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number of workers on site and making sure
everyone has their own working area. Of
course, there’s a lot of cleaning that goes
on, we eliminate face-to-face meetings
whenever we need to, there’s hand washing
stations all over, almost every trade
has their own sanitary facilities on site, as
well as dedicated entrances to the building.
There’s quite a bit that we’re up against.”
All of these precautions, while keeping
work crews safe, also serve to balloon
costs mostly due to schedule delays
caused from having limited trades on site
at one time to complete certain aspects of
the project.
“Just with COVID-19, we’re likely
losing a week per month. Today, I had 63
workers on site, but at this time, on a typical
project that’s a job of this size with
the amount of work available, I’d have
over 100 workers,” said Smith.
Even amid these working conditions,
crews are still finishing the masonry block
walls as part of the blast-rated construction,
which makes it difficult for workers
to keep their distance.
“When you fill those walls with concrete,
the pumpline is quite heavy or you’re
hauling it up in buckets, so it’s hard to keep
your distance when it’s an all-hands-ondeck
situation and involves quite a few guys
within a small area,” said Smith.
The tradespeople try to keep their
distance as best they can and when they
can’t, they wear masks or whatever is
needed depending on the situation.
“Koch is very big on safety so anytime
we have any sort of incident on site or
notice ways things can be done more safely,
we have toolbox meetings where we stop
and talk about it, come up with a solution
and proceed on a safer note,” said Smith.
Despite the challenges with COVID-
19, Horizon Builders Ltd. has been able
to keep to their original end-of-November
deadline through creative scheduling.
Some aspects of the project which
Horizon Builders didn’t anticipate working
on until the summer have already been
completed; such as a concrete floor that
needed pouring.
“We didn’t think we’d be able to pour
the floor without masonry walls built
under it, but we found a different way to
build the walls so we were able to build
them right up to the underside of the
floor, rather than building them before the
floor was put on,” said Smith.
“It feels great to be involved in
a project of this scale with a
company that’s so integral to our
community’s economy.”
– Branden Smith, Horizon Builders Ltd.
BUILDING RURAL MANITOBA | 31
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