Special Collection on Construction Safety

The special collection on Construction Safety is available in the ASCE Library at http://ascelibrary.org/page/ppscfx/construction_safety.

This special collection of the Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction is dedicated to William “Bill” Nash, a respected friend and colleague of many readers of this publication. Bill’s sudden passing last summer left a tremendous hole in our professional community. Bill deserves much of the credit for this special collection, due to his decades of tireless work on construction safety for ASCE and the Construction Institute in particular.

As a long-time member (and later co-chair) of the Site Safety Committee, Bill’s persistence and professionalism helped keep the committee relevant despite attitudes about construction safety that varied over time and across the ASCE membership. Over his many years as an associate editor of this publication, Bill always sought to achieve a quality publication that made highly practical contributions to the engineering and construction industry. It was Bill and Cliff Schexnayder (another long-time associate editor) who initiated this special collection and reviewed many of the articles.

Although Bill had expertise in many areas outside of construction safety (including building envelopes, commissioning, construction engineering, and quality control), his real strength was his ability to perform so competently in both design and construction. He was truly a role model in his ability to build virtual bridges between design and construction professionals. For this special skill set and for his exceptional humility, selflessness, and integrity, I consider Bill to be the epitome of a leader in our profession.

The articles included in this special collection range from theoretical to empirical, from design-focused to field-focused, and from organizational to technical in nature. This breadth matches well with Bill’s experiences and interests. Although most of the authors are academic researchers (despite efforts to secure more industry authors), Bill and others helped ensure the manuscripts make the practical contribution that the PPSDC seeks.

Bill’s sudden passing reminds us all of the fragility of human life, which is something we all must keep in mind—indeed, hold paramount—as we design, construct, and maintain our society’s infrastructure.