A worker injured at the construction site of the new Genesee County Jail is back on the job, the senior project manager for the facility management firm said on Monday.
Carl York of The Pike Company of Rochester updated the Genesee County Legislature’s Public Service Committee on the progress of the $70 million, 184-bed jail that's going up next to County Building 2 on West Main Street Road.
He said the worker was stationed inside the excavating shield, directing a co-worker on top who was operating the heavy equipment.
“He was directing the bucket back toward himself and he ran out of room and got caught between,” York said. “The worker was transported to the hospital and today he returned back to work. So, he was out for about a week and a half. But he is back to work.”
That’s good news for the employee, but not so fortunate for the site contractor, Bayside Paving Contractors, Inc. of Shortsville, York added.
“OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) did come out to investigate and they found nothing wrong with the safety or the way they were working,” York said. “They have not finalized their findings yet. But more than likely the contractor will probably get fined because they did not report the accident to OSHA within 24 hours which is required of a hospitalization.
“But that was really the only issue they had with over what happened. They said it was just a flat-out accident.”
Construction is ahead of schedule by about six weeks on the foundation work, York reported, adding that there have been no issues with stormwater pollution and no changes to the total project cost.
York said workers have met one of the first (and many) milestones by completing the building pad prep work three days ahead of the July 26 target date.
“Underground utilities -- our sanitary is about 90 percent complete, stormwater is about 40 percent complete and the water and fire service is about 70 percent complete,” he said.
He said media coverage over the fact that Pike was waiting for National Grid to supply permanent power to the site was a “real good boost … as we did get some good updates from National Grid.”
Foundational work on the administration building and the cell pods is moving along, he added, with expectations that all of that work will be complete by the first week of September.
“Right now, we're waiting for the mechanical – the plumbing and electrical contractors to start on August 15. It was just they couldn't get their deliveries moved up as fast as (general contractor) LeChase (Construction Services of Rochester) was moving along with foundations.”
York said his firm is exploring the addition of a booster pump for future growth, mentioning that a decision will be made on that after speaking with County Manager Matt Landers and his team this week.
Representatives of the state Commission of Correction visited the site last week and “were very pleased” with the progress, he said. Crews are in the third month of a 20-month construction schedule.
Previously: Safety, communication and a little rain for new Genesee County Jail project
