Dr. Somik Ghosh was recently interviewed by Bluebeam about his thoughts on the impact of COVID-19 on the construction industry.
According to Dr. Somik Ghosh, professor at the University of Oklahoma’s Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture and a construction safety expert, this isolation isn’t practical in construction.
“Especially when the project gets toward completion, there is an influx of workers in different trades that come in during the finishing stages,” Ghosh said. “It’s not a question of the flow of workers within one workplace, but multiple workplaces where these individuals are traveling.”
This constant flow of workers from different trade specialty areas makes it especially critical to reduce on-site exposure to decrease the risk of transmission between jobsites.
Ghosh said that the industry will have to reduce physical contact between workers on each site to reduce the risk of transmission. “Reducing crowding is key,” Ghosh said. “It can be done by increasing total work hours so that people work in multiple shifts, or by taking a hard look at the way we used to schedule.”
“Instead of having everybody work on the same floor,” Ghosh continued, “maybe we think about splitting the workforce into multiple floors if it’s a multi-story building or working within different zones on a horizontal project.”
Gibbs College is pleased to present the exhibition 200 Digital Drawings by Professor Tiziana Proietti, currently on display in the Gould Hall Living Room.
Gibbs College of Architecture Professors Amber Brown and Amy Leveno led 29 students to Dallas, Texas, in September for a learning experience as part of their Design 7 Studio course.
Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture professor and Institute for Quality Communities Director Dr. Amber N. Wiley’s book, Model Schools in the Model City: Race, Planning, and Education in the Nation’s Capital, has received two major honors from the Urban History Association.
