Construction Students Take In-House Road Trip for Safety Instruction
Published 10.12.2011
News
Building Construction
Diesel Truck, Heavy Equipment & Power Generation
In a beneficial trip over the mountain (and across academic borders), about 70 freshmen from Penn College's School of Construction and Design Technologies traveled to the School of Natural Resources Management heavy equipment training ground Tuesday for an afternoon of insight. Students in site-preparation and safety classes joined by construction faculty members Garret L. Graff, Harry W. Hintz Jr., Peter Kruppenbacher and Thomas J. Mulfinger got a close-up look at the multi-ton machinery they'll encounter on the job. Heavy construction equipment technology students demonstrated a hydraulic excavator, track loader and other machinery from the campus' earth-moving fleet, as Budd L. Greevy, instructor of diesel equipment technology, explained the job-site advantages of each. Along with discussing those benefits, he stressed the need for safety when working on or around the massive, unforgiving vehicles. "You turn them off, you turn them on. These things have no conscience," he said, noting that human precaution is the most reliable defense against workplace tragedy. "They don't think, they don't cry, they don't grieve. I can't be more blunt than that." Greevy and his students also demonstrated use of a "trench box," which prevents the collapse of dirt walls onto excavation workers. The visit to the operations site was the latest in a series of beyond-the-classroom exercises planned by construction faculty. Upcoming classes will feature fire-safety and CPR instruction, Graff and Kruppenbacher said.