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1K Students Attend Project Best Building Trades Showcase

More than 1,000 students from across the Ohio Valley visited the annual Project BEST Building Construction Trades Showcase at Wheeling Park on Wednesday.

Dozens of companies and trade workers set up informational tables inside the park’s skating rink to talk with the students about their offerings in training and jobs.

Barnesville's Bike and Pedestrian Path Nears Completion

After several years of planning, Barnesville’s new bike and pedestrian path has now been under construction by Cast & Baker Corporation since the spring and will soon provide the area with a new spot to stay active outdoors.

The paved pathway, when complete, will run from east South Street to Bethesda Street and will also feature a new parking area at the B&O depot trailhead. Highlighting the project is the restoration of the railroad tunnel beneath East Main and South Arch streets.

Steubenville Completes Major Road Resurfacing Project

Shelly and Sands, Inc. has successfully completed a resurfacing project on County Road 43 in Steubenville, part of ongoing efforts to improve local infrastructure. City road crews have been working on resurfacing heavily traveled roads within the community.

OVCEC Women in Construction

Earlier this week, the OVCEC Women in Construction Committee participated in the Project BEST Career Fair, offering students an engaging opportunity to learn about women’s contributions to the construction industry. The booth featured interactive demonstrations, safety gear fittings, and tool handling experiences designed to inspire future careers.

McKinley Wins Several Prestigious Industry Awards

For the 4th consecutive year McKinley Architecture and Engineering has been named to the 2025 Circle of Excellence: The AEC Industry’s Best Managed Firms by PSMJ Resources, Inc., the world’s leading authority on architecture, engineering, and construction firm management.

PSMJ’s exclusive Circle of Excellence highlights successfully managed firms that demonstrate outstanding business achievements in areas such as profitability, overhead management, cash flow, productivity, business development, staff growth, and turnover in the architecture and engineering industry. The Circle of Excellence represents the top 20 percent of firms across the nation.

Confined Spaces in Construction

In August 2025, six people died during a confined space rescue attempt at a dairy farm. Confined spaces pose significant hazards, including in the construction industry, where the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) reported 1,030 deaths from 2011–2018.

Statistics further reveal that 205 of these fatalities occurred in tank, vat, or bin interiors, while 203 fatalities occurred in ditches, trenches, channels, or excavations. Leading causes of death in confined spaces are asphyxiation and engulfment in collapsing materials. It is common for coworkers to attempt an impromptu rescue without understanding a confined space's dangers, leading to additional fatalities.

What is a Confined Space?

A confined space must meet all three criteria:

1. Be large enough to enter: for a worker to bodily enter and perform tasks.
2. Have limited means of entry or exit.
3. Not designed for continuous employee occupancy.

What makes a Confined Space "Permit-Required"?

A space is classified as permit-required if it contains one or more hazards:

• Hazardous Atmosphere: Contains toxic gases, flammable vapors, or has an oxygen-deficient atmosphere.
• Engulfment Hazard: Contains materials (like sand or grain) that could envelop and suffocate a worker.
• Internal Configuration: Its layout, with converging walls or a sloped floor, could trap or asphyxiate a worker.
• Other Serious Hazards: Presents any other recognized serious safety or health risk.

Common Examples on Construction Sites include:

• Pits
• Tanks and silos
• Manholes and storm drains
• Crawl spaces and attics
• Tunnels and access tunnels
• Boilers
• Vaults (e.g., transformer vaults)
• Heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) ducts and pits

Key Safety Requirements by OSHA

• Identification and Evaluation: Must be done by employees at the start of a project.
• Permit System: A written permit system is mandatory for entry.
• Employee Training: Workers must be educated on the hazards of confined spaces and the proper procedures to follow, including the critical rule to never enter a space to rescue someone without proper equipment. A best practice is to conduct this training annually.
• Monitoring: Regular air monitoring and hazard assessments are required.
• Communication: Controlling contractors and entry employers must communicate effectively to ensure the safety of all workers involved.

For an overview of confined spaces in construction, samples of permit-required confined space programs, and checklists, click the button below.

The OVCEC Plan Room will have limited services available next week, September 22-26, 2025. You will still be able to access the projects in the online plan room; however, there will not be a Daily Plan Room Report and we will not be able to print drawings. All services will return to normal on Monday, September 29, 2025. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause.

If you have questions, please contact us at ovcec@ovcec.com or 304-242-0520.