UPDATE: I was trying to find stories or news about the floor collapsing at the construction highrise in front of my place. There is not much out there about it. Maybe they don’t want people to know much about it. However, I am glad. It probably means no one was injured or no one died. I found information about this event at Urban Toronto posted something about it here.
Last week, it was an ordinary week at CLC-Training. No drama! Just me working crazy hours and making sure to fit every requested training and meetings in my already busy agenda. Of course, I am working only from home these days, performing online training (because of Covid, we are still in lockdown in Ontario, and I can’t travel for work). Therefore, I was thinking a lot about how I miss going to construction sites and meet the participants face-to-face. At this point, who doesn’t miss the human interaction we took for granted months ago!
That is exactly what I was thinking about while waiting for my tea to get ready. Suddenly, I heard an enormous, unusual (never heard) sound! I live in a condo building, and I thought someone was sliding into the ventilation duct (OK. Maybe I am watching too many spy movies)!! Anyhow, I was heading into my living room to check what happened. That is when I looked at the windows and noticed all the construction workers running around everywhere like crazy. Right there I knew. Something bad happened.
Many months ago, they started this new construction site for a Condo building across the street. I’ve been watching the progress every day. I’ve witnessed the long hours the workers do and how hard they are working every day. I sometimes witnessed situations where I thought, “what are they doing. They are going to hurt themselves!” But they seem to know what they are doing, and manage to go with their day in one piece.
Because I often go on a construction site for training, I already witnessed the hard work done on a construction project. Besides, I also know (and follow) a lot of Health & Safety rules. For example, even just for a SmartUse or a Procore training, I usually can’t go to a trailer site without wearing my boots. Also, I need to have my hard hat, vest and glasses with me. Sometimes the trailer is further away or I need to walk around the site, therefore, I need to have the required equipment at all time.
Thus, it’s not just because I go only to a trailer site that I’m exempt from the Health & Safety rules. I have to admit that I often thought it was overkill for me to dress up like that just to go inside a trailer site! After all, I am not the one performing the hard work. I am just going there to train teams on a collaborative construction software.
But that day, when I’ve noticed that an entire floor of the building across the street collapsed (the unknown sound), I hoped for the best! I am not sure if it ends up with any casualties. But I felt grateful for all the Health & Safety rules the workers need to follow on site. On a construction site, you never know what could happen. You always need to be aware of your surroundings and to follow the safety rules to avoid the worse.
Today, I am taking a moment to think about all the construction workers everywhere. I am sending them positive thoughts and love. We should all be grateful for their work. I often hear a lot of judgments about construction workers. But let me tell you that what people think a construction worker does is far away from the truth.
To all the construction workers, I am thanking you. And please, follow the H&S rules, be alert on site to go back home safe tonight!