Latest news with #Shawmut
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
2 Time Capsules from Different Decades Unearthed During Demolition of Baseball Stadium with Record-Setting Past
Two time capsules were unearthed in Rhode Island while Shawmut Design and Construction crews worked to demolish the former McCoy Stadium site in Pawtucket The first time capsule was buried in 1940, while the second time capsule is believed to have been buried during a historic game played on June 23, 1981 Both capsules will be opened on June 23, the 44th anniversary 'of the longest pro baseball game played'A construction company did not strike out during a recent demolition of a baseball stadium, hitting two home runs by finding two time capsules. The time capsules — from two different decades — were unearthed in Rhode Island this month while Shawmut Design and Construction crews worked to demolish an old stadium in Pawtucket. 'Demolition at the former McCoy Stadium site, future home of the new Pawtucket High School, uncovered an 85-year-old time capsule in the stadium's original cornerstone,' the City of Pawtucket shared in a May 19 Instagram post, referring to the first time capsule buried in 1940. Days later, the crews found a second time capsule believed to have been buried between home plate and the pitcher's mound during a historic game played on June 23, 1981. Both time capsules will 'be unveiled on June 23, the 44th anniversary of the conclusion of the longest pro baseball game played, which took place at McCoy,' the City of Pawtucket noted. That record-setting game between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings lasted 33 innings. 'The Shawmut team has approached the demolition of McCoy Stadium with the utmost safety and precision, balancing progress with a deep respect for the site's historic significance and the potential to uncover meaningful artifacts,' Chris Maury, Shawmut's head of preconstruction for the New England region, said in a statement. is now available in the Apple App Store! Download it now for the most binge-worthy celeb content, exclusive video clips, astrology updates and more! 'It was an exciting moment for our team to discover, identify, and carefully preserve the capsule found in the stadium's original cornerstone,' Maury continued, noting that the crews 'deployed ground-penetrating radar technology' to help locate the second time capsule. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A Boston-based construction firm is leveraging AI to keep roughly 30,000 workers safe
Worker and job-site safety are key factors that construction management firms must consider daily. The Boston-based firm Shawmut does this with AI-powered software connected to workers' phones. This article is part of "AI in Action," a series exploring how companies are implementing AI innovations. As a $2 billion construction management firm overseeing more than 150 active worksites on any given day, Shawmut Design and Construction is responsible for keeping roughly 30,000 employees, contractors, and subcontractors safe. The Boston-based firm has employed AI for about eight years, using it for data collection, risk evaluation, worker safety compliance, and more. Shaun Carvalho, the company's chief safety officer, said this strategy had become invaluable for creating a safer operation overall while still prioritizing growth and efficiency. "You're talking about a business that, quite literally, 20 or 30 years ago was driven by paper and clipboards," Carvalho told Business Insider. "Anything we can do to leverage technology, we'll do it." Shawmut uses artificial intelligence to predict safety-related incidents on its construction sites. With the help of an AI tool created by a private vendor, Shawmut can pull various data points to help score the likelihood of something going awry. Some of this data is from the National Weather Service — information about forecast temperatures, prospective weather events, and the associated fallout, such as freezing pipes. Other data is about personnel: If there's an influx of new people to a job site, but not an influx of new leaders, the AI system will flag it as potential for disaster. "Not having enough leaders means we probably aren't getting enough eyeballs on the workers who are out there now," Carvalho said. "When your job is to keep everyone safe, eyeballs are a very good thing." This data dump isn't in real time, at least not yet. The drops come at least once a day, empowering leaders to speak with teams and make appropriate tweaks, Carvalho said. Shawmut has been using AI since 2017, Carvalho said. The program really took off during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the company devised innovative ways to leverage the technology to ensure worker safety. The firm's chief people and administration officer, Marianne Monte, told BI that the company used GPS tracking software on workers' phones to monitor their location on job sites. An AI engine automatically sent alerts when workers got closer than 6 feet apart. Gradually, the company has expanded this use case to track whether workers are tied off on buildings (so they don't fall) and whether workers are using scaffolding properly. "These tools feel very benign to me, and they are making our job sites safer," Monte told SAP. "It's much less about the height of that ladder than it is about a person's mental state when they get on it." While AI can help construction businesses like Shawmut keep sites safe, some experts have raised ethical questions about using AI in this fashion. Benjamin Lange, who studies the intersection of