Safety First and Last: Creating a Safe Site in Any Environment

How to Navigate Unique Locations and Stay Safe

By Thomas Real, Vice President of Engineering and Preconstruction
at Outside the Lines, Inc. 

While the rate of onsite accidents has declined slightly in recent years, OSHA reports that construction injuries cause an average of around $11.5 billion each year. Even worse, the construction industry has one of the worst rates of fatality on the job, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting that 1,069 workers died on the job in 2022.

On-site safety has always been a top priority for every job we do, and our line of work—designing, building, and maintaining water features, rockwork, and themed environments—presents added challenges. Extra caution must be taken to ensure that proper equipment is used for each job, and standard protective gear is utilized across all OTL projects. 

That said, unique jobs present unique challenges and often require creative and collaborative solutions. This was the case with one of the special projects we completed recently in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. 

When we were asked to design and construct a large-scale show fountain for EpicCentral, a new 172-acre entertainment district in Grand Prairie, Texas, we knew it would be a project unlike any other our team had done before. 

The site contained five existing interconnected lakes, most of which are lined with bentonite clay and utilized for the surrounding area’s irrigation and other needs. There were multiple aspects of the overall project site underway at the same time, and the project team knew there would be layers of complex coordination required to deliver the job as expected. 

What we couldn’t have known at the beginning were some of the unique safety challenges this project would present and the creative solutions we would need to devise and implement to overcome them. 

Building a Separate and Safe Site

The show fountain, Illuvia, was to be constructed on a four-acre lake—the largest of the five—and would include air-fired jets and robotic nozzles to shoot water to heights of over 60 feet, along with large-scale video projection and specialty lighting effects choreographed to music. 

One of OSHA’s “Fatal Four,” the four leading causes of fatalities on construction sites, is electrocution. OTL is well-versed in working around water with electricity, and typically, a lake like this would be drained before beginning construction, so it would not be as much of an issue. 

In this case, because of the way this lake was being used—and a concern that if drained, the bentonite clay lining would dry out—we had to find a way to construct the fountain with water in the lake, which was also home to fish and fowl. 

In addition, this was a large construction site with structures already underway for one of the hotels and three of the restaurants, so coordination with other stakeholders was key to both safety and efficiency. 

After careful consideration, the OTL team decided the best solution to build under these conditions would be to construct a barge that could serve as a platform for the work that was needed, creating an elevated and separate work site that would keep our team safe and dry. While using power tools and high-voltage welding rigs over a lake would still be complex, we were confident that the barge would be the most efficient approach, with the lowest safety risk. 

Creative and Collaborative Solutions to Unforeseen Difficulties

The next challenge to solve for this project was how to drive the support piles for the fountain equipment into the lake bottom. We put our heads together and came up with a solution we had never tried before, or even seen someone else in our industry do, but we knew it could work. 

The barge had to be substantial enough to hold the 15-ton crane needed to drive piles 10 feet into the lake bottom. A second, 250-ton crane would then be required to lift the barge as well as the 15-ton pile driver over the existing buildings and safely into the lake where they could be assembled.

While the team was confident in the approach they had designed, using a crane to lift another crane over an active work site and onto a floating barge was new to everyone, so extra safety precautions were employed. 

Representatives from the crane company came out to the job site ahead of time to meet with OTL safety personnel to survey the area and develop a safe plan. It was determined the job would require seven to eight trucks with counterweights, rigging, and service gear, in addition to the lifting crane and the barge equipment. The plan was reviewed with the City of Grand Prairie as well as the general contractor charged with constructing all the buildings and restaurants, and all agreed it was a safe and practical approach to the challenge we faced.

Once the piles were driven and aligned to within half-inch tolerances, the team welded the gussets to the piles so they could support the steel platforms that would contain the various fountain components as well as allow for regular maintenance of the fountain’s nozzles and lights. The final plumbing, wiring and terminations for the lighting and jets were all done from the barge since the lake could not be drained. At one point, a transfer pump was used to drain the water depth down to 5 feet so that the team could make final wiring connections. To mitigate the loss of torque wrenches and other tools into the lake, the team used tethers to tie the tools to their bodies. 

While none of the safety precautions we took were extraordinary, the combination of a solid safety plan and a professional, experienced team meant that we had no accidents on the job, no injuries, and no losses or delays. 

After six months on the job, Illuvia was complete and ready for its debut last summer. The spectacular nightly shows were immediately popular, drawing crowds of up to 30,000 each weekend. The restaurants surrounding the fountain saw their wait times increase as the summer went on, with visitors returning to see the evening shows again and again, bringing their families, friends, and neighbors back with them. 

Due in part to our familiarity with the site, cultivated through the diligent planning and execution of the project, the OTL team recently upgraded Illuvia with a patented new AI-based technology that allows the fountain to interact with visitors. Nearby cameras capture the positions, movements, and sizes of guests standing in front of the water and shift the jets and nozzles to mimic their movements, creating a magical and unforgettable experience. 

The fountain has a modular design that will allow it to be expanded as EpicCentral grows over the years to come. The existing structure can be extended farther into the lake to align with future development as needed.

Planning to Succeed with Safety

The key to a safe job site is a well-thought-out plan that includes the entire project team paired with clear, consistent communication. Take as much time as you need to design a strategic safety plan that works for everyone and includes all stakeholders’ input. 

Then, create a solid backup plan, in case site conditions or logistics change for any of the stakeholders. Ask the project team to think outside the box. Aside from standard safety protocols, what extra measures need to be taken? If a crucial team member is unavailable, who will step in? Anticipate the unexpected.

Additional safety planning considerations might include:

• site-specific safety training to address hazard awareness and emergency procedures onsite
• health and wellness considerations, including fatigue management, mental health support, and hydration control
• open communication channels for workers and stakeholders to report and address safety concerns onsite
• a communications checklist that clearly defines stakeholders’ roles and includes whom to contact should plans go awry.

With Illuvia, our team turned a complex project into a win by taking a measured approach to developing a smart project plan, with safety considerations at the forefront. If we had to do it all over again, we would start with the same process: survey, collaborate to develop the best project plan, and proceed safely. 

Tom Real is the Vice President of Engineering and Preconstruction at OTL, a design-build themed construction company that specializes in creating one-of-a-kind rockwork, water features and themed environments for retail entertainment, hospitality, gaming, and golf properties around the globe. More information is available at www.otl-inc.com.