The AGC of America has compiled 13 proven steps to improve construction worker safety. The steps highlight safety at three checkpoints: new employees, ongoing training, and operating procedures. Keep them top-of-mind as the weather gets warmer and the year picks up!

The Builders Association has created a website (www.BUILDIllinois.com) in an effort to ease the labor shortage and attract top talent to the construction industry. BUILDIllinois.com is a tool that can be used by people looking to change careers, young folks deciding on career options, parents, and teachers alike.

"There's more pressure to have a college degree," Indeed.com Chief Economist Tara Sinclair said. "With that pressure in mind, people are making those career path plans at a very young age and aren't necessarily exploring their other career options that might be a better fit for them." BUILDIllinois.com aims to debunk the current school of thought that everyone must go to college in order to build a rewarding career, and provide a means for people to learn details of many skilled trades that aren’t necessarily common knowledge.

The website is ever-evolving, with informational videos on five different skilled trades coming soon. We encourage all members to take a look at the new website and pass it around to those who may need guidance as to whether or not the construction industry is right for them. Feel free to link to BUILDIllinois.com from your company’s website as a resource for prospective employees.

AGC of America is using an online survey created by the RAP (Relationships, Advocability, and Political Capital) Index to identify, qualify, and quantify members’ personal relationships with key federal and state legislators.

The survey data will help the AGC expand their grassroots network by engaging and educating those who may not have relationships with their federal and state legislators, or who may not be comfortable speaking about public policy matters.

Dear AGC Member,

Every day at AGC of America, we are working with our members in mind. This year, we worked closely with individual firms and our chapters to make the industry busier, safer, smarter and stronger. As you’ll see in this year’s Annual Report, we have a lot to be proud of looking back on 2015.

We made our members busier by securing the passage of the FAST Act, making it easier to finance water infrastructure projects, helping to fix a broken VA building program and opening up new federal construction opportunities for small firms. We made our firms safer by releasing a survey tracking motor vehicle crashes in highway work zones, helping to raise awareness among the driving public. We also put out a concise series of steps to help improve safety on construction sites ...

The Builders Association PAC is funded through contributions from members and other construction industry entities. The PAC received more than $13,000 in contributions this year – the highest amount in recent years. The Association graciously thanks the following companies for their generous support to the PAC in 2016:

PRESIDENT’S CLUB (contributions of $2,000)
Bulley & Andrews LLC
W.E. O'Neil Construction Co.

LEGISLATORS CLUB (contributions of $1,500)
W.B. Olson, Inc.

CABINET MEMBERS CLUB (contributions of $1,000)
Denk and Roche Builders
Hill Mechanical Corp, dba The Hill Group
Joseph J. Duffy Company
McShane Construction Company
Michuda Construction
The George Sollitt Construction Company

CAMPAIGN MANAGERS CLUB (contributions up to $500)
AMS Mechanical Systems, Inc.
Bernhard Woodwork Ltd.
Mechanical, Inc.
William J. Scown Building Company

Contributions to the PAC are accepted throughout the year. Please email info@bldrs.org, or visit our Government section on www.bldrs.org for more information on our government relations efforts and PAC fund.

We may need help with letters or phone calls while Springfield is in session. Contact the Builders Association if you need assistance identifying state representatives or senators.

Verizon has the nation’s largest and most reliable wireless 4G and 3G networks. Eligible BA members receive 22 percent off corporate calling plans, and employees receive up to an 18 percent discount (15 percent plus an additional 3 percent discount if enrolled in online billing) on their plans through NPP. Pricing options are also available on data plans, accessories and devices.

Visit www.mynpp.com to sign up. If you have any questions or would like to have a Verizon business sales representative reach out to you, call NPP at 800-810-3909 or email customerservice@mynpp.com.

Join the Builders Association and industry colleagues on May 12 this Spring for a luncheon completely focused on safety. The 2016 Spring Summit will feature next-level safety information for contractors, honor Chicagoland’s safety stars with our Contractor Safety Awards, and provide time for invaluable industry networking. The Builders Association Compliance Committee looks forward to hosting a free Compliance Seminar before the Summit begins.

This year’s safety presentation will focus on "Building Erection Stability – The Next Level of Construction Safety," a critical topic that can sometimes take the back burner to employee-related safety. Don't miss this thought-provoking program by experts Ray Messer, Director of Design-Build/Senior Principal, and Matt Pavelchak, Diagnostics Engineer, of Walter P. Moore in Texas.

The Builders Association proudly coordinates Chicagoland's Safety Stand Down each year in conjunction with OSHA. Our annual Safety Stand Downs are leadership opportunities for our members to demonstrate their commitment to safety and the well-being of their workforce. Briefly put, Builders Association Safety Stand Downs enable companies that know the value of safety training and comprehensive jobsite inspection to voluntarily cease work for approximately 30 minutes to provide focused training on a particular topic. This meeting provides effective communication of safety policies, goals and expectations through all levels of your team, and improves employee morale.

Lean Coffee is a loosely structured monthly meeting with an ever-changing agenda, dictated each month by the participants present. Participants will share lean ideas and experiences with other construction experts from the area in an open forum. Monthly meetings will take place on the first Thursday of each month at the same location. There is no cost to attend these meetings.

Date: April 7, 2016
Time: 7:30-9 a.m.
Location: DIRTT (325 N. Wells St., 10th Floor)

It's hiring season and everyone is looking to recruit top talent. If you're considering submitting a classified ad to The Tribune, reconsider! Young people do not often read print newspapers, and in the chance that they do see your classified ad, it may make your company look technologically stunted.

About one person in Illinois dies each week in a workplace accident, and the overall trend is climbing in the wrong direction. We encourage everyone to look over the Illinois Fatality Handout provided to the Builders Association by OSHA.

Project Managers are often buried in the everyday management of the projects. They often take contracts, subcontracts, and purchase orders for granted. "I leave all the legal mumbo jumbo for the lawyers" is common to hear from job staff. Is this responsible and prudent? As contracts continue to expand it is ever important to have well defined scopes of work and an awareness of risk allocation.

This presentation will focus on some of the known and unknown items every PM and superintendent should be aware of on the job. Indemnification, additional insured, and liquidated damages are just some of the items we will review. This presentation will be in basic construction-speak, not legalese.

The Carpenters Training Center is offering a new class called Concrete Floating Stairs, designed to increase both safety and production on the job. The concrete floating stairs strategy decreases the need for ladders as soon as framing for the concrete deck is in place, in turn giving all trades workers fast and safe access to the next floor without having to strategize how best to transfer tools and materials to the next level along with them.

Congratulations to Dave Pepper, Chairman of Pepper Construction Group, on being elected Chair of AGC's Building Division. Dave has served as a member of the AGC Supervisory Training Committee and Education Committee. In early 2006, Dave was elected President of the AGC Education and Research Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to improving the science of construction, and he is now an Emeritus Trustee. Dave also served as Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Builders Association from 2004-2008. We are thankful for his commitment to volunteerism and proud to count him as a member of the BA.