“BE SAFE TODAY: Your Family Is Counting On It.”

Signs displaying this message in 8-inch lettering are posted on two of the four fences surrounding the new Alumni Center construction site. The workers, bundled in heavy-duty outerwear, smile and joke with one another amidst the creaking of machinery and the roar of huge engines.

Sophomore accounting major Frank Griggs walks past the construction site to get from Douglas to DuSable. He says the walk makes him a little nervous because of the heavy equipment and the big crane.

“It’s crazy,” Griggs said of the new building’s construction. “But I think it’s good [that they’re building it] so that people who graduate can come back and reminisce about old times.”

The site and its workers have been protected against accidents from the beginning of the project.

“When the construction company signs a contract, they have to show documentation that they have coverage,” said Michael Malone, vice president of University Advancement.

A typical work day for the construction workers is eight hours, but some days they stay up to nine or 10. They have a trailer at the back of the fenced-in area where they can get warm, and a pick-up truck outfitted with a food cooler, a beverage cooler and a microwave sits outside the front entrance.

Ed Henning, a construction worker from Beloit, Wis., said they stay until they’re finished with their trucks. Henning has been working on the site since Monday.

“The company is really safety-minded,” Henning said.

Although both Henning and his coworker Zeffrey Burrell of Oswego agreed that students walking along the fence are in no danger from the equipment or the work going on, they do need to be mindful of the trucks that are backing in and out of the area around the site.

“We do OSHA classes to help us make sure it’s safe for students and everyone,” Burrell said.