Students lackadaisically meandering to class needn’t worry about a falling brick striking them on the noggin.

With 140 construction projects currently in planning or building stages on the Iowa State campus, “the safety of workers, students and pedestrians is always a concern,” said Scott Sankey, architect for Facilities Planning and Management.

“We try to be very careful with safety issues,” he said. “With the large number of pedestrians on this campus, we do our best to keep the sites orderly and maintained.”

To prevent accidents and injuries, construction sites on campus are fenced in and have signs around them that warn people to stay out, Sankey said.

Additional safety precautions routinely taken by campus construction workers include temporarily closing sidewalks when something heavy is being lifted nearby and keeping clear pathways for pedestrians at all times.

Sankey said he has not heard of any accidents or injuries due to construction on campus lately.

“There have been very few,” he said, “and none that I can even think of off hand.”

Construction Services has received complaints, however, from people whose classes or offices have been disturbed by construction noise.

“The noise isn’t hazardous. It’s more of an annoyance,” Sankey said. “We try to schedule noisy work so that it won’t disrupt classes or activities.”

He added that when department officials receive a complaint about the noise, they address it by asking the contractors to stop or reschedule the work.

Dean McCormick of Construction Services said the amount of construction on campus remains relatively steady year round.

“With the amount of renovation work we’re doing, we work year round. In the winter months, we just shift to indoor work,” he said. “There is a slight peak [in the amount of construction] in the spring and summer months, but it’s not a sharp peak.”

Sankey said construction on campus has been done by many different construction companies. Each job goes to the lowest bidding construction company.

“Practically every local company has worked on a campus project,” he said.