Today I read a rather sad piece of news with a rather hilarious interpretation and explanation. It referred to those green, LEED-approved building whose fashion is beginning to shape nowadays. It looks like green buildings are more dangerous to build, at least if we take a recent study into account.
The study found that work at heights, “with electrical current, near unstable soils, and near heavy equipment for a greater period of time than on traditional projects; (2) workers are exposed to new high risk tasks such as constructing atria, installing green roofs, and installing photovoltaic (PV) panels” is more dangerous than building the classic way.
The hilarious aspect of the study are the Building Commissioning agents, who distract and scare workers, so they should take courses and wear protective clothing.
Spending more time on ladders, sprains and cuts are just a few of the dangers workers building LEED-approved buildings are exposed to.
What can I say? It’s as if skyscrapers didn’t have their death toll, or as if photovoltaic panels are shinier than metal roofs… nonsense. And the Building Commissioning agents, these scare-crows of the building industry are scaring the poor workers, who suddenly forget how they should work and fall of the building.
I laughed my a** off when I read the original article and comments on Treehugger, and I thing you should, too. However, falling off buildings is a deadly occupation and shouldn’t be taken easily, nor should it be laughed at. But the conclusions some pull just to halt green construction from evolving (a bit) are really funny and stupid.
