End of Internship Report

Contents:

1. General Information

2. Relationship of Work Experience to CSM Curriculum

3. Problem and Solution

4. Ethical Situation

 

 

 

 

1. General Info

 

Internship Duration: 5/2/16 – 7/22/16

Total Hours Worked: 480

 

For my internship during the summer of 2016 I had the opportunity to work as a Superintendent Intern for Paric Corporation in St. Louis, Missouri. I was assigned to the St. Louis College of Pharmacy Phase II, this was a 7 story multi-use facility that included 2 competition gyms, workout facilities, a dining hall, faculty offices, and student dorms. I was assistant to a Senior Superintendent and spent my summer dealing with site logistics, safety, quality, and scheduling different trades. Being a superintendent, I got to be on site 100% of my days and got to know the ins and outs of all methods being used. From hollow core panels to architectural precast panels I had the unique opportunity to see manufacturing processes and installation methods furthering my construction knowledge for my future in the industry. 

 

2. Relationship of Work Experience to CSM Curriculum

 

The first four floors of the job I was on this summer were all deck pours. After the first four floors, the next three were structural steel with hollow core pre-stressed panels welded on top. Thanks to CSM 203 and 205 this was not the first time I have heard of this building material and the method used to manufacture and install these hollow core panels. What made getting to work with these panels even better was the opportunity I had to visit the plant that was manufacturing them. I was able to explain the whole process and applications to the owners’ representative and architects thanks to what I had learned in my Materials & Methods classes.  In addition to knowing the manufacturing process when it came time to start installing these panels on site, we had to cut a few to fit. When cutting hollow core panels it is important to know how they have their strength from the pre-stressed cables, and if one is cut the entire strength of the panel is compromised.  Thanks to my understanding of this method, I was able to direct the workers to cut away from the cables to avoid destroying the panels. This is just one example of the hundreds of materials and methods I saw this past summer so it is safe to say that this class helped me do my job and so much more.

 

During the second half of the summer, a discrepancy was noticed on the architectural plans. The running track around the third floor above both gyms was designed to have a drywall and glass handrail. An engineer did not design this rail in the plans and had nothing in the specifications. The problem was that this rail needed to be a structural element, as it is required to hold a certain force to prevent runners from falling through it. The architect on the job skirted responsibility by saying it needed to be designed to the standard for handrails. Unfortunately, for us our drywall and framing sub did not catch this and had not accounted for it in their bid. With the skills, I learned in CSM 204 on how to read contract documents and drawings I was able to help the project team solve this problem. I had to run through multiple contracts and specifications to see who had accounted for this guardrail and once we discovered that it was not accounted for we had to find a solution. This required extra reinforcing to be placed along the rail perimeter before we poured the deck slab. In order to do this I had to reference the plans and scale the perimeter of the track in order to find the proper spacing of the reinforcement. Without the knowledge, I learned in both the class and lab of contract documents I would not have been very helpful in solving this problem.

 

A large part of my summer was helping to manage our large and varied workforce on site. When I say varied, I mean we had multiple trades who had many minorities and women working for them. With such a diverse workforce on our site, I ran into several situations where I needed to change my approach on talking to certain people and getting them to complete tasks. The skills I learned in MGT 307 where very helpful in management of our jobs human resources. One glaring example came toward the end of summer when we had a near miss accident involving a crane operator and multiple ironworkers. After this incident, the company safety director instructed me to conduct an investigation as to the events that led up to the incident and to collect stories from all that were involved. The skills I learned in MGT 307 had taught me how to handle situations with this. The key when talking with multiple people about the same event is to remain as unbiased as possible and avoid making judgments until all information has been gathered. Another big aspect is the punishment for the guilty parties, It is important to not always punish for certain things but rather to make it into a learning experience to build off of and that is exactly what we as the GC did in order to try and prevent future accidents of the same type. Without the knowledge I had gained about human resources I would not have been very helpful making this bad situation into a positive.

 

 

3. Problem and Solution: explained below

 

While working on the St. Louis College of Pharmacy for Paric Corporation it was discovered that multiple beams between the steel frame and tiltup panels were fabricated too long due to a misunderstanding of the measurements on the Structural Drawings.