technology and ethics, said leveraging AI to essentially monitor people raises concerns about privacy, informed consent, and data security, which must be carefully managed to prevent misuse or overreach. "Companies must be transparent about data collection practices, ensure that tracking is strictly limited to safety purposes, and provide workers with opt-in mechanisms to maintain trust and protect individual autonomy and workers' privacy rights," said Lange, a research assistant professor in the ethics of AI at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and a researcher leader at the Munich Center for Machine Learning. After hearing this feedback, Shawmut representatives decided to anonymize data from the jump. AI in construction faces several challenges, including data reliability and lack of human oversight. "There are also concerns about overreliance on automation, which may reduce human oversight and accountability in critical decision-making," Lange said. AI systems rely on high-quality, accurate data, and any errors or biases in datasets can lead to costly mistakes or unsafe conditions, Carvalho said. Additionally, construction sites may vary widely in complexity, making it difficult for AI models trained on past projects to generalize effectively, he added. Recent industry research indicates that bad data in the construction industry is a big hurdle for companies attempting to embrace AI. A recent report by Autodesk and FMI Consulting indicated that poor data — information that is "incomplete, inaccurate, inconsistent, or outdated," according to the report — costs the industry $1.8 trillion annually. That same report said that 95% of all construction data goes unused. Still, Shawmut is planning to extend and amplify its AI programs over the next three to five months, Carvalho said. One push: real-time response. Carvalho imagines a future where every Shawmut employee wears a badge linked to a digital map of a job site. In this world, the AI system would alert managers in real time the moment an employee stepped out near something dangerous. "What we want isn't actually in the marketplace yet," Carvalho said. He added that he'd like to see AI technology that accounts for the various rules and regulations that differ by state. If, for instance, a contractor is on a Shawmut job in California and then heads to a job in Utah, this dream system would automatically update the job site policies to reflect the rules and regulations in the new municipality. A system like this one would also have the potential to contribute to job safety. Read the original article on Business Insider
Boston Globe
09-03-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Climbing higher: Women in Construction Week celebrates a growing demographic in the industry
Plumber Maria Zammitti, working at 585 Kendall in Cambridge; her mother was a construction worker in the 1980s. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff Lauren Slaven, a senior superintendent at construction management firm Shawmut Design and Construction in Boston, has spent more than two decades in the industry. When Slaven arrived at Wentworth Institute of Technology in 2000, she wanted to be an architect. But through the school's co-op program, she found herself at a construction meeting detailing renovation plans for the Harvard University Faculty Club. The project superintendent commanded the room, understood all aspects of the job, and was pushing it to the finish line. 'I was like: I want that guy's job,' Slaven said. Related : Advertisement Slaven on Thursday won the mentorship award at the Associated General Contractors of Massachusetts annual Inspire Awards, which honor exemplary women in the construction business. At Shawmut, Slaven started with a three-year rotation program, spending one year learning project management, another learning estimating, and another learning the role of a superintendent. When she started, maybe one-quarter of her rotation's 20-person cohort were women. The most recent cohort was about half women, she said. Kumba Wahkor (center) rode the hoist/elevator to the sixth floor of 585 Kendall. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff Shawmut's culture is one where teammates push for others to improve and rise up, Slaven said, whether it be giving someone credit or being an unofficial mentor. 'Their generosity and inspiration and really what they saw in me that I may not have seen in myself — they really believed in me from the beginning,' Slaven said. 'I thought to myself: I need to be paying this forward. Mentorship is a critical role. Because it's not just about teaching technical skills to somebody else. It's about inspiring somebody's confidence, and encouraging their growth.' Advertisement Ironworker Hannah Cahill at 585 Kendall in Cambridge. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff At the AGC awards, Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll emphasized the importance of a diverse workforce and how the administration values diversity, equity, and inclusion, drawing strong applause from the nearly 1,000 attendees. 'What makes Massachusetts a strong state is the fact that we have a rich mix of people, a rich tapestry of communities,' Driscoll said. 'What makes us special, I think, is that we recognize that when we utilize everyone, when we make room at the table for people who may not have historically been at that table, we get better outcomes, better results.' Ironworker Shellian Capo-Chichi on site at 585 Kendall. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff Catherine Carlock can be reached at
