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Muzzling noise never more critical than when building above babies

Originally Seen in the Pages of Arizona Real Estate Magazine…

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Noise, vibrations, dust and other disruptions are always a concern during hospital construction but never more (potentially) problematic than when the youngest, most vulnerable patients are a mere 5.5 inches away on the floor below. This is what’s happening right now at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, as shell space is built-out above the hospital’s Pediatric Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (PEMU), a joint program with Barrow Neurological Institute. In a PEMU, each patient’s room is outfitted with video equipment to capture seizure activity while a child’s brainwaves are recorded. The feedback is used to obtain highly accurate diagnoses and treatment plans.

Anticipating future need was strategically built into the design of Phoenix Children’s Hospital’s 11-story patient tower, which opened to patients in 2011. Just a year after opening, plans were set in motion to populate the top floors, and today we’re creating extra capacity on the tower’s ninth floor. The 45,000-square-foot space will feature 48 patient rooms. Kitchell is back on site as the general contractor, HKS is the architect and CCRD Partners is the M/E/P Engineer.

Don’t drop anything!

Just imagine how quietly the construction team must proceed to avoid making even the smallest sound or vibration. Noise mitigation is priority number one. It’s a construction site where communication is done via whispers, texts and email, and all field supervisors have radios in case an immediate shutdown of construction activities is necessary. And it’s a site where materials are brought into the building via an external hoist.

Everything the team does requires advance thought, meticulous planning and ongoing communication with hospital staff, which began during preconstruction and included deputizing one of the nurses “construction project manager.” Nothing could be a surprise. Even something as seemingly mundane as lifting a pipe could be an issue, because of the potential of the loud “clang” as the result of dropping it. This advance thought included orchestrating a “make noise” session for staff a month prior to construction. Together with our trade contractors, we demonstrated all noises that could be a potential impact to the eighth floor. This included floor grinding, shot pins, scissor lifts, roto-hammers, cutting, chopping, dropped pipe, saw cutting, shop vac and core drilling.

How to eliminate nose

Here are some of the tactics being deployed to ensure the comfort of the children and their families below the jobsite, while allowing staff to do their work unimpeded:

  • A lift was built on the west side of the building to transport everything up and in for construction. Absolutely nothing is brought in through the inside of the building. The lift makes 100 trips daily. Because children love watching construction activities, we decorated the hoist with a decal of Superman so he appears to be flying each time the hoist passes in front of their windows.
  • As much work as possible was done offsite, completely removing significant noise and vibration from the job site. For example, headwalls were built offsite and then ingeniously “split in two” to fit inside the outdoor lift and reassembled once on site.
  • Ingenious phasing has been instituted. For example, the loudest activity is drilling into the floor (the ceiling of the 8th floor) which creates echoes and vibrations. Working with hospital staff, we developed a schedule to drill 30 minutes on and 30 minutes off.
  • Infection Control Risk Assessment (ICRA) containment on the 8th floor was meticulously planned and executed long before construction began. We used cardboard mock-ups to create the center core of the floor (nurse work areas) and then adjusted areas to fit the changing needs of the facility. These adjustments required plumbing revisions to approximately 30 rooms on the floor below.
  • Rubber mats were place throughout the 45,000-square-foot space to deaden the sound of the carts which traverse the expanse constantly throughout the day. And all cutting and chopping activities are required to be executed on a rubber mat.
  • We’re upgrading the existing shell space fire sprinkler system for the 9th floor build-out, which requires being “wet” every night to keep the system energized. To mitigate the risk of an overnight leak, and potentially putting the 8th floor at risk, we place sensors on the floor at the end of each shift. In the event of a leak, these sensors signal team leaders’ cell phones on a SmartThings app. This allows for response time to be minutes instead of hours.

The schedule of direct impact activities, such as drilling, cutting, and materials transport, are communicated proactively and requested adjustments are always accommodated. Our project manager meets with the nursing staff on the 8th floor each morning at 7:15 a.m. to ensure that the flow of construction above is acceptable based on potential changes during the preceding night. Additionally, Kitchell meets with the nursing staff weekly (enhanced by homemade cupcakes) to discuss upcoming activities. When concern for patients and families, communication with staff and thorough forethought are embedded into every plan and every activity, construction doesn’t need to create commotion and disruption, even in a children’s hospital. Meticulous planning and ongoing collaboration with medical staff makes the process seamless and rewarding for all. And cupcakes don’t hurt either!

Dave Cottle is Phoenix Children’s Hospital Vice President of Planning, Design and Construction.

Aron Kirch is a Kitchell project manager.

Kitchell designated a STAR site by the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health

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Kitchell was awarded a big, and very important, gold star on May 15. Kitchell was formally recognized with the state’s highest safety distinction at our Phoenix headquarters. The Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health (ADOSH) designated Kitchell a “STAR Site” through the Construction Voluntary Protection Program “C-VPP.” Companies and jobsites that are awarded the STAR designation demonstrate exemplary and comprehensive safety and health management systems. Kitchell is one of only three construction companies in the state to achieve this designation.

VPP is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) highest program of recognition across the United States. It recognizes employers and workers in private and federal workplaces who have exemplified effective safety and health management systems to achieve injury and illness rates that are more than 50 percent below the national average.

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At Kitchell, the journey to STAR status began 65 years ago when the company was founded but its most recent efforts, starting in 2013, must be singled out. The entire company rallied together, under the direction of Safety Director Josh Welp and Kitchell’s executive leadership, to wow the auditors at ADOSH. Chandler Regional Medical Center was chosen as a “test” job site and the job team’s execution of safety best practices was flawless. “The job site was immaculate,” said Jessie Atencio, assistant director and consultation and training program manager for ADOSH. “That level of housekeeping is an outward representation of the extensive work and commitment behind the scenes to ensure a safe jobsite.” Atencio also spoke highly about the culture of safety at Kitchell. “Safety is built into the culture of Kitchell,” he said. “They don’t just go through the motions, but really take ownership of their safety and the health and safety of those around them.” Atencio and Bill Warren, ADOSH director, commented on the high level of involvement by management—concerns were addressed in a timely manner—and employee willingness to dive into the VPP process, including site inspections, pre-task planning and peer reviews. “Not only does Kitchell look out for ‘its own,’” said Mr. Warren. “But also the trade contractors were just as important, just as valued. They will now bring their safety knowledge to other jobs they work on.”

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“Though our business spans a wide range of services in the built environment, safety is ingrained in our culture, encompassing every facet of our organization from construction job sites to desk positions in our IT department,” said Kitchell CEO Jim Swanson.

“When we undertook the effort to obtain VPP designation we knew it would be a collaborative effort so we’ve left no stone unturned with regards to safety and health.”

 

To qualify for VPP status, employers must submit an application to OSHA and undergo an on-site evaluation by a team of safety and health professionals. VPP participants and sites earning the “STAR Site” designation are re-evaluated every three to five years in order to remain in the program.

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