 

Problem: Multiple steel beams were fabricated in the wrong length due to a misreading of plans

 

Step One: Signals a Problem Exsisted

 

• Continued issues and difficulty installing beams between steel frame and tiltup walls 

• Issues were unknown by the design team or the subcontractors 

• All parties were unaware of issues until installation

• Structural plans were difficult to pick up correct dimensions from

 

Step Two: Problem Assumptions 

 

WHAT- Steel beams were wrong dimensions, all should have been fabricated according to structural plans

 

WHERE- The north side of the building connecting the steel frame to the tiltup panels

 

WHEN- Observed by ironworkers when they attempted to install beams

 

WHO- Design Team, Steel Fabricator, Subcontractors, Project Team

 

TO WHAT EXTENT – Around 20 steel beams around 30ft in length needed to be field modified to fit

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Step Three: Interpreting Assumptions 

 

               Facts- Steel beams were fabricated too long

 

               Assumptions- Beams need to fit so construction can continue

 

               Expressions of Frustration- This should not be a mistake, plans aren't hard to read

 

               Expressions of Blame- If the fabricator and structural engineer would have communicated we would not have a problem

 

               “Knee-jerk Solution"- We will make the beams fit no matter what to keep construction going 

 

Step Four: Problem Stated With Facts Only

 

The structural plans require these beams to be the right length to carry the building load . We need to follow these plans 

 

Step Five: How to Eliminate the Problem in the Future

 

I will immediately begin to find a solution to shorten the beams; as I work on other jobs in the future I will ensure that the Engineer and Fabricator are on the same page before steel production.  

 

Step Six: Alternate Solutions

 

1. Send the beams back to the fabricator to be refabricated in the correct dimensions   

2. Cut and slot the beams in the field to the proper dimensions

3. Find a local fabricator that can try and replace the wrong beams quickly

 

Step Seven: Ranking Alternates 

 

Alternate 2: This is the quickest and easiest solution when trying to keep the job on schedule but will cost the fabricator a lot more money when it comes to paying for extra man-hours

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Alternate 3: A possible solution if a fabricator can be found that is not too busy. Would be very costly but quicker than Alternate 1

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Alternate 1: The most costly and time consuming solution due to the fabricator being in Mississippi.

 

Step Eight & Nine: Problem Solution 

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Due to the schedule, already being super tight we had to field modify the beams and get them approved by the structural engineer to keep the job on track. It still held the job up for a work week and cost a lot of overtime hours but in the end it was worth the grief because the duration was still less than the other two options. If we ran into this problem, again I don’t see doing anything differently. The only thing that could possible change my mind was the location of the fabricator and their lead-time to make new beams. They were part of the critical path in our schedule and without a quick fix we could have easily been pushed back weeks losing even more money all because of a few inches.

 

 

4. Ethical Situation: explained below

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This past summer at the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, we had many challenges and ethical situations. The one downside to being on a large job is that not everything can go as planned and sometimes you must improvise for the betterment of the job. One such issue we ran into this past summer had to do with completing work to move the schedule without getting the needed sign offs from the respective inspectors. Sometimes we as a project team found it necessary to continue building instead of waiting on a city inspector to show up. Sometimes this worked out in our favor with him being ok with our continuation but outer times led to us being reprimanded and being told to fix the issues. One such issue had to do with structural steel connections and the fact that not all bolts were in place when addition steel was added on top and while the concrete decks were poured.

 

This specific example was due to us needing to get more steel up vs. us needing to put all of the bolts in. The steel frame was in the middle of our critical path and the bolts were not it was a simple decision. While this did not affect the structure of the building or the safety of any workers it was still and unsafe situation. While all bolts were eventually added it did not mean the city inspector did not reprimand us. In some places, we had to remove fireproofing and concrete to get bolts in. This type of situation occurred several times over the summer but were never so bad that anything major was at risk other than money. While they were not ethical practices, they were practical and the project team approached them as such.

 

1. Knowing that if you wait for signoffs on every little thing you will never get anywhere on the job. Therefore, you decide to risk damage to the building and losing money all in an attempt to stay on schedule. Because these are such small problems, the consequences are not as bad as they could be and encouraged the project team to continue on this fine line.

2. As a reputable contractor, it is your right to push certain things in order to keep to the schedule but at the same time, it is also your responsibility to ensure the safety of all workers and future occupants of the building by making sure everything is constructed as designed. Therefore, it is your duty to not skip any steps and find other less dangerous ways to make up time on your schedule.  

3. In this given situation, a good person would most certainly stop working so far ahead of inspections. A dangerous and pointless practice can be fixed with more attention to details and communication with the inspector. Corners can be cut but you must know what the right ones to cut are.