Safety precautions a priority in construction of stadium
It’s 6 a.m., and workers are about to begin their shift on the $1.8 billion, 65,000-seat domed football stadium being constructed in Las Vegas for the NFL’S Raiders.
But before the group of about 300 workers embark on a day’s work, they gather for a message: Safety first.
On this day, with the sun still rising on the site near Russell Road and Interstate 15, the crew is reminded to clean its work space more efficiently. Each morning, a different construction manager delivers a similar reminder, usually focusing on an observation made the previous day.
“Over 7 million construction workers are going to work today in the U.S. and some of them won’t make it home,” said Travis Nestor, a safety manager on the stadium project. “We’re proof it doesn’t have to be that way — we’ve worked 200,000 hours on this job without a serious injury. We don’t need a special safety week; every week is safety week here.”
Mccarthy Builders Co. and Mortenson, the developers of the stadium, participated in Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Safety Standdown week. The weeklong program featured a different aspect of safety, focusing on fall prevention, rigging and falling-object protection.
Safety week was also used to boost morale among the workers with activities and giveaways, like custom fluorescent green long-sleeve shirts displaying the words “Just Build It, Baby” (a play on former Raiders owner Al Davis’ motto, “Just win, baby”), and Raiders safety week hats. A large banner was also hung on a fence near the morning meet-up, where all construction workers signed their names alongside the signature of Raiders owner Mark Davis.
After workers receive their daily safety reminder, they go through a stretching routine to ensure no preventable injuries occur while carrying out their tasks.
“Injuries are preventable if you just