The International Trade Center is a 684-acre office park that’s home to a variety of business operations in Mount Olive, New Jersey. Located near the heavily traveled Interstate 80 area, this expansive property is designated as an official Foreign Trade Zone, which provides unique tax benefits for imported and re-exported goods. In addition to multiple logistics centers, there is also a childcare facility and a New Jersey Transit train station on site.
Challenges
As you can imagine, the International Trade Center is as large, busy, and crowded as the name suggests. This heightens the need to protect our crews as they perform landscape maintenance next to heavy traffic with thousands of commercial drivers in tight spaces. In fact, workers struck by vehicles is typically the landscaping industry's leading cause of tragic injuries (OSHA). Simply navigating entryways and exits is hazardous in one of the busiest tangles of roadways in the U.S. So, imagine maintaining garden areas in the middle of rush-hour traffic—that never lets up.
With multiple companies lining this enormous property, along with amenities like walking trails, lakes, and a helipad, the landscaping maintenance schedule and procedures have to adjust to meet those unique demands.
Healthy turf is also vitally important for this client, and rightly so, with the world’s eyes on the property 365 days a year. Keeping the grass healthy and looking its best is always a challenge with Mother Nature’s whims changing the rules in the Northeast. However, this turf challenge was elevated due to an unwieldy amount of leaves that would become a factor each fall. Those leaves were not only a roadblock to turf health but a treacherous slip-and-fall risk Results
Below are the innovative strategies that our Yellowstone Landscape teams use to overcome the challenges in this upscale office park which doesn’t have any “slow” days.
- We coordinate our schedules with property managers to stay abreast of especially busy periods.
- Our regular Safety Rodeos have proven highly effective in protecting our employees and other people near their work areas.
- Installing in-cab safety cameras in 100% of our company vehicles has heightened driver awareness and provides insights into potential traffic hazards.
- Our focus on sustainable landscaping practices is showing international corporations keen on eco-friendliness that American companies aim to protect the planet.
- Through our meticulous turf program, this wide-spread property is thriving with some of the most attractive turf on the East Coast.
- The massive tonnage of fallen leaves calls for a four-visit leaf clean-up schedule that our logistics team adjusts for maximum efficiency.
- Precision leaf management protects the property’s turf from potential fungal diseases, pests, and lack of sunlight caused by fallen leaves.
- Safety concerns about people slipping on wet leaves have been overcome by our methodical focus on removing leaves section by section.
- Utilizing our national resources and team insights, we’ve kept the property in compliance with their snow and ice management policy to keep commerce flowing.
Results
The enormous responsibility of maintaining a challenging property like the International Trade Center helps Yellowstone Landscape improve our services as we adapt to atypical needs. Many of our clients have large acreage properties. Others look to achieve an upscale ambiance. This New Jersey property calls for landscaping services that can successfully and consistently manage both aspects.
For more than five years, our dedicated teams have answered that call with this client by managing the scope and nuances of this valuable property. We’re just as proud of our safety record on this complex site as we are of the high-quality landscaping we maintain that people on site get to enjoy.
A lot can go wrong when heavy traffic, winter storms, and mountains of wet leaves are a weekly guarantee. Fortunately, a lot goes right when mindful training systems are in place, combined with great communication between a property owner and their landscaping provider.
Contact Yellowstone Landscape today for a consultation if you’re looking for beautiful and reliable results.
