Danger Vs Importance Sidewalk Sheds
Sidewalk shed is a combination of different building materials such as lumber and steel and is a temporary platform constructed for reaching heights above arms’ reach for the purpose of building construction, maintenance, or repair. It is usually a sectional structure of metal pipes (termed tubes in Britain), while it can be made out of additional materials. Sidewalk Shed is usually made of lumber and steel which can range from very simple to extra complex in design, depending on its use for construction and different purpose. Large number of construction workers, painters, and building maintenance crew’s always perform their routine jobs on Sidewalk Shed, and due to the purpose of its use, Sidewalk Shed must be correctly constructed and used to guarantee the safety of those who use it during their working.
The main purpose of sidewalk shed is to ensure the safety of the people who are walking or going alongside the construction point. It is a great threat for them to get injured during working of construction crew. Its importance can be easily observed when family with kids and old persons or disable persons are walking through construction site and they do not know upcoming threat then sidewalk shed saves them from that.
In a contrast with importance there is an opposite picture. With reference to a recent article in the New York World talks around the hazards posed by sidewalk sheds in New York City. It gives the instance of one man who was bump into debris as he walked under a sidewalk shed in the East Village in May 2012. A few months later that happening, a 4-year-old girl suffered a heavy electrical shock after she touched a sidewalk shed carrying live electrical voltage in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The incapacitated man and the family of the child have filed personal injury lawsuits.
These sidewalk sheds have developed a fixture in the city with the large number of permits for them amplifying since 1998 to nearly 10,000. It is unlucky that walkers in New York City are reimbursing the price for the negligence of contractors or sub-contractors who have the accountability to construct these sidewalk sheds. Damaged construction of these sheds can result in severe injuries.
In Last but not least whatever the consequences comes up with sidewalk shed but it is clear that its main purpose is to give protection to walkers. Although there are some drawbacks that I have discussed in above but that can happen rarely or a result of negligence. In my opinion sidewalk sheds are the guards who protect you from any harm created by construction site.