Ohio Contractors Association

Safety Committee Minutes

August 14, 2018

I.        Committee meeting held on August 14, 2018 in OCA Conference Room B, Columbus, Ohio.

II.       PRESENT

OCA/Committee Members:

Nick Bales                         The Great Lakes Construction Co.          Hinckley

David Coniglio                   John R. Jurgensen Co.                          Cincinnati

Pat Devine                        Ice Miller                                               Columbus

Chris Engle                       OCA                                                     Columbus

Marty Fritz                        J.D. Williamson Const. Co., Inc.             Tallmadge

George Gillespie               OUPS                                                   Youngstown

Robert Jones                    Lake Erie Construction Co.                    Norwalk

Randy Martin                    Beaver Excavating Co.                          Canton

Alex McCann                    Shelly & Sands, Inc.                              Zanesville

Parr Peterson                   Paul Peterson Company                        Columbus

Mark Potnick                     OCA – Committee Secretary                  Columbus

Joe Sellers                        Kokosing Construction Co.                     Fredericktown

Drew Williams                   The Great Lakes Const. Co.                  Hinckley

Ill.       Summary of Discussion

The Committee conducted its annual jobsite tour/meeting.  Kokosing Construction Company extended an invitation to tour their pedestrian bridge project in Dublin.

Committee members boarded a bus at OCA’s office at 10:00 a.m. and traveled to the bridge project in Dublin.  Kokosing’s project personnel conducted a physical tour of the pedestrian bridge project. They provided the committee with the history and particular challenges, both engineering and safety, of the project.  Completion date is set for September, 2019.  At the conclusion of the tour, the Committee re-boarded the bus for transport back to the OCA office.  After lunch, a brief meeting took place.

The Committee was updated on ODOT’s decision to move forward on internally conducting testing for the Work zone Traffic Control Supervisor.  Several members of the Committee have taken the exam.  Thy described it as being based on new and different material which is available for review and study prior to taking the exam.  ODOT is conducting the exams only at the Central Office location in Columbus.  They have not yet indicated that the exam will be available at any other geographical locations.  The exam is computerized, but all exam takers must travel to ODOT’s Central Office location to take the exam.  ODOT has clarified that due to time required to insert the new testing requirements into project documentation, the new testing for the WTS will not be required until next year. (2019).

The Committee reactivated its subcommittee to address project overhead hazards and warning devices with ODOT.  Parr Peterson, Joe Sellers, Randy Martin, and Pat Devine comprise the subcommittee, who will attempt to schedule a meeting with appropriate ODOT personnel to address the overhead hazard issue and how it can best be addressed on ODOT projects. 

Nick Bales, of Great Lakes requested information on how to best request the use of portable rumble strips on their ODOT project in Cincinnati.  Nick was directed to Alex McCann, of Shelly & Sands, Inc., who has utilized the portable rumble strips on several ODOT projects with some moderate success.  Bales and McCann were to contact Duayne Soision, of ODOT’s traffic engineering division to proceed. 

With no further business the meeting was adjourned.