WARRIORS HOPING FOR SAFETY DURING CONSTRUCTION OF NEW STADIUM IN MISSION BAY
The Golden State Warriors and their fans are excited that the team will be getting a new basketball arena. Groundbreaking ceremonies were held on January 17th, 2017 for the new Chase Center arena that will be built in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood. It is expected to be ready for the Warriors at the beginning of the 2019–20 season.
The Warriors currently play their home games at Oracle Arena in Oakland. Oracle opened in 1966 and is the oldest arena currently in the NBA. The new arena insures that the team stays in the Bay area and is expected to anchor up to 11 acres of restaurants, offices and public areas.
This is the second major sports team in San Francisco to build a new stadium in the last few years. The San Francisco 49ers now call Levi’s Stadium home after they began playing there in the 2014 season. Levi’s is located in Santa Clara, approximately 40 miles south of Candlestick Park, their previous home.
One of the Warriors greatest challenges as they move towards the construction phase of the new arena is safety. A project such as this requires a lot of time, effort and resources. And a lot of construction workers who are at times put in dangerous positions. So the safety of all of those workers is definitely a goal.
Looking back on the construction at Levi’s Stadium, there were two unfortunate fatalities that took place. The first death occurred when an elevator mechanic was struck by a counterweight while working in an elevator shaft. Several months later, a delivery truck driver was killed when he was crushed by a bundle of rebar being unloaded from his truck. Safety officials investigated both incidents and after investigating allowed the construction site to reopen and the project moved on to its completion.
With the Warriors new stadium, they obviously do not want any fatalities during the construction process. But there are challenges. The age of an average construction worker in America is approximately 40 years old. And statistics show that the normal retirement age for a construction worker is 61. Which puts current workers in the retirement age right in the middle of the Baby Boomer years.
One concern is that as these workers retire, all of their knowledge goes out the door with them. They are replaced by new and inexperienced workers who need to learn the business and also understand safety concerns. The hope is that there is a good mix between older and younger workers so they can work together and stay safe together.
In fact, they can take a page from the team the arena is being built for. The Warriors share the ball and promote teamwork as much as any team in the league. Construction workers can use that same mentality when it comes to the safety culture of this unique project.
