The Orion Online

Issue date: 11/19/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Marcella Garofalo Students work their way up a temporary ramp built to help them walk around the construction of Sutter Hall, which will open in 2010. [Click to enlarge]

A student barely slid under a multi-ton truck as it exited the Sutter Hall construction site onto Warner Street last month.

One worker watched the truck and stood in the street stopping traffic to let the truck through, said David Stephen, director of University Housing and Food Service.

The student was uninjured, but since the incident, multiple workers now monitor the trucks, both on the street to direct cars and on the sidewalk to help pedestrians, Stephen said.

"These are the kinds of accidents we hope to avoid," Stephen said.

Safety was one of the first things organized before the construction began, Stephen said.

Stephen and other members of the department met with the Environmental Health and Safety group and the contractor to work out safety for Whitney, Lassen and Shasta halls, he said.

Freshman C.J. Enfantino, a construction management major, lives on the fourth floor of Whitney Hall, facing the Sutter Hall construction, and doesn't see it as a safety issue for the dorms, he said.

"The construction wakes me up early sometimes," Enfantino said. "Besides that, everything seems to be running smoothly."

Enfantino thinks the dorms did a decent job of preparing students for construction, he said.

The freshmen have been patient with the construction, and Stephen appreciates their flexibility, he said.

"With the arrival of new students this year, this is all they know," Stephen said. "Doesn't mean we take that for granted, because we don't."

Stephen needed design approval from the Chico Fire Department to make sure firefighters could get around the construction easily during an emergency, he said.

Knox-Box Rapid Entry Systems sit near the gates at each end of the construction site, Stephen said. The Knox-Box, which opens via universal keys given to emergency personnel, contains a key that opens the gates when the site closes.

Along with the Knox-Box, the fire department agreed with the safety protocol the construction site has initiated, firefighter Ryan Fellers said.

A temporary dirt road snakes through the site, connecting the Warner Street and Legion Avenue gates, Stephen said.

In an effort to help with noise, quieter equipment put the pillars into the ground instead of the equipment used during the Student Services Center construction, which caused loud banging, Stephen said.

Pillars are placed into the ground like a drill bit and are slowly spun down by a "chuck," which rotates the pillars, Stephen said. The construction team wants to average 15 pillars a day of the 375 total pillars that will support Sutter Hall.

"It's more money," Stephen said. "But it's a pretty cool method."

Ben Burg can be reached at
bburg@theorion.com

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