As you walk around the Sanford Lab site, you may notice things look a little different. Crosswalks were painted this summer in key areas. New signs bearing the Sanford Logo identify locations around the property. Banners depict each head frame, the two major experiments and the construction of the Davis Campus.
In the Ross and Yates yards, work planning has begun with Pacific Steel to clean up scrap iron and crews installed large shipping containers for materials and storage equipment. ?It?s all part of an effort to remove clutter,? said Underground Access Director Will McElroy.
Things that aren?t quite as obvious include a new roof on the surface lab and a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) unit on the Administration Building. All of these projects are part of a major facility improvement effort that?s been underway for the past year.
Other projects, according to Dan Regan, Surface Operations Foreman, include mortar repairs and the addition of scupper extensions on both hoist rooms, securing the tin on both headframes, replacing broken windows on several buildings, enhancing the leaky feeder (radio communications) in the shaft, and replacing the heater for the Yates Shaft as a way to eliminate the potential for ice build up.
Perhaps the most noticeable improvement is the new corrugated walls in the Yates ramp. ?The walls isolate the infrastructure and make it safer for visitors and personnel,? Regan said.
?All of the enhancements and additions certainly helped raise awareness of the importance of safety,? added EHS Director Noel Schroeder.
Other improvements include adding redundancies to the IT infrastructure and replacing the ?green tank? at the Waste Water Treatment Plant. The new tank is inside, eliminating concerns about the floc line freezing, and allows more water from underground to be treated in house. And, of course, top down maintenance of the Yates Shaft and ongoing rehab of the Ross Shaft continues.
?Our team has done a great job over the past year. I appreciate their efforts to provide a professional and safe environment to host world-class science,? said Executive Director Mike Headley.