Walden was retained as a Health and Safety consultant on this project at New York’s LaGuardia Airport. The seawall contractor found free product jet fuel in test pits dug on the land side of the sea wall and submitted a costly change order. Walden was brought on board to help the design/construction management firm come up with a better solution. The work proposed by the contractor involved developing a test pit excavation plan to allow access to buried tie bars holding up the sea wall. From these test pits, the contractor planned to burn off old steel tiebacks and make new connections from the new sea wall to the existing deadmen anchors which sat at or below the high tide water level. However, free product accumulating in the excavated test pits posed significant hazards. Walden conceptualized an approach for permit-free confined space entry following OSHA requirements in combination with mechanical ventilation during the low tide cycle to avoid free product. This procedure was included in the project’s Hot Working Plan. Walden conducted site-specific training on the two plans and served as the Site Safety Officer for entry work which was carried out over a single week. This protocol allowed the client to avoid the significant proposed change order costs ($1,000,000+) and moved the project forward so it could be completed with minimal extra costs. Walden demonstrated to the client the understanding and experience to make sure Health and Safety was a priority on the job site while meeting the project scheduling and budget objectives.
Sea Wall Reconstruction at LGA Tank Farm Marina Loading Dock, Queens, New York
