James Madison University, Miller Hall Harrisonburg, Virginia

As a part of a construction project to completely renovate JMU’s Miller Hall, DrillCore was hired in 2007 to sawcut twenty-six four-by-eight-foot window cuts, ten of which were located at a height of twenty feet on the building’s rear wall. The remaining sixteen window cuts were located on the front wall. For this project, DrillCore’s crew consisted of three men who used a hydraulic wall saw powered by a diesel power pack, which was capable of cutting twenty-one inches. There were many hazardous obstacles for the crew, particularly the harsh winter weather and working height. Needless to say, safety was the crew’s first priority. Because there were many other subcontracting crews onsite, DrillCore took special precautions to warn the other crews to distance themselves from the debris that resulted from the window cuts. To ensure safety when cutting from the lift, two crew members went up in the bucket while one member.