The consortium building the $9.5bn New Terminal One project at New York City’s JFK International Airport has installed a wireless emergency notification system that goes beyond what the traditional air horn can do.
It uses 25 mobile communications towers dotted around the 1.8-million-sq-ft (167,225-sq-m) Phase A site, where 3,000 workers are building the new arrivals and departures halls and the first set of 14 new gates.
New Terminal One will be the airport’s largest terminal with an area of 2.6 million sq ft and 23 gates when it’s finished in 2030.
Communicating by radio frequency, the system provides instant audio-visual alerts and mass messaging in the event of shootings, fire, medical emergencies, spills or structural collapses.
It can also provide topical guidance about heat and other health risks.
Central command centre
Safety supervisors manage the system from a base station in the medical trailer, which serves as the central command centre.
From there, they can use an LED sign board to update workers instantly.
A handset also lets supervisors broadcast urgent messages from speakers on the 25 towers.
Communication is two-way since each tower has a pendant workers can pull to activate an emergency alert, which generates a text to safety personnel, who can investigate and decide if site evacuation is warranted.
The system can be preprogrammed with 17 messages in multiple languages, with the ability to add 15 extra tailored messages.
It can also broadcast video messages.
‘Clear, specific messages’
The system is supplied by Safety Systems Management (SSM), a company founded in 2016 by veteran construction safety coordinator Cory Sherman.
“Air horns and similar alarms can only signal ‘something’s wrong’, but they can’t tell workers what the emergency is,” Sherman told GCR. “Wireless systems can transmit clear, specific messages.”
“On large or complex job sites, an air horn or similar alarm may not be heard by everyone,” he added.
“Wireless systems use multiple receivers and speakers to cover the entire site. A message can be sent instantly to all devices and alert points across the site at the push of a button with no delay.”
When Phase A is finished next year, the towers can be moved on to Phases B1 and B2.
‘Setting a new standard’
New Terminal One is being financed and built by a consortium led by Ferrovial, JLC Infrastructure, Ullico, and Carlyle.
The project’s head of safety, Ferrovial executive Joe Schwed, said the system was “setting a new standard for safety in large-scale construction projects”.
It’s part of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s $19bn transformation of JFK Airport, which includes two new terminals, two expanded terminals, a new transportation hub, and a new road network.
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