Emergency Access to Construction Job Sites

Article and photos by Gregory Havel

At some time in our emergency services career, we will respond to a fire or an EMS incident at a large construction job site. Since the majority of us do not regularly do construction work on a large scale, an incident at one of these sites can be like a visit to a foreign country.

An emergency response to a residential job site in an established neighborhood will be similar to a response to the completed and occupied house down the block, except that there will be no sidewalks; no paved driveway; no lawn; and no finished walls, ceilings, or floors. In addition, there may be slip and trip hazards and uneven ground that would be unacceptable at a completed structure; and both passive and active fire protection systems are likely to be incomplete and inoperable. The approach to the incident by fire apparatus and ambulances would be similar for both complete and incomplete buildings.

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Photo 1 shows part of the job site for a large university hospital addition. Although there are paved streets around the job site, the temporary roads on the site itself are likely to be similar to the road shown in photo 2: gravel or crushed stone over compacted soil. To reduce traffic and security problems, even a large construction job site is unlikely to have more than two entrances. At very large or government job sites, there may be security checkpoints at these entrances to control visitors and to reduce the possibility of theft of materials and equipment. In an emergency, most contractors would have someone meet you at the gate and direct or escort you by the best route to the location of the emergency.

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Travel on temporary construction roads at reduced speeds, whether at a large building site or in a new subdivision or a condominium development under construction, since these roads will be unpaved and may be rough and rutted, and since your emergency vehicle will be sharing the roadways with construction workers (pedestrians), construction equipment, staged materials, and heavy trucks. Although work may have stopped in the area of the fire or medical emergency so that you can have the best access to do your job, it is likely to continue on other parts of the job site.

 

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Note that you may not always have the access that you need or want at a construction job site. Photo 3 shows a temporary driveway that was built over the top of a completed foundation wall. This provides easy access for construction equipment but will not provide enough ground clearance for fire apparatus or ambulances. You may have to carry your equipment some distance to the patient, and the patient the same distance back to the ambulance. This situation may require long hoselays if there is a fire, and the hydrants closest to the incident may not yet be working. If there is access to position an aerial ladder or a platform, the ground conditions may be too unstable to extend the ladder. Even if the ground conditions are stable, plan to use the largest pad available under each stabilizer. The contractor may have bigger and stronger pads than the ones that you carry.

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Even a well-built temporary construction road can develop problems during unusual weather. Heavy rain or a sudden midwinter thaw can turn even the best temporary road into deep mud (photo 4). Runoff water from firefighting can have the same effect.  

You may be asked to turn off all strobe-type warning lights on your apparatus when you arrive. They have been known to interfere with the operation of some laser-guided construction equipment.

 

Expect noise and dust; lighting that will often be too bright or too dim; and requirements for additional PPE in some areas.

 

Plan for access to the upper floors by narrow temporary stairways or contractor ladders. If you have any doubts about these contractor-provided facilities, use your fire department ground ladders. If there is a construction elevator at the site, you may be able to use this to transport personnel, equipment, and patients. Use the contractor’s elevator operator.

 

Plan to carry your tools and equipment and ambulance cots with patients, at least part of the way once you are inside the building. Floor surfaces may be incomplete or unsuitable for wheeled equipment.

 

Respect guardrails, gates, and scaffolding. Even though they may be convenient, do not use them for fall-protection anchor points or to connect rescue rigging without prior approval from the contractor’s “competent person” for this equipment. Usually guardrails and scaffolding cannot support the concentrated loads imposed by fall-protection equipment or rescue rigging.

 

Many contractors will make personnel available to assist in carrying tools and equipment. Some will make their construction equipment and operators available to assist you.

 

If construction equipment is needed for patient access or patient transfer, work with the competent or qualified person (OSHA terms) for the equipment and task; and use the contractor’s qualified operator to run the machine. Discuss communications, and agree on hand signals with the machine’s operator before beginning. All guardrails and gates on elevating work platforms must be in place, and all personnel and patient body parts must be inside the railing at all times while the equipment is moving.

 

OSHA requires that some workers on each job site have documented training in first aid and CPR (29 CFR 1926.50; free download from www.osha.gov). Some contractors train all of their personnel in first aid, CPR, and automatic external defibrillator (AED). Others depend on the skills of their personnel who are also volunteer firefighters and EMTs. In either case, a patient at an EMS incident may be partially stabilized by the time you arrive.

 

If volunteer fire or EMS people are employed by the contractor, and the incident involves a fire or a hazardous material, evacuation may be underway or complete by the time you arrive, and a preliminary “hot zone” may already have been established to deny entry to unauthorized persons. The same will be true if the contractor has an emergency plan in place as required by OSHA (29 CFR 1926.35).

 

Expect the construction site to be filled with extra combustibles like exposed lumber and concrete falsework; flammable and combustible materials like form release liquids, concrete sealer, coatings, paint, adhesives, liquid fuels, fuel gas, sealants; and other stored and staged materials. Hopefully, these materials will be stored in an orderly fashion and separated according to their primary hazards.

Plan for your fire and EMS personnel to visit these large construction job sites periodically, to stay acquainted with the status of the work, changing conditions, water supply, sprinkler system and standpipe status, access to the site and to the floors, and other conditions that change by the day and week. In addition to keeping these details clear in everyone’s mind, these periodic visits can provide valuable information on the structure for use when responding during the occupied life of the building.

 

Gregory Havel is a member of the Burlington (WI) Fire Department; a retired deputy chief and training officer; and a 30-year veteran of the fire service. He is a Wisconsin-certified fire instructor II and fire officer II, an adjunct instructor in fire service programs at Gateway Technical College, and safety director for Scherrer Construction Co., Inc. Havel has a bachelor’s degree from St. Norbert College; has more than 30 years of experience in facilities management and building construction; and has presented classes at FDIC.

 

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Subjects: Building construction for firefighters