The first ground-up bus operations and maintenance facility for Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority in nearly 30 years, this 540,000-sq-ft sustainable facility is designed to optimize Metro’s bus transit service throughout Central Los Angeles and accommodate 200 buses fueled by clean natural gas.

The site was previously a Southern California Gas refinery, which contaminated the soil and required extensive hazardous material removal. Several underground structures from the refinery also were discovered to be contaminated—such as walls, footings, sand and concrete encased 48-in.-dia pipe. A complex air monitoring and proper material handling process was implemented to ensure protection of workers and existing facility personnel.

Tight site constraints led to a stacked program, featuring bus and vehicle parking on three levels. In addition, the site is adjacent to a Los Angeles Police Dept. helicopter pad, which affected day-to-day work and scheduling during construction.

McCarthy implemented its human element of safety program on the project, which aims to concentrate workers’ focus on what the firm calls its building blocks of safety: mind on task; no short cuts; look out for the other person; watch where you put your hands; and everyone is responsible for safety. The program’s intent is to harness subconscious behavior so employees understand the importance of decisions for themselves and others.

One incident on the project occurred during a nightshift operation to install underground utilities. In accordance with the fall protection plan, a laborer was tied off as a safety precaution. When he untied himself to go around a trench, he did not notice a missing cover and fell, bruising his torso. Following this, McCarthy continued to instill the importance of a safety culture to everyone working on the project. As a result, the team logged an OSHA recordable incident rate of 0.571 with no lost-time accidents during the project’s 349,742 worker hours.

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