Piling Industry Canada Issue 2 2017

www.pilingindustrycanada.com

Issue 2 • 2017

The emergency stabilization Piling Industry Canada of Fountain Slide to maintain CN rail service

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Publications mail agreement #40934510

magazine Retrievable extensometers andwww.pilingindustrycanada.com pile load testing The benefits of dynamic pile testing

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In this issue Piling Industry News Liebherr’s biggest rotary drilling rig begins work on Kuala Lumpur project 6 Jeff Harmston promoted to ECA vice-president — sales and marketing 8

Published by DEL Communications Inc. Suite 300, 6 Roslyn Road Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3L 0G5

Six feet off the ground: no big deal for the TR150 8 National Strategy Summit takes on construction industry’s biggest challenges

President & CEO: David Langstaff

10

Global piling machine market to witness a rise of $1,577.6 million US by 2024 10

Features Screw piles and light structures: a no brainer for Canadians 12 Retrievable extensometers and pile load testing 14 APE Drilling’s Texas piling facility opens for guests from U.S., Canada and Mexico 18 The women in engineering with Keller 24

Benefits of dynamic pile testing

26

Managing Editor: Bailey Hildebrand-Russell bailey@delcommunications.com Sales Manager: Dayna Oulion dayna@delcommunications.com Advertising Account Executives: Jennifer Hebert, Michelle Raike

Hauling dirty heavy equipment is hazardous to your reputation 28

Contributing Writers: Rick Deschamps, Jesse DuBord, Brian Fraley, Stan Higgins, Garland Likins, Kelsey Saunders

The emergency stabilization of Fountain Slide to maintain CN rail service 30

Production services provided by: S.G. Bennett Marketing Services www.sgbennett.com

Digging deep: uncovering Canada’s rich history 36

Art Director: Kathy Cable

Managing marijuana use in the workplace 42

Advertising Art: Dave Bamburak

Design/Layout: Dana Jensen

© Copyright 2017. DEL Communications Inc. All rights reserved.The contents of this pub­lica­tion may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without prior written consent of the publisher.

Index to advertisers Agra Foundations Limited................................................................33 American Piledriving Equipment, Inc.................................................21 Arntzen Corporation...........................................................................38 Bay Shore Systems, Inc.......................................................................11 Bermingham Foundation Solutions.....................................................9 Canadian Piledriving Equipment Inc..................................................37 Eca Canada................................................................................22 & 23 Geokon, Incorporated.........................................................................29 Hammer & Steel Inc......................................................................... OBC Hercules Machinery Corporation..............................................25 & IBC Independence Tube Corporation...........................................................3

Publisher: Jason Stefanik

Keller..................................................................................................IFC Liebherr Werk Nenzing Gmbh...........................................................39 Loadtest...............................................................................................27 Northstar Sharp’s Foundation Specialists.............................................5 Platinum Grover International Inc......................................................13 Rst Instruments Ltd...........................................................................16 Samuel Roll Form Group....................................................................15 Skyline Steel.................................................................................7 & 17 Soilmec North America....................................................................OFC Waterloo Barrier Inc............................................................................26

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained herein and the reliability of the source, the publisher­in no way guarantees nor warrants the information and is not responsible for errors, omissions or statements made by advertisers.

Opinions and recommendations made by contributors or advertisers are not necessarily those of the publisher, its directors, officers or employees.

Publications mail agreement #40934510 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: DEL Communications Inc. Suite 300, 6 Roslyn Road Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3L 0G5 Email: david@delcommunications.com Printed in Canada – 11/2017

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Piling Industry News

Liebherr’s biggest rotary drilling rig begins work on Kuala Lumpur project A new Liebherr LB 44-510 rotary drilling rig, the manufacturer’s largest, is among a fleet of foundation equipment Aneka Jaringan is deploying on the Sentral Suites project in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysian foundations and geotechnical specialist Aneka Jaringan Sdn Bhd is using a newly delivered Liebherr LB 44-510 rotary drilling rig, the biggest and most powerful drilling rig in the Liebherr range, for pile boring on the Sentral Suites project. The LB 44 is working alongside a new Liebherr LB 36 rig, the second largest machine in the range.

Also part of the Liebherr fleet on the site are two duty-cycle crawler cranes, an HS 8100 HD and an HS 855 HD, which are being used for slurry-wall trenching. The two crawler cranes are being used to excavate 600 metres of slurry wall that surrounds part of the site, with the two rotary drilling rigs boring the holes for 366 piles.

Sentral Suites is a landmark project in the KL Sentral district, and is billed as probably the last major residential development in this much sought-after area, which, with its transportation hub, has become a new-generation central business district. The project being developed by MRCB Land will include three towers, the tallest of which is 45 storeys.

Aneka Jaringan is undertaking the foundation and excavation contract: the company moved onto the site in the middle of January 2017 and is working to an 18-month schedule, due for completion in July 2018.

The LB 44-510 is one of the first of this model to have been delivered to Southeast Asia. Both the Liebherr rotary drilling rigs were delivered with extensive training package for Aneka Jaringan’s operators and service personnel.

Loke Kien Tuck, director of Aneka Jaringan, said that both the LB 44 and the LB 36 are boring to depths of a maximum 35 metres, with the maximum pile diameter being 1.8 metres.

6 PIC Magazine • December2017

Liebherr LB 44, biggest rotary drilling rig in the southeast Asian market.

HS 855 HD and HS 8100 HD working on the trench excavation, while the LB 36 bores a pile hole.

“Because of the local regulations, the site can work only between the hours of 8 a.m. and 7 p.m.,” he said. “We therefore have to work quickly, and the two machines are proving to be very fast. The ground is quite hard, being mostly silty sand, and we are taking between five and six hours to bore down to between 30 and 35 metres. That means we can complete the boring and casing installation in one day, and then pour the concrete the following morning.”

The Liebherr HS 8100HD, equipped with a mechanical slurry wall grab, and

the HS 855 HD duty cycle crawler crane, equipped with a hydraulic slurry wall grab, are excavating to a maximum depth of 22 metres for the 0.6 metres-wide slurry wall. The cranes are digging the trench in sections of 6.5 metres, each section taking an average of four days to complete.

Loke said that water-soluble polymer is being used to stabilize the borehole, rather than bentonite, as it has a lower environmental impact and is more costeffective to use on this project.

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Piling Industry News

Jeff Harmston promoted to ECA vice-president — sales and marketing Equipment Corporation of America (ECA), a leading distributor of foundation construction equipment, has promoted Jeff Harmston to the position of vice president — sales and marketing, effective July 1, 2017.

Harmston had served as southeast regional sales manager, working out of ECA’s Greensboro, N.C. location since 2011. His role involved managing the sale and rental of foundation equipment and tools, liaising between customers and the parts and service departments; market development, industry involvement through various deep foundations-focused trade associations, and managing the facility and employees.

Harmston’s new role as vice president — sales and marketing will expand his focus from the southeastern United States to ECA’s entire territory including the eastern United States and eastern Canadian provinces. He will oversee corporate sales management, business development, marketing, vendor relations and business forecasting while re-

porting directly to president Benjamin Dutton.

