many parts of the world that most of the industry has adapted to the reality, which is that in terms of health and safety, nothing has changed; nor should it ever have done.
Continuing Challenges
Despite the far greater level of diligence throughout the sector, there are still a number of challenges to meet across each eco-building project by construction companies.
One of the biggest challenges is that of dealing with recycled materials, both in terms of their use within the building itself, as well as with regards to any recycling carried out on site. Due to the nature of the materials and their sustainable characteristics, one thing taken out of the equation is the danger of corrosive products leaking into the air, for example. However, there are still regulations around how recyclable products are handled and dealt with, both in terms of being dealt with by an individual and within the whole construction process.
In addition, the use of eco-friendly materials for particular parts of the building, for example the roof, can produce a completely different scenario in terms of slipping and falling hazards that a traditional roofing structure might give.
Green building doesn’t automatically mean safe building, but with careful care and consideration taken within every project, it is definitely achievable.
Vector Foiltec invented the use of Texlon (ETFE), and have developed the use of this innovative technology worldwide in the design and constructive industry. Some of the world’s most impressive offices, stadiums, and transport buildings have been developed by Vector-Foiltec.
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