Workplace safety experts have long been focused not just on workers’ physical wellbeing but their mental health as well. That rang true at the American Society of Safety Professionals 2025 Expo and Conference in July. Panelists also discussed the need to remove the “macho” stigma in industries like construction that can negatively impact men in particular and how to spot the warning signs of someone struggling with mental health issues. Those indicators include workers who don’t regularly maintain their hygiene, have a sudden rapid drop in productivity or increasingly keep to themselves when they may have otherwise been social. Construction’s long hours, demanding physical labor and tough-guy mentality can contribute to mental health issues, said Chris Trahan Cain, executive director of Silver Spring, Maryland-based CPWR — The Center for Construction Research and Training. “A growing number of deaths are not from falls or electrocutions. They’re from suicide on the job or drug overdose on the job,” Cain said.

https://www.constructiondive.com/news/construction-mental-health-language-help/757096/

The Singer project — which is expected to be completed in 2027 at a cost of $47 million — is one of three similar floodwalls that the Orange-based utility has either constructed or is planning to build to protect coastal substations. Last year, UI finished construction of its first floodwall around the Congress Street Substation, also in Bridgeport. The final project, a wall protecting the Grand Ave./Mill River Substation in New Haven, is due to be completed in 2028, officials said. The combined cost of all three projects is expected to be $146 million, according to a UI spokeswoman. Connecticut’s other major electric utility, Eversource, is also in the process of adding a layer of protection to its network of substations. Elli Ntakou, Eversource’s manager of system resilience and reliability, said the utility recently completed a climate vulnerability assessment to determine which substations or other infrastructure were vulnerable to sea level rise, inland flooding or other climate threats such as drought and extreme heat.

UI is building a series of floodwalls to protect its coastal substations

Repairs are coming to Stamford’s hurricane barrier, but work won’t begin until at least 2027. Sheandra Sterling, public affairs specialist for the New England district of the Corps of Engineers, wrote in an emailed message that an inspection in 2022 found that the gate at the barrier was misaligned, “making it difficult to open and close.” More specifically, one of the gate’s four hinges was bent, causing the issue. The federal government has provided $22.5 million for the work, Sterling wrote. However, that is not the final budget for the work, she said, as that number will be determined once the design process is completed. She said there is no exact timeline for the repair, but that the Army Corps expects to award a construction contract in 2027.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/stamford-ct-hurricane-barrier-20804775.php

More than $1 billion in redevelopment planned in the next decade on the sprawling campus is now beginning to take shape, with construction of a new, 1,700-space parking garage for the public and employees set to break ground this week. The Hartford Hospital vision is ambitious, also including a new, in-patient tower, an expanded cancer treatment center, and the renovation of historic properties for community-based clinical services. Four years ago, the hospital had planned to tear down the Hall-Wilson Laboratory building on Retreat Avenue and replace it with a new structure. Instead of a new building, the equipment has been installed inside Hall-Wilson. So passersby on the street will still see the building as it has appeared for a century — 1921 engraved on the cornerstone. But step inside, and it is pure, modern technology. The restoration of the exterior of Hall-Wilson alone cost $1.5 million, Grant said. The future of the historic structures on the hospital campus is intertwined with its massive redevelopment plans.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/ct-healthcare-system-finds-unusual-modern-use-for-historic-building-as-1b-redevelopment-takes-shape/ar-AA1Kfo0M?ocid=BingNewsVerp&cvid=1c7dcdd833884b63966f772f8f14f671&ei=10

The Connecticut Department of Transportation is using another new tool to protect the safety of the hundreds of workers on state roads every day and drivers need to take note. Automated Flagger Assistance Devices are now on the roads in work zones across the state. This technology will take the place of road workers who hold the the “stop” or “slow” signs when road work is taking place, according to the agency. The automated flagger device uses traffic lights and a safety bar that is controlled by a DOT worker on a tablet, who is a safe distance away and out of the roadway, according to the agency. CTDOT spokesperson Eva Zymaris said this change is being done for the safety of the state’s road workers. Eight devices have been deployed at work zones around the state to date. There are four work districts in the state and each district has two devices. While not always related to construction zones, the DOT has continuously urged safety on Connecticut roads throughout the spring and summer. Arrests for people allegedly driving 100 miles an hour or more have spokes in recent months, also sparking a push for better driver safety.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/new-device-on-roads-to-help-ct-dot-worker-safety-what-all-drivers-need-to-know/ar-AA1Kinwz?ocid=BingNewsVerp&cvid=21a4e53e20954aaea3e114f065438a4b&ei=9

