Since 2013, each spring the Builders Association has designated a week as Safety Stand Down Week. The BA is proud to announce that this year's participation exceeded any year prior, with over 7,000 participants at 364 sites. Area contracting firms shut down their job sites to give a brief presentation on a relevant safety issue. This year's presentation focused on struck-bys and caught-ins, the leading cause of fatalities in OSHA Region V. Thank you to all 35 member companies who participated!

Over 100 construction professionals convened for May 11th's Spring Summit. The program began with a luncheon at which BA members were awarded this year's Safety Awards. Congrats to all award winners!

Steve Coughran of Coltivar Group then gave a timely presentation on staying relevant and the importance of finding your specialty in the industry.

Thank you to all who attended the Spring Summit. It's an incredible opportunity to honor the safe practices we strive for, to boost morale as construction season revs up, and to network with fellow Association members.

Many thanks to McShane Companies, Pepper Construction, and Wight & Co. for sponsoring lunch.

As a leading industry advocate for safe construction performance, the Builders Association has instituted a Safety Award program to recognize its General and Specialty contractor members’ outstanding safety performance. The program allows firms of similar size to compete for two awards based on incident