By Kristin Garletts, Ginny Miller
and Kathryn Wilkins
PHOENIX – Jerry Delay and his crew
of landscapers have an outdoor office, which can be a problem when the mercury
rises.
“We take breaks. We have plenty of
water. We try to use as much shade as we can,” said Delay, who was working with
his 12-man crew June 19 in 101-degree mid-afternoon heat. “It’s difficult to
find shade downtown, but we are usually working under a tree.”
On this job, Delay’s company, JD
Consulting, was working with the Downtown Phoenix Partnership to relocate sissoo
trees from a parking lot at 2nd and Taylor streets, where Arizona State
University will construct a building for its law school.
Delay said he usually provides water
for his workers and sometimes they bring their own.
“The foremen fill our big coolers
with ice and water every morning,” he said. “Rarely do we get to the bottom of
that, but we have. Fortunately downtown there’s plenty of amenities here in
case we do run out.”
Delay said he and his crew usually
work in the desert, where the conditions are more severe.
“We’re accustomed to working out in
undeveloped areas, where brand-new construction is happening and they don’t
have the amenities like we do here,” he said, adding that he’s never had a
worker suffer from heat stroke.
“One thing you’ll notice though,
our guys like to insulate themselves,” Delay said. “You’ll see a lot of them
wearing sweatshirts and triple layers to keep the skin temperature under the
outside temperature.”
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| Wearing a sweatshirt for insulation, a landscaper digs up a sissoo tree in Downtown Phoenix. |
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| A landscaper prepares to relocate a sissoo tree on June 19 in a parking lot at 2nd and Taylor streets. |
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