UF builds towers with videographers' safety in mind
Construction continues Thursday, August 4, 2011, on six new video towers at Sanders Practice Field, which is the University of Florida's football practice field.
Doug Finger/Staff photographerPublished: Thursday, August 4, 2011 at 6:42 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, August 4, 2011 at 6:42 p.m.
Fans who drove down University Avenue and West Newberry Road this summer may have noticed the new steel structures being erected at the Florida football practice fields.
The structures are six new towers for Florida videographers, built with safety in mind.
The towers will allow Florida to rely less on hydraulic scissor lifts. The safety of the scissor lifts came into question last October, when 20-year-old Notre Dame student Declan Sullivan was killed in a tragic accident. Heavy winds toppled the 50-foot scissor lift Sullivan was on while he was recording Notre Dame football practice.
"With the Notre Dame tragedy, we looked into what our policies were," Florida senior associate athletic director for operations Chip Howard said. "We felt comfortable we still had an effective plan, but we looked into permanent structures because they were the strongest and safest. We met with our funding committee and were able to get it approved."
The cost of the project was $675,000, but the 35-foot towers will provide a safer environment for UF's videographers. The towers stand atop three-foot thick concrete pads that are 20 feet by 20 feet. They have electrical outlets and permanent roofs, which will help keep video equipment from being damaged by the rain. In addition, each tower has a lightning rod to deal with frequent lightning strikes during the summer or fall months.
Florida will still use one hydraulic scissor lift on the UF practice field, and another scissor lift when UF practices adjacent to the lacrosse fields this month. But Florida will adhere to its safety standards for recording practice. UF staff members monitor the weather before and during practice. When lightning strikes within a 10-mile radius, the coaching staff is notified. When lightning is within in a six-mile radius, the field is cleared for at least 30 minutes.
"Our policy (for the videographers) has always been, get down, get out," Howard said.
In addition, Florida UAA policy states that videographers cannot be on towers or scissor lifts when winds exceed 28 miles per hour. Winds gusted up to 60 miles per hour when the scissor lift toppled over during last October's Notre Dame tragedy.
Howard said that the new towers will be ready for use in time for fall practice.
"We're just putting down the sod now," Howard said. "Everything should be ready to go."
Contact Kevin Brockway at 352-374-5054 or brockwk@gvillesun.com.
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