Health & Safety
We here at Mode are committed to the Health and Safety of our clients, workers and contractors on all of our job sites. Whether it’s children playing at the school we are working on, from clients coming to the job site for a tour, to day-to-day activities with the crew – health and safety is our highest priority. We do this by focusing on employee training, safe work procedures, site-specific safety programs and strict inspection procedures.
We have gone Dustless:
The BC Construction Safety Association has recognized silica dust as a contributor to many health conditions related to long term exposure to workers. It is the asbestos of the 21st century. While many great strides have been made in the form of exposure control measures on site, many standard procedures for drilling, coring, and cleanup of products containing silica still remain as industry standards. Further, we recognize that even seemingly innocuous dusts created during the construction process are likely to be recognized as harmful in the coming years including many wood dusts.
We have chosen to stay ahead of the times through investing in tools and equipment specifically designed to filter dust and particulate matter from the indoor and outdoor air in work spaces to mitigate exposure to our own workers, and the other workers on site. These processes and procedures in many cases exceed the minimum standards set out for dust management by BCCSA, and are used in conjunction with appropriate personal protective equipment by all staff on site.
1. This ethos begins with tooling that works in conjunction with either water, or a dust extractor that is hepa certified. This reduces dust at source where it is made airborne through cutting, grinding, sanding or drilling.
2. The second control measure is placing air scrubbers when required to indoor construction areas to control airborne dust when there are many trades working.
3. The third measure is site cleaning with only hepa certified vacuum cleaners. Not only does this keep the site much cleaner, it reduces the airborne dust caused by regular shop vacs and or floor sweeping compound and a broom.
These methods are primarily for the health and safety of our on site staff and trades, however there are secondary and tertiary benefits. Adjoining finished areas are kept clean and ready for occupancy without the need for further final cleaning. Final benefits, though there is no quantifiable metric that this has increased efficiency on site; there is a marked reduction of complaints of indoor air quality concerns with on site personnel. Also a reduction of damage caused to horizontal finished surfaces through constant construction cleaning, and client and consultant walkthroughs tend to be better when the site is clean and dust free.
