Safety Week is about more than job-site situations. Sundt employee-owners who work in our offices across the Southwest are getting involved, too.
On Tuesday, people in our Irvine and San Diego offices went through earthquake and fire drills. Senior Estimator Paul Chang and Estimating Coordinator Elizabeth Tague, the Emergency Response Coordinators for the San Diego office, gave a presentation that included a review of emergency response protocols.
Southern California is particularly earthquake-prone. According to earthquaketrack.com, the San Diego area has had 140 temblors of magnitude 1.5 or higher in the past year. The Irvine area, which includes Los Angeles, has had 308 such earthquakes over the last year.
“Earthquakes in California can be little rollers or big shakers, and you never know when they will happen,” said Group Safety Manager Paul Sprecco. “If you know what to do when an earthquake hits, you’ll have a much better chance of getting through it without injury. Find cover, under a desk or table, wait until the shaking stops and then exit the building in a safe and orderly fashion. Earthquake drills like these help condition us to react correctly when the real shaking starts.”
During the fire drill, Paul Chang and Elizabeth identified the locations of extinguishers in the office as well as common corridors and locations of fire hoses and alarm pull boxes. Paul Sprecco then gave a brief presentation on the use of a fire extinguisher using the PASS acronym: Pull the pin, Aim at the base of the fire, Squeeze the trigger handle and Sweep side to side.
Paul Chang and Elizabeth led a fire drill, including a building evacuation and assembly in the meeting area for a head count and all-clear to return to the building. Many Sundt offices are holding fire drills this week.
Senior Estimator Tyler Scott led presentations for the Irvine office.
The mission of Safety Week is to collectively raise the awareness of the construction industry’s continuing commitment to eliminating worker injury, and to clearly communicate its dedication to a shared culture of care and concern and the belief that every week must be Safety Week. This is the third year we have served as a sponsor of the event.