“Jeff was very successful in developing our market share in the Carolinas,” said Dutton. “He also did a great job in leading us in the transition into the Florida and Georgia markets. When this position became available, Jeff was the obvious candidate for the job.”

Harmston earned a bachelor of science in finance at the University of North Carolina at Greensburg. He received the ADSC President’s Award in 2015 for his accomplishments with the ADSC Carolinas and Southeast Chapters and currently serves as secretary for the Carolinas Chapter. Harmston has been married to his wife Karen for eight years and enjoys spending time on the golf course or at the beach.

ECA has been a leading supplier of foundation construction equipment in the eastern United States and eastern Canada for nearly a century. The company is the exclusive dis-

ECA has promoted Jeff Harmston to vice president – sales and marketing.

tributor for BAUER Drills, Klemm Anchor and Micropile Drills, RTG Piling Rigs, MAT Grout Systems, Pileco Diesel Pile Hammers, HPSI Vibratory Pile Hammers, WORD International Drill Attachments, Dawson Construction Products, Grizzly Side Grip Vibros, ALLU Ground Improvement Equipment and DIGGA Dangle Drills. ECA offers sales, rentals, service and parts from nine facilities throughout the eastern U.S. and eastern Canadian provinces. Visit ecanet.com for the latest information on ECA’s ever-improving specialty foundation equipment solutions.

Six feet off the ground: no big deal for the TR150 Pouring rain, hot distribution and transmission, foundation six feet off the ground in a planter box and preChristmas mayhem made the Missouri Flat – Gold Hill 230kV drilling project in El Dorado Hills, Calif. an attention-grabbing project for kV Structures, Inc., a utility contractor builder specializing in foundations for the power industry. kV was hired to upgrade 12.5 miles of shoe-fly line, to temporarily handle power when the transmission line is rebuilt later in 2017. The shoe-fly consisted of 200 locations with light duty steel or wood poles being set to complete the shoe-fly. The transmission line has 62 new tubular steel poles being installed on new foundations.

8 PIC Magazine • December2017

A Bay Shore TR150-60 was used to put in the most challenging of the foundations 6.5 ft. by 20 ft. deep in a planter box that was six ft. high and 11 ft. away from the wall. The TR150 had to be elevated 3.5 ft. so the counterweight would clear the retaining wall. This was all happening in a busy grocery store parking lot just prior to Christmas. kV reduced the time it took to mobilize onto the site, drilled the foundation, and returned the section of the parking lot to the grocery store by 25 per cent because of the performance capabilities and productivity of the TR150.

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Piling Industry News

National Strategy Summit takes on construction industry’s biggest challenges All sectors of Canada’s construction and maintenance industry, including owners, contractors, labour and government, came together early October at BuildForce Canada’s second National Industry Strategy Summit to move forward on a national strategy to build a sustainable, competitive workforce by improving safety, productivity and workforce retention.

There was strong agreement that safety, productivity improvements and workforce recruitment and retention issues are of paramount importance to the competitiveness of Canada’s construction and maintenance industry.

“Keeping our industry strong and competitive requires all elements of the construction industry to collaborate and share best practices,” said Christina Taylor, chair of BuildForce Canada. “As an organization, we’re proud of the leading role we play in bringing industry together in this unique forum to discuss these issues and map out strategies to overcome these challenges.”

Canada’s construction and maintenance industry has a strong safety culture. The goal now is to build on those lessons learned and apply the same level of corporate leadership to the productivity challenges that face the sector. It will require strong senior-level engagement to

improve productivity at every stage of construction, from planning to workforce training.

As close to a quarter of a million construction workers plan their retirement this decade, not only attracting, but retaining the next generation of construction workers was again highlighted as an industry key priority.

“There was strong agreement across industry to focus on ensuring all workplaces are respectful, safe and flexible,” said Clyde Scollan, vice-chair of BuildForce. “Meeting the needs of a diverse workforce, means ensuring that all workers feel welcome, which, like our focus on safety, is necessary to help drive the needed productivity gains.”

BuildForce Canada is a national industry-led organization that represents all sectors of Canada’s construction industry. Its mandate is to provide accurate and timely labour market data and analysis, as well as programs and initiatives to help manage workforce requirements and build the capacity and the capability of Canada’s construction and maintenance workforce. For more information visit www.buildforce.ca.

Global piling machine market to witness a rise of $1,577.6 million US by 2024 Sales of piling machines are expected to reach 2,259 units by 2024, according to a new report from Persistence Market Research. With piling machine sales reaching 1,611 units in 2015, analysts anticipate an increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.8 per cent.

The global piling machine market is likely to grow exponentially over the forecast period of 2016 to 2024, thanks to an increasing demand for residential and commercial infrastructure, including residential buildings, commercial buildings, bridges, highways and metro rails, because of the growing world population, along with increasing disposable income in emerging economies such as China and India. A rising investment in advanced technologies energy production from non-conventional sources such as wind and solar energy is likely to further boost market growth. However, rising concerns over air and noise pollution during the use of piling machines resulting in stringent regulatory policies regarding the same is expected to restrict sustained growth of the global piling machine market.

The global piling market has been segmented based on product

10 PIC Magazine • December2017

type (diesel hammer, vertical travel lead systems, hydraulic hammer, hydraulic press-in, vibratory pile driver, piling rig) and region (North America, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe, and Middle East and Africa). The piling rig segment is estimated to account for a maximum share of 36.4 per cent of overall market sales by the end of 2016 and is anticipated to be valued at $678.9 million US by 2024, according to analysts. The vibratory pile driver segment is projected to be the second-largest segment and is anticipated to contribute a sales revenue of $192.9 million US by 2016. The hydraulic press-in segment is anticipated to be the fastest-growing segment during the forecast period and is expected to reach a market value of $120.6 million US by 2024.

Among regions, Asia Pacific is anticipated to be the fastest growing market for piling machines over the forecast period. Sales revenue in the North America market is anticipated to increase at a CAGR of 4.9 per cent over the forecast period.

For more information, go to www.persistencemarketresearch.com/ mediarelease/piling-machines-market.asp.

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Screw piles and light structures: a no brainer for Canadians

By Stan Higgins, Postech Screw Piles Winnipeg The screw pile industry markets hard that screw piles are cheaper than concrete. The truth is that screw piles can be used for a wide range of projects and, depending on the soil characteristics, they aren’t always cheaper.

However, here is a bold claim. Screw piles are cheaper for lightly-loaded structures.

It’s a bold claim and I wrestled with myself whether or not it was true.

I determined that when you look at the big picture, it’s true every time for Canadians in areas where potential for frost heave is present. The following explains why.

Screw piles for lightly loaded structures are most often cheaper than cast in place (CIP) or belled piles.

I won’t go as far to say that screw piles will always be cheaper because some concrete companies are willing to price themselves out of business (you’ll find some in the screw pile industry as well). Also, not all concrete piles are created equal. Yes, a four-foot-deep concrete pile will support your deck but it will not resist frost heave.

Screw pile installation won’t ruin the landscaping or leave an awful mess.

The collateral damage from traditional concrete piling has a cost. This cost is often overlooked but can range from a few dollars to thousands of dollars. For some folks, the highest cost is having their yard down for repairs and not available for enjoyment.

Concrete piles often heave when lightly loaded and especially when outside a heated space.

Concrete piles under your home have a very high chance of performing as designed. However, a quick stroll through many of the country’s new housing developments and you can’t help but notice cracking on the front steps from heaving. You will also find a disproportionate amount of frostaffected piles under unheated structures like decks and sunrooms. The reason is simple: concrete is porous and frost forces are strong.

A screw pile for a lightly-loaded structure (deck, sunroom, solar farm, etc.) in contrast is small enough to be considered a non-displacement pile, which translates into English as a pile with a shaft small enough that the frost forces are negligible compared to the resistance created at the helical blade. Frost heaved piles are generally very expensive to remedy and most people will just suffer along with a deck or porch they aren’t happy with.

When you consider the big picture, a screw pile of a lightly-loaded structure is a no brainer. Just remember, in the same way that not all concrete piles or companies are equal, not all screw piles or screw pile companies are equal; do your research and you will ensure a worry-free screw pile foundation for a great value.

For more information on Postech Screw Piles Winnipeg, visit www.screwpiling.ca or call 204-793-0679. l 12 PIC Magazine • December2017

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Retrievable extensometers and pile load testing Conventional bored pile instrumentation for static load testing generally relies on strain gauges and tell-tales cast in the pile to measure axial loads and movements at various levels and at the pile toe. One drawback with this method is that the instrument locations need to be predetermined and the instruments have to be pre-assembled and installed onto the steel cage prior to concreting. Also of concern is that strain gauge measurements can reflect localized strains due to variations in pile cross-section and tell-tales can yield unsatisfactory results due to rod friction, bowing, eccentricity of loading, reference beam movement and the fact that it can be impractical to put tell-tales at multiple levels where complex stratigraphy exists due to congestion in the set-up at the pile head.

To address these concerns a new generation of extensometer, the GEOKON Model 1300 (A-9) Retrievable Extensometer (Patent No. 5,585,555), has been developed to simplify, and allow, highly accurate measurements of relative deformations of multiple segments along the entire pile length. It is designed to be installed in a two-inch PVC or steel pipe cast into the pile (thereby minimizing the risk of damage during the concreting process) and consists of pneumatically-actuated anchors with spring-loaded transducers that are connected to one another in series by a single connecting rod, which is held in tension to eliminate errors due to bowing and friction. When installed, the anchors are fixed in place and the transducers measure the deformation between the anchor positions over specific increments, thereby integrating strains over a larger and possibly more representative sample than that which can be obtained using conventional strain gages.

To install the extensometer, the string of sensors is assembled with variable lengths of connecting rods to enable positioning of its anchors at the required depths and inserted into the access pipe, bottom anchor first, lowering in a large arc to not permanently deform the rods.

A-9 Extensometer ready for installation.

14 PIC Magazine • December2017

The string is then locked into position by pneumatically actuating the various anchors, starting with the deepest anchor. The transducers are set, deepest segment first, to the required range by pulling on the extension rod protruding from the borehole until the desired reading is obtained, and then locking the transducer in place by turning on the pressure valve. This procedure is repeated for each subsequent segment in the extensometer assembly.

The anchors contain eight pistons, which are pneumatically actuated and forced against the sides of the borehole. The pistons are spring-loaded and automatically retract once the pressure is released.

A-9 Anchor assembly.

A pressure manifold, containing on/off valves and check-valves, connects to each of the inflation lines leading to the anchors, enables each of the anchors to be actuated in turn, and maintains the anchor pressure during the monitoring period. Pressure is provided using commercially available, pressurized, nitrogen cylinders. When monitoring

A-9 Anchor pressure manifold.

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has been completed, pressure is released, which allows for removal of the extensometer and future reuse.

Each anchor is attached to a highly-accurate and sensitive vibrating wire sensor (or, optionally, to a DCDT or linear potentiometer sensor) by means of Swagelok fittings that grip the interconnecting rods. Rods may be made from stainless steel, invar or carbon graphite. Readout is accomplished via portable readouts and/or data acquisition systems, the latter being preferred for automated testing so that displacements can be recorded along with the applied load at each specific loading increment

The A-9 Retrievable Extensometer has been successfully used on many projects all over the world, including the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Egypt) and in many pile load tests in Malaysia where comprehensive studies have been carried out by Lee Sieng Kai, managing director, Glostrext Technology Sdn. Bhd., Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia et al.

In their paper “Application of Global Strain Extensometer (GLOSTREXT) Method for Instrumented Bored Piles in Malaysia,” published in the 10th International Conference on Piling and Deep Foundations, May 31 to June 2 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Abdul Aziz Hanifah, senior assistant director, public works department, Kuala Lumpur and Lee Sieng Kai reported several conclusions comparing the results from the A-9 Retrievable Extensometer with conventional pile instrumentation: • The back-calculated concrete modulus values measured by two independent systems (conventional strain gauges and Retrievable Extensometers) agree reasonably well.

• The axial strains measured by the two independent systems are in good agreement.

• Using the Retrievable Extensometer measurement of the pile shortening over the whole pile length can be reliably measured in segments. This enables the movement of the pile and strains at various levels down the pile shaft to be determined accurately, thus permitting an improved load transfer distribution of piles in static load tests.

For additional information please contact GEOKON, INCORPORATED at 603-448-1562 or visit www.geokon.com/A-9. l

A-9 Anchor/transducer assembly.

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Section

Width

Height

Thickness

Pile Weight

Wall Weight

Section Modulus

Moment of Inertia

in

in

in

lb/ft

lb/ft2

in3/ft

in4/ft

NZ 14

30.31

13.39

0.375

55

21.77

25.65

171.7

NZ 19

27.56

16.14

0.375

55

24.05

35.08

283.1

NZ 20

27.56

16.16

0.394

57

24.82

36.24

292.8

NZ 21

27.56

16.20

0.433

61

26.56

38.69

313.4

NZ 26

27.56

17.32

0.500

71

30.99

48.50

419.9

NZ 28

27.56

17.38

0.560

78

33.96

52.62

457.4

As a premier steel foundation supplier now offering NZ sheets in addition to our extensive product line, Skyline Steel is the ideal partner for your next project.

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APE Drilling’s Texas piling facility opens for guests from U.S., Canada and Mexico

By Jesse DuBord

APE Drilling’s Matt Fenwick explaining the HD grouted pile benefits to guests.

We felt excited to see our APE Piling plant come to life like never before. For the first time ever we opened the doors of our pile manufacturing facility to the public, and invited guests from across the Americas to join us in a festive and fun open-house factory tour. Nearly 100 esteemed guests from around the U.S. as well as Canada, Mexico and South America took part. We were pleasantly surrounded by veterans of the industry, as well as new pioneers venturing into foundation construction.

Live drilling and pile installations One of the biggest attractions people enjoyed was the live demonstrations of our HD drivers installing our piling products and using our drill bit tools in the field. We premiered a completed working model of our composite pile (the perfect foundation 18 PIC Magazine • December 2017

solution for power lines and utility towers of all kinds), installed two grouted piles, used our down-the-hole hammer bit to break apart tough underground geologies and pre-drilled a 20-ft. hole using our predrill bit within minutes. One of the benefits that caught everyone’s eye was how fast the HD drivers could use the clamps to release a pile or drill bit and quickly grab and

insert another tool into the driver’s hexhead socket driver interface. At its heart, we showed that the excavator-mounted HD driver solution by APE Drilling is fast.

Very fast. And efficient, too. It’s a simple, user-friendly, no-nonsense solution that the industry has needed for a long time to help one solid purpose: get the job done right, safe and fast the first time through.

THE HD150 driver installing grouted piling at the Texas open-house event.

Meals, music and memorable Messages As always, Texas prides itself (as it should) on doing a very important thing right: barbecue. We enjoyed a fantastic lunch and delicious array of country cooking from our catering friends, Dream Events, followed by smooth but sensational musical entertainment from the Jon Young band. One key premiere that took place during lunchtime was a special speech presentation by Robert Fern from Texas AirSystems. He graciously provided his time to show our guests the details and benefits of our new geo-exchange foundations, which are solid steel foundations for buildings and structures that double as a heating and cooling system, using the underground temperature in the earth to bal-

Nearly 100 esteemed guests from around the U.S. as well as Canada, Mexico and South America took part.

Robert Fern from Texas AirSystems giving a presentation on the savings with the APE geo-exchange foundation as the main source of heating and cooling for building projects.

Guest installs HD pile for the first time.

Piling Industry Canada • December 2017 19

ance out the temperature of clean water in a ground loop system. This provides economic and stable heating and cooling for building interiors. The most successful example of this happens to be our APE Piling building itself.

Guests get hands-on with drivers in the real world and in virtual reality

Guest walking around the mobile mast excavator-mounted leader system in virtual reality.

“No experience necessary,” could have been our slogan for the HD drivers, judging by how easily never-before participants took to the excavator controls, driving our 20-ft. HD starter piles. As an added and innovative bonus, guests were able to try installing piles and see our mobile mast product in virtual reality. Using cutting-edge VR headsets to immerse themselves in virtual jobsites and install piling with every bit of realism as, well, reality. We’ve found that genuine handson experience helps our clients see just how user-friendly we’ve designed these systems to be. Anyone can use them.

New friends and new foundations At every event, we’re privileged to meet extraordinary people doing incredible things in the construction industry. Contractors are forming new ideas and creating innovative designs to tackle and eliminate age-old problems. Since we introduce new technology into the market, we also get the chance to hear the new methods and products that are working to help create a better world and better infrastructure. Much to our gratitude, APE Drilling products and APE Piling solutions are among the list of fast-paced, reliable foundation technology that the crews are raving about. We get excited about every new opportunity to meet new professionals, new friends, and to help create a greener and better world.

A sincere thanks to all our guests who joined us at our open-house event. We look forward to venturing with you onto even more amazing foundations for the future of construction projects. See you in the field. l 20 PIC Magazine • December 2017

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“ Girls need to be encouraged as much as boys” International Women in Engineering Day in August focused attention on the amazing careers in engineering and technical roles for girls, and celebrated the achievements of outstanding female engineers. To mark the event, Keller asked three of its colleagues from around the world to share their experiences as female engineers.

Katja Maihold – Design engineer, Keller Grundbau, Germany There have been civil engineers in my family for four generations. And although I liked to play classic girl games when I was little, my parents introduced me to science and technology at a young age.

I grew up in the former East Germany and images of gender stereotypes were far less common than today. After reunification, I studied at a former West Berlin university and quickly learned that it’s unusual to be a female engineer. I’m lucky I didn’t realize this earlier, as I’m not sure I would have chosen the same path growing up in today’s environment. I believe that social and family role models influence your decisions when it comes to choosing a career.

As a female engineer with Keller, my experiences in being accepted have predominantly been positive. Sometimes women are expected to be loving, friendly and more reserved. Restraint, however, is not usually a useful characteristic for running a construction site or being successful in negotiations. There’s also a tendency to view women with ambitious character traits negatively compared to men. At times, I’ve found it difficult to be accepted by customers, but over the years it has become easier — in fact I’d say that sometimes it’s been positive.

I’d like to see us playing a more active role in searching for women at universities and promoting them, challenging the established view that construction companies aren’t interested in female engineers.

Tazki Omacarly – Proposal engineer, Keller ASEAN, Malaysia I chose engineering because it is a combination of science, technology and math and a chance to solve problems. I’ve been an engineer for twoand-a-half years and early on in my career I sometimes felt discouraged due to a lack of confidence working in a male-dominated environment. But it was just a matter of time before I adapted. After a few months of training and guidance, I felt more confident and I have very supportive management. Keller has given me opportunities both on site and in the office.

There are only six female engineers at Keller Malaysia. As one of them, I see that some people think that we have a lack leader-

ship skills when compared to male engineers. Thus, sometimes people don’t take us seriously and externally some people discriminate when dealing with a woman.

To encourage more young women into engineering, I’d like to see us get more involved in science and math programs. We need to influence girls early in life and show them that engineering is an exciting career offering real prospects. We should also be highlighting the history of successful female engineers, inviting them to share their experiences at careers events and act as mentors. We should expose young women to confident females already training in the field. Girls need to be encouraged as much as boys to be more practical if that is where their interests lie.

Spring Borchardt – Project manager, Hayward Baker, United States I wandered into engineering. Math and science had always come fairly easily to me and I was taking general classes in college when I job shadowed an engineer working for the city. She did something different every day, from overseeing the construction of a playground to fixing water lines and it seemed interesting.

When I started taking engineering classes, there was probably only one woman to every 10 men. The other students were welcoming, but I did have one older professor who told me women didn’t belong in math and science.

At Hayward Baker, I’d say roughly one in 100 engineers are women.

Both in and out of the company, I’m frequently the only woman in the room. When I first started on site, some guys would think I was lost, but I did find that often contractors can be more friendly toward 24 PIC Magazine • December 2017

young female engineers than male ones. In the office people are professional, but you can feel like you’re not one of the guys. You don’t really feel like one of the girls either though, because they tend to be support staff. Consultants and vendors still sometimes assume that I’m an assistant when I answer the phone.

How do we get more people into our field? I don’t have great answers, I wish I did. In education, more women are going into STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) careers, so the ratio of women studying engineering in U.S. schools is closer to 50-50 now, so that’s positive.

I think women tend to go into other roles such as consulting; construction is still male dominated and seen as a bit rougher and dirtier.

As a company, we’re getting better and we’re interviewing more female engineers. We need to give them more chances to show they can do the work.

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Benefits of dynamic pile testing

By Garland Likins, P.E.

Production pile cost versus elevation (Delmag D19-42-10.75-inch pipe pile).

26 PIC Magazine • December 2017

Any structure is only as good as its foundation. For a deep foundation to perform satisfactorily, it must have adequate geotechnical capacity to support the applied load and lack structural defects. If the foundation fails, it must be remediated or the structure demolished and eventually replaced. Either option is tremendously expensive. Therefore, it is desirable to employ construction control methods which demonstrate a deep foundation’s geotechnical capacity and structural integrity.

For driven piles, a static load test checks the capacity, but due to cost and time considerations the number of static tests are generally very limited. Conversely, a dynamic formula is inexpensive and quick, but also notoriously inaccurate. These considerations prompted research more than 50 years ago that resulted in dynamic testing, which can be applied at a relatively modest cost to a significant number of piles at multiple site locations to improve site characterization. The Pile Driving Analyzer (PDA) with subsequent CAPWAP signal matching has become state-ofpractice. Dynamic testing is also applied to cast-in-situ piles (drilled shafts, bored piles, CFA/augercast piles) by employing a drop weight of sufficient size.

For larger projects, dynamic testing programs can optimize the foundation.

Test program data can be used to select the best pile type and size by determining the geotechnical capacity at various depths and quantifying capacity changes with time (usually gains due to set-up) by testing both at end of drive and on restrike days, or even weeks later. Production piles are driven to criteria (usually a blow count tied to hammer performance) matching the successful dynamic test pile installation. Periodic testing during a long production pile installation documents that the hammer is performing consistently.

For smaller projects, dynamic testing of

the first production piles is generally sufficient to provide essential construction control criteria for the project.

The cost of dynamic testing is a small fraction of static load-testing costs, and is minimal when considering the potential savings. Lacking testing, the pile design must be very conservative and thus overly expensive. With testing, many codes allow lower factors of safety to be used for allowable stress designs (or higher resistance factors for LRFD) resulting in shorter piles, or fewer piles, reducing pile material costs which is the main expense of the foundation (Figure 1). For example, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) tracked driven pile expenses over a six-year period (Narsavage, 2011). By dynamically testing typically two piles per foundation, significantly higher LRFD resistance factors (ODOT uses φ = 0.70; for D/L=3 the equivalent factor of safety is 1.96) were used for friction piles (piles not driven to rock) compared with a design governed by dynamic formula (φ = 0.40; equivalent factor of safety is 3.44). The resulting savings can be estimated at 43 per cent while the testing cost was only 2.5 per cent of pile costs, a small price to pay for such significant savings.

The PDA also assists in evaluating driving procedures. Dynamic measurements allow the engineer to assess driving stresses during installation. This is particularly important for concrete piles where tension and compression stresses are critical. Knowing the concrete pile driving stresses allows the engineer to adjust the installation procedures, such as limiting hammer stroke height or changing pile cushion thicknesses to keep stresses under rational limits and reduce the risk of structural damage to the pile. Procedures can similarly be developed for steel pile projects where high compression stresses can be problematic. The PDA is used to detect if damage occurred on any pile exhibiting unusual blow counts or terminating at significantly different lengths.

PDA testing information can be evaluated both for capacity and for installation procedures. Such knowledge is invaluable for a satisfactory final foundation installation that appropriately services its support-

ed structure. Dynamic testing provides facts and reduces the potential risk of unsatisfactory foundation performance.

tant for PDI. He has a B.S. and a M.S. in civil

* Peter Narsavage, 2011 PDCA DICEP program, Orlando, Fla.

expert level on the PDCA/PDI Dynamic

About the author

He is a member of the American Society of

Garland Likins, P.E., is one of the original founders of Pile Dynamics Inc. (PDI) in 1972 and was president of the organization from 1977 to 2014. In that capacity, he directed the research and development of transducers, real-time processing equipment and software analysis programs for deep foundations. Garland remains a principal and senior consul-

engineering from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and has achieved Measurement and Analysis Proficiency Test.

Civil Engineers, the American Society for Testing and Materials, the Deep Foundations Institute, the Pile Driving Contractors Association and ADSC. Garland is a frequent lecturer and has more than 100 papers published in journals and conference proceedings. He is a licensed professional engineer in Ohio. l

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Piling Industry Canada • December 2017 27

Hauling dirty heavy equipment is hazardous to your reputation

By Brian Fraley The job is wrapping up and your driver is picking up a dozer to haul back to the yard. The tracks are caked with dried mud and stones following grading after an extended period of rain. It’s a Friday afternoon and he’s barreling down the streets of a high-rent district to get the machine delivered so he can start the weekend. As luck would have it, a local transportation executive is pulling out of his driveway just in time to watch a lowboy leaving a trail of earthen waste on his meticulously paved street. Your logo passed by in a flash, but his memory of the incident will last a lot longer. That’s just the tip of the iceberg as it relates to your construction firm’s reputation.

Granted, this is a hypothetical situation, but these types of incidents (and accidents) occur when you’re transporting thousands of pounds of heavy equipment on a regular basis. This is not just an issue for contractors; it affects equipment dealers, material suppliers, hauling subcontractors and more. Whether you’re dropping dirt and gravel; spilling asphalt; spewing gasoline, oil, or dirty water; or dripping cement mix, the ways you can offend the public are many.

How it hurts your reputation Hauling dirty heavy equipment can create a public relations nightmare. Whether you’re simply dirtying local infrastructure, cracking windshields, or dropping the debris that will lead to cracked windshields and dents, you can impact a wide cross-section of society.

As activity continues to ramp up, the construction industry will be putting more and more machinery on the nation’s roads and bridges.

Your firm will have more opportunities to either improve or tarnish its reputation.

The tangible versus intangible disconnect The tangible trumps the intangible in the construction industry. On one hand, you can measure the time and money required to clean every piece of equipment before it hits the road. On the other hand, it’s nearly impossible to accurately measure the public relations damage.

If your equipment, truck or lowboy has a company logo, you now have a traveling billboard. Any time your logo appears, whether it be on equipment, clothing or signage, your brand is at risk. That doesn’t mean you should refrain from using your logo. Rather, you should establish and enforce the rules of conduct with your drivers or hauling subcontractor.

How you could lose business Some of you are reading this and poo-pooing the idea of a tarnished reputation. Perhaps you intentionally leave your name and logo off your equipment. Or maybe you work strictly as a low-bid contractor and figure there’s no way it can hit your wallet. You might even have 28 PIC Magazine • December 2017

a receptionist that will happily deflect incoming calls from angry residents and drivers.

The problem is that you can’t control who is affected. In other words, you could directly or indirectly offend someone that can cause real headaches. To me, this is a risk far too great for any construction firm to bear. Allow me to identify some potential angry drivers: • A decision-maker that works for a client or prospective client.

• A member of a selection committee that reviews your bids.

• An elected official from the district in which your firm is based.

• A business partner on current or future projects.

• A banker that may or may not approve your loan.

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The potential for retribution We’re going to walk the line here to establish how retribution could affect you. Contractors or material suppliers that have dealt with an overzealous inspector know this is not just paranoid talk.

Let’s assume the worst-case scenario. Consider that one of your machines has kicked up a stone and damaged a windshield. There are many possible scenarios in which your bottom line could be affected.

What if you hit a transportation official and they deploy an inspector to make things tough on a job or at your plant? What if you hit someone with decision-making power and lose an opportunity as a result? What if you hit a local politician and he or she decides to create headaches on a current public sector project.

More accountability in the new world Things were different years ago. You weren’t held to the same standards by the public. If your equipment was dirty, leaky or smelly, most people didn’t make a fuss. Perhaps they complained to friends, family or government officials, but that’s where it stopped.

The risk has increased, especially now that virtually everyone has a smartphone on hand. Those offenses that would be forgotten by the time the offended party reached their destination can be acted upon immediately.

We’ve come a long way since the silent generation. In today’s world, people are more vocal about their concerns. They use social media and other internet vehicles to drive the point home and to rally likeminded troops. Whether it be to complain about your firm hauling dirty, leaky, smelly equipment through their neighborhood, damaging their or a neighboring property, or trying to shut down a project they don’t like, the digital noise can be deafening.

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Heavy equipment: just clean it Our focus in this article has been on how hauling dirty heavy equipment can tangibly and intangibly damage your reputation, but the risks go far beyond. And we only scratched the surface on hypothetical scenarios.

We didn’t discuss insurance claims, police reports, HR headaches, irate people and the additional conflict and stress that comes with it.

All things considered, the cost of cleaning your iron before it hits the road seems minimal, doesn’t it?

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The emergency stabilization of Fountain Slide to maintain CN rail service

By Rick Deschamps, Ph.D., P.E., Nicholson Construction Co. Extreme distortion of existing soldier pile and lagging wall.

Project setting.

This story was previously published in Deep Foundations Magazine, the publication of the Deep Foundations Institute.

30 PIC Magazine • December 2017

Fountain Slide is located approximately 16 km northeast of Lillooet, B.C., within the Coastal Mountain Range, and has been locally active since the 1970s. The project site is located near the base of the relic Tunnel Mountain landslide. The progressive movements have posed a significant challenge to British Columbia 99, the main north-south highway in the region. The slide began affecting the British Columbia Railway Co. (BCR) tracks in the 1990s. In 2004, the Canadian National Railway Co. (CN) acquired BCR and, during the next 11 years, undertook measures to stabilize the rail bed. Some of the measures undertaken include numerous track realignments, a shotcrete and soil nail wall, an anchored soldier pile-and-lagging wall, and adding a row of anchors to the wall. For many years, the measures had proved successful until mid-2014 when it was observed that the slide retrogressed uphill of the tracks. Since that time, the slide movements typically ranged between four and 10 millimetres (mm) per day, leading to extreme distortion

of the earth retention system and the need for frequent track realignment.

In the spring of 2016, CN issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a design-build solution with the expectations of: (1) a safety factor greater than 1.2, (2) considering only the currently identified retrogressive blocks that extend to about 61 metres above the track, and (3) minimizing activities outside the current easement. It was also communicated that there was a possibility that a portion of the line may have to be abandoned if the proposed remediation was cost prohibitive.

The fact that the existing slide was a small fraction of the relic slide was intimidating.

The relic slide extended for approximately 1.6 km above the uppermost retrogressive block that was now affecting the rail line. There were also several other areas of concern: • Interpreting the slip-surface location throughout the sliding zone.

• Depth of the sliding surface (about 18.3 metres) in the deep colluvial valley.

• Estimating the residual strength given the landslide was actively moving.

• The relatively low-target safety factor.

• The fact that most approaches to stabilization would be too “brittle” — specifically, not enough restraint could be installed before the system would be overwhelmed.

• The expected safety factor was low for a “permanent” fix (SF = 1.2).

• It was difficult to quantify loads from soil mass above active blocks.

• The destabilizing effects of continued downslope movements below the repairs.

• Estimating the residual strength in an actively moving slide.

Maintaining a state of stress at the residual strength requires continued displacement.

Consider a situation where the applied force is sufficient to maintain the residual strength state of stress, but then the displacement is fixed so that no further movement of the base takes place. How would the state of stress in the sample change? The plastic soil would creep at this high level of stress such that the shear stress would reduce with time. How much it would relax is not well understood. This has important

implications when remedial solutions rely on maintained soil stress to carry part of the resisting load. This becomes particularly important when the target safety factors are low. The preliminary design assumed that the initial safety factor was 0.9 to account for some creep relaxation, but it was not known if this was conservative enough.

Another concern was the fact that Loehr and Brown (2008) recommended that the input parameters for L-Pile be adjusted (Pmodifiers) when using the Soil Movement model based on their interpretation of case histories of instrumented piles. The details of the work culminating in these recommendations can be found in their 2008 report “A Method for Predicting Mobilization of Resistance for Micropiles Used in Slope Stabilization Applications” prepared for the joint ADSC/DFI Micropile Committee.

Residual strength and potential stress relaxation from shear creep.

Design approach Many different approaches were considered to stabilize the slope. Project constraints included equipment size and weight, the need to penetrate cobbles and boulders, working within the limited easement, and brittleness of the stabilizing system. Ultimately, shear pins constructed with micropiles were proposed to stabilize the slope. This approach was offered because it could be installed with intermediate-size equipment, activities could be constructed within the limited easement, and the system was interpreted to have adequate ductility.

The preliminary design was developed using the L-Pile software program and the Soil Movement model. The Soil Movement model was added to the L-Pile program to represent mass movement of soil across a pile that extends into stable ground below.

The model has been used successfully in the past, however, this project was unique for several reasons:

Direct shear test device.

Piling Industry Canada • December 2017 31

These factors led to the decision to use more advanced analyses for the final design.

FLAC3D numerical analyses were completed

by Itasca Consulting Group to model the performance of the proposed approach. This effort was undertaken because three-dimensional analyses can be especially insightful when simple models are nonexistent or unproven.

As it turned out, the FLAC3D modeling indicated that the preliminary design would not work. The numerical modeling confirmed that significant P-modifiers were needed in L-Pile to get consistent results with FLAC3D (as recommended by Loehr and Brown).

The FLAC3D analyses showed that the piles would fail in flexure before sufficient shear resistance could be mobilized, which led to the need to change the design approach.

Micropiles were still used, but they had to be installed in an A-Frame configuration to carry most of the load axially. This complicated the construction process in several ways, increased the material quantities, and, thus, affected the construction cost. The preliminary design considered four rows of vertical 346 mm-diameter micropiles. The final design required that the piles be battered with two rows battered up slope and two rows battered downslope. In addition to modifying the

Designed stabilizing system.

32 PIC Magazine • December 2017

pile configuration, 30 12-strand anchors were recommended to achieve the target stabilizing force.

Construction activities The first activity was to grade the site to provide access to the drill equipment and to support ancillary equipment and materials.

The primary objective during this activity was to avoid changing the loads on the sliding mass. The goal was to avoid bringing in new fill or removing any materials because this could trigger additional movements either below or above the work area, respectively. Even with this effort, the slope movement rates approximately doubled, posing an even bigger challenge to getting sufficient restraint in place before structural elements started to fail.

The piles were installed using an overburden duplex drilling method wherein a drill casing supports the bored hole and an inner drill string carries the cutting bit and transmits the drill fluid to remove cuttings. An overburden system has “wings� at the cutting bit that extend to a diameter slightly greater than the casing, which allows the casing to be advanced through boulders that are present in the colluvium.

The steel casing that was installed had an outside diameter and wall thickness of 346 mm and 16 mm, and were mill secondary N80 pipe, indicating a minimum yield strength of 80 ksi (552 MPa). However, tensile tests indicated strengths of the steel to be approximately 120 ksi (827 MPa).

Several different configurations exist for constructing micropiles using combinations of casing and reinforcing steel. For the remediation at Fountain Slide, the casing was installed along the entire length without any internal reinforcement, which was done to maximize the section modulus for bending resistance. The structural axial capacity exceeded the geotechnical capacity in both compression and tension such that internal reinforcement was not needed.

As discussed above, the landslide movements presented a challenge to the construction effort and posed a risk that elements could fail before the movements were arrested. To reduce this risk, the piles were installed from both sides of the slide zone working toward the centre. This approach was used because the rates of movement were greatest at the centre of the slide. The idea was to start at the ends where the rates were lowest to decrease the movements in the centre as work progressed. Accordingly, two rigs were used

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for pile installation. Moreover, the rail line remained open throughout construction.

Data about the slope deformation were collected in real time during construction. The rates of movement were significantly greater than those measured before any construction activities began. A basic assumption in the design was that the initial safety factor was approximately 0.9, while the target safety factor was 1.2. If it were assumed that the rate of the micropile installation was approximately constant during construction, then it would be expected that the slope movements should begin to stop about a third of the way through the construction process (SF~1.0). However, this was not the case. The arrow in the figure does show where the rate of movement was decreasing, however, a sudden jump in movement negated this hope.

The continued movement of the slope even after a substantial portion of the stabilizing force was in place was very disconcerting.

It became apparent that the design assumptions were not entirely correct. Possible explanations included that more load was being transmitted from above the slide than anticipated or a lower than anticipated residual friction angle was applicable. Other means of adding more resistance while not increasing the project cost was investigated, which included increasing the size of the anchors and reducing the height of fill that would be added in front of the wall to elevate the work platform used to construct the anchors.

Part of the restraint on increasing the anchor loads was the con-

Rates of slope movement during construction.

Battered micropile installation.

cern for damaging the existing soldier pile wall. Initially, the anchors were to be installed at a higher elevation to protect the soldier pile wall because of concern for buckling the beams. During the installation of the micropiles, it was noted that there were voided zones behind the soldier piles and the risk of pile buckling under the anchor loads became an even more pressing concern. The decision was made to install the anchors as passive elements so that the restraining force could be taken up in the overburden materials within the sliding block. The small rate of movement that was occurring was interpreted to be enough to engage the anchors.

Accordingly, the anchors were increased from 12 strands to 18 strands to better align the structural capacity with the geotechnical

capacity. Only three of the 18 strands were extended through the soldier pile wall into a concrete wale, which were used to stabilize the wall structurally. The use of less load being transmitted to the wall allowed the concrete wale to be installed at a lower elevation, which reduced the amount of fill that was needed to be added to the bench for anchor installation and, therefore, added to the stability.

Post-construction monitoring Seven piles were installed with inclinometer casings as a means of evaluating whether the piles were shearing off because of continued slide movements. None of the monitored piles indicated damage, even though there was more than 0.9 metres of total movement at some locations. The rates of movement were modest prior to when the slide retrogressed above the tracks in 2014. Subsequently, the average rate of movement then averaged about seven mm per day prior to the start of construction. After the start of construction, the average rate of movement increased to about 17 mm per day, however, movements abated after the passive anchors began to carry load, and eventually, the movements stopped. There have been no additional movements up to this point in time, but the concern remains as to the magnitude of the current safety factor given the fact that movements continued much longer than anticipated as the piles were installed. The question remains: has the creep sufficiently dissipated such that the shear stresses carried by the soil along the slip surface are stable?

Anchor installation.

Acknowledgements There were many project participants including Trevor Evans and Tom Edwards with CN, Augusto Lucarelli with Itasca Consulting Group, Phil Kapronczai with AGRA Foundations, Phil Smith with Sixense/Soldata and Alan Macnab, consultant.

About the author Rick Deschamps, Ph.D., P.E., is vice-president of engineering at Nicholson Construction Co. in Canonsburg, Pa. He oversees Nicholson’s design group in the development of competitive design-build systems for geo-construction projects throughout the U.S. l

Pre- and post-construction optical survey measurements at Soldier Pile 18 (near centre of slide) from February 2013 through May 2017.

Digging deep: uncovering Canada’s rich history Before piles go in the ground, archaeological assessments at construction site are becoming more common

By Bailey Hildebrand-Russell All photos submitted by Bruce Stewart, CRM Group.

Archaeological monitoring and mitigation are well underway within the Queen’s Marque district on the Halifax waterfront. Cultural Resource Management (CRM) Group archaeologists are working closely with The Armour Group and the department of tourism, culture and heritage to ensure that the archaeological heritage of the property is properly identified and documented.

36 PIC Magazine • December 2017

The layers beneath the world we currently walk on hold secrets of generations before, and one project on the Halifax waterfront is revealing a past significant not only to Nova Scotia’s history, but also Canada’s.

Queen’s Marque will transform this historically-rich area. The Armour Group Ltd. unveiled the plans for the project in 2016.

The main focus of Queen’s Marque is to give the public a place to gather for years to come.

“The idea of Queen’s Marque is to form an expression of our authentic selves in a modern way; to reflect the broader experience of being Nova Scotian in a manner that connects, inspires, and encourages people to be a part of this place,” Scott Armour McCrea, CEO of The Armour Group Ltd., said in a news release.

The area, historically known as Queen’s Landing, will feature 75,000 square ft. of public space, including landscaped squares, a boardwalk with expansive gates, and intimate passages that open onto a central plaza, according to The Armour Group’s website.

The historic slipway will be reconfigured with granite steps descending into the waters.

The entire ground level of the development and most of the second floor will be home to restaurants, shops and “cultural offerings.” There will also be office space, a boutique hotel and residential units. Below, there will be around 300 underground parking stalls.

While there is much excitement for what Queen’s Marque will do for Halifax in the future, several individuals are looking at what the land was like in the past.

