How central Ohio construction crews deal with cold weather
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Central Ohio continues to deal with bitter cold, and some outdoor work continues, even in weather like this.
While working outside in temperatures below freezing can be challenging on its own, working on a roof can feel even colder.
“It always seems like we have a big roof job when a cold snap hits," said Troy VanArsdalen, co-owner of United Mechanical Insulation LLC.
He talked with NBC4 on one of the company's job sites. The crew needed to be on top of a building for the job. They put insulation on mechanical equipment. They've been watching out for snow and ice while also dealing with the cold.
“These guys, tip your hat to them, getting up in the morning, knowing the weather report, coming out here fighting these elements," VanArsdalen said.
His team wears heavy duty gloves and hats to cover as much skin as possible, layers up, and takes breaks to warm up when needed. Workers on sites around the region take similar steps to stay safe while also continuing the jobs.
“It’s very site specific and it's very situational specific, it's not like a one size fits all," said Jenna Eaves, safety director with Vaughn Industries. "I think the big conversation we’re going to have is stop work authority, so giving individual employees the ability to say ‘Hey I've got to stop, I've got to warm up.’"
Eaves said on many of their sites there are trailers, trucks, or areas where workers can warm up. She also said employees have a buddy system so they are watching out for one another in the cold.
“It truly is proper planning. It's coming in, you’re coming into fall, coming into winter, you’re putting a winter preparation plan together," said Brent Harter, safety adviser with Safety Management Group. "When I come up on a site it's definitely the first conversation that comes up. It's definitely relevant to the topic. Fingers are cold, toes are cold, and again we’re talking about it and we’re trying to make the best of it while we’re out there."
With the beginning of next week expected to be even colder, VanArsdalen said they will likely not be working outside.
“You feel for the guys and we have started looking ahead like that, just like next week, we see early in the week single digit highs so we’ve already decided we’re going to move our guys to indoor jobs until we can at least get into the 20s," he said.
Vaughn is considering taking a similar action.
"At the end of the day though if it does come down to a serious health concern or where people are constantly touching steel or metal, we would evaluate, ok what do we need to do, does it need to become a training day or are there some additional things we can offer besides working outside," Eaves said.