An innovative fuel cell development that has been a decade in the making is now under construction and will provide heat to a nearby university and generate enough electricity annually that could potentially service 8,500 homes. Scale Microgrids, the project’s New Jersey-based developer, expects the 3.5-story Bridgeport development near Interstate 95, with 21 fuel cells to come online next year, and the company sees future expansion of its base of customers purchasing heat. The clean energy development will initially provide heat to nearly 20 buildings at the University of Bridgeport and a new city high school. In addition, the project also has signed on a local company that sterilizes medical waste. Scale Microgrids declined to comment on the project’s cost. But a 2021 filing with the Connecticut Siting Council estimated the cost to be about $70 million, with a capital investment of up to $78 million but that does not reflect price increases sparked during the pandemic. The heating and power development — known as the Charter Oak Combined Heat and Power Project — is launching construction as the state this year has updated its greenhouse gas reduction targets. The reduction target is 65% below 2001 levels by 2040 and an economy-wide, net-zero level by 2050, provided those emissions are reduced at least 80% below 2001 levels.

CT clean energy project will heat a university. It also could power thousands of homes.

Hartford’s effort to transform vacant lots and underused buildings to the south of Bushnell Park just got a big boost with a $3 million state investment in stormwater improvements. The state Bond Commission, on Friday, approved a $3 million grant through the Capital Region Development Authority for a roughly mile-long pipe to carry stormwater runoff away from the “Bushnell South” area and into the Park River. The new system will allow developers to tie drainage systems carrying water from their building rooftops and parking lots into a stormwater sewer system, rather than into stormwater retention systems that are expensive and eat up otherwise buildable space on their lots. The Metropolitan District and Capital Region Development Authority have worked closely over the past two years to finalize a cost-sharing arrangement for the roughly $4.5 million project. Jellison expects to hammer out a final cost-sharing agreement with the state and CRDA later this year, then launch an 18-month construction effort at some point next year.

$3M state stormwater infrastructure grant opens door to development near Hartford’s Bushnell Park

With the city seeking bids from demolition contractors, time is rapidly running out for Gary Flocco to break ground on the redevelopment of the four blighted structures in question. He anticipates closing on the loans needed to finance construction by mid-September, before Mayor Joe Ganim’s administration can actually move forward with razing 62, 72 and 80 Cherry St. and 1325 Railroad Ave. Situated on the outskirts of downtown between the railroad tracks and Interstate 95, Cherry Street Lofts is a prominent renovation of some old abandoned factory buildings that initially earned Flocco accolades. The complex opened in 2018 and currently boasts a charter school and 158 units of affordable “workforce housing” priced for tenants earning roughly $54,000 to $80,000 annually. But again, nothing happened. So a few weeks ago, the city began advertising for bids from demolition contractors with a submission deadline of Aug. 12. Flocco said he was not given a heads-up, and upon learning of the move, subsequently reached out to the Ganim administration for more time.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/bridgeport-cherry-street-lofts-demolition-20804826.php

A proposal to sell 17.3 acres of city-owned land in the Waterbury-Naugatuck Industrial Park to online retail giant Amazon for an access road for its new logistics center now under construction there is being revived. The administration of Mayor Paul K. Pernerewski Jr. resubmitted a request to sell the parcel to Amazon for $325,000 to the Board of Aldermen two months after the original sales proposal was withdrawn because Amazon required more time. The $2.5 million sale was conditioned on the granting of an easement across the 17.3-acre parcel of city-owned land for an access way to the warehouse and distribution hub. City officials later offered to sell the land to Amazon after they determined the lot would have limited development opportunities due to being divided by the access road and the difficult topography on its remaining sections. The city and company negotiated the $325,000 sales price. Site work and construction has started on the five-story, 3.2 million-square-foot logistics center. The construction contract sets a three-year timetable for completion, but Bluewater and Amazon can request two extensions totaling 18 months.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/waterbury/article/waterbury-amazon-center-land-sale-naugatuck-20804651.php

First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker said now that all the costs of the proposed sewer installation project that Sound View Beach residents would pay have been revealed, it is no longer affordable. Shoemaker said this based on a price threshold that, if passed, would let the town tell the state it can’t move ahead with the project. The state has compelled Sound View Beach and three private beach associations to install sewers to stop septic tanks polluting Long Island Sound. State funding will cover half of Sound View’s $17.1 million portion of the $61 million. Sound View Beach property owners will have to pay back $8.5 million to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Previously, Sound View residents were told this means an annual cost of $1,939 a year per equivalent dwelling unit, up $570 from earlier price estimates. The Water Pollution Control Authority, or WPCA, the town commission overseeing the installation at Sound View, had not included user fees, maintenance and operational costs passed on to ratepayers, or fees to connect to systems in East Lyme and New London in its estimated yearly costs to users.

https://theday.com/news/773538/first-selectwoman-casts-doubt-on-viability-of-major-old-lyme-sewer-installation-project/