Bruce Stewart is president of Cultural Resource Management Group Ltd. (CRM Group), a company specializing in archaeological assessment and mitigation, heritage

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Cultural Resource Management (CRM) Group archaeologists are busy identifying and documenting the physical remains of various military and commercial buildings encountered within the Queen’s Marque district.

resource planning, cultural heritage conservation, and site interpretation and development. Stewart said his team has worked with The Armour Group in the past, and that the developer asked the archaeologists to come on board once again for Queen’s Marque.

“It’s a prime piece of real estate on the Halifax waterfront and has a great deal of historic significance so we were quite pleased to be able to partner with them and provide them with our archaeological services.”

So before digging too deep, CRM Group had to make a plan with The Armour Group. Work began with a thorough assessment of land-use history.

“Halifax was founded by the British in 1749,” Stewart said. “There was French presence prior to that and there was certainly Mi’gmaw presence all around Halifax Harbour, Bedford Basin many millennia before that.

With the establishment of British Halifax in 1749 there was construction along the waterfront and the property that is now identified as the Queen’s Marque district, was more or less central.”

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Stewart said CRM Group went through a variety of document sources, including historic photos, maps and written descriptions.

From that, the team developed a series of site plans that gave a general idea of what buildings and activities would have been on the property at any given point through history.

“When we started actually working on the site, it was to monitor removal of various utilities and then mechanical excavation of a perimeter trench for the installation of the cofferdam. With that, we started getting a sneak preview of what we could expect to find when further excavation was undertaken.”

Once the cofferdam was installed, excavation began inside the perimeter. Stewart said first they found traces of walls. Then, they began finding artifacts from the 18th, 19th, 20th and even 21st century.

The physical remains of structures range from military periods, including a guardhouse built in the 1780s, and 19th century structures used for commercial activities. The core component of the land was military property, and had a battery erected on it. It then became federal government property right up until this current development, Stewart said.

CRM Group has recovered over 40,000 artifacts, covering the full historic occupation of British Halifax. The range of artifacts includes pottery, cannon balls, drinking glasses, bottle glass, smoking pipes, coins and animal bones.

“We have a beautiful leather boot that’s in conservation right now,” Stewart said. “That could be of military vintage, but at this point we haven’t done any analysis on it, so we don’t know one way or another.”

7/8/11 2:05:36 PM

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Guard houses at the northwest corner of the Queen’s Wharf property in 1880, Royal Engineers photo (NSA Royal Engineers Photo 6958).

CRM Group archaeologists have been identifying and recovering a wide range of 18th, 19th, and 20th century artifacts, which provide physical evidence of the diverse activities undertaken within the Queen’s Marque district on the Halifax waterfront since the founding of British Halifax in 1749.

Stewart said every find tells another part of a greater story.

“We have found a few items that are of more specific interest, including a medal of St. Benedict that was recovered from the site, there have been a few coins as well,” he said.

“It’s the bits and pieces of history that help us understand more completely what was going on within the precincts of the property.”

As most of the excavation and archaeological research is done before piling begins, 40 PIC Magazine • December 2017

Map of the commissariat premises in 1874, Royal Engineers (NSA A.107).

Medal of St. Benedict found at Queen’s Marque.

Stewart said there isn’t much concern that deep foundation work will disturb artifacts, but he said there’s always a risk of that happening with any type of work.

“There’s always the possibility of impacts associated with pile installation, but in this particular construction, it’s our expectation that we’ll have addressed most of the archaeological resources in that particular area before any piles are driven. There’s always the potential for incidental impacts associated with any form of earthworks. Any work on public streets, on a property, installation of a new powerline or new sewer line. Any of those kinds of activities pose a potential threat to archaeological resources.”

While archaeological work is meticulous, Stewart said his team still has to keep deadlines in mind, as with any other project.

“One of our challenges on a project like this is to get the maximum amount of information we can through the archaeological process while causing as little delay to construction as possible.”

Stewart said urban archaeology is becoming more common as people recognize the importance of preserving history. He said in Halifax’s core, archaeological assessments are becoming the standard prior to any construction. This is also true in other urban centres across the country. Recent urban renewal in Winnipeg demonstrated that what’s now a tourist destination at the meeting of two rivers has always been a gathering place.

“In Winnipeg, work at The Forks revealed a significant history of First Nations activity at the juncture of the Assiniboine and Red (rivers),” Stewart said. “Where our European ancestors decided was a good place to live, had been a good place to live long before we showed up on the shores of North America.

There tends to be repeat occupation of areas.”

Stewart said the Queen’s Marque project has been rewarding for those from CRM Group working at the site.

“We’re all very excited to have been involved with the field component of the Queen’s Marque project and look forward to completing the analysis and reporting in the new year.”

While the field component of the archaeological project was completed in November of 2017, construction is expected to wrap up in 2019 with a near $200-million budget. l Piling Industry Canada • December 2017 41

Managing marijuana use in the workplace

By Kelsey Saunders

As legalization of marijuana is just around the corner, and medical cannabis is becoming more prevalent in Canada, employers are left with a series of unanswered questions revolving around the workplace. This leads us to the question, “what do employers need to know about managing cannabis in the workplace?”

When will marijuana legalization take effect?

Marijuana is expected to be legalized by July 2018.

Once legalized, can employers continue to test for marijuana use?

Yes. Marijuana use still carries significant risks to safety at work, and we therefore encourage employers to continue to test for cannabis use, even after legalization is implemented.

How will marijuana impairment be detected?

Currently, the saliva swab is the most time-sensitive test at an employer’s disposal.

The saliva swab test has the ability to detect marijuana consumption within 12 hours of the drug test. Unfortunately, the saliva swab does not test if an individual is actively impaired, which is one of the biggest concerns for not only employers, but law enforcement as well.

The psychoactive chemical in marijuana, THC, metabolizes through an individual’s body differently than alcohol, which means the current roadside impairment tests offer no assistance to agencies actively researching for an active impairment solution.

The federal government is investing a significant amount of resources in this initiative in order to find a solution prior to the legalization in July 2018.

42 PIC Magazine • December 2017

Can marijuana be treated the same way as alcohol in the workplace?

To a certain extent, yes it can.

Alcohol is a legal substance that poses significant safety risks in the workplace and has been carefully managed by employers over the past several years. Employers should have detailed policies governing the use of alcohol — prohibiting impairment, use and possession of the substance at the workplace, and outlining specific consequences for violation of those terms, as an example.

It is important to note that cannabis and alcohol are two different substances and are metabolized differently in the body with different effects on cognition and behaviour, and each carry distinctive safety risks and health concerns. An employer must take these differences into account when drafting drug and alcohol policies.

How should employers prepare for this legislative change?

Employers should revisit their existing drug and alcohol policies and update them appropriately. It is important that all policy revisions are properly communicated to employees to ensure thorough understanding. All supervisors, team leads, and managers are to be properly trained to detect signs of impairment.

Companies should seek legal support when identifying and launching policy changes.

The legalization of marijuana will not place unnecessary stress on the employer if their policies and procedures are created proactively, and staff have been advised and trained in the new protocols prior to the implementation of Canada’s new law in July 2018.

Kelsey Saunders is the result department team lead at SureHire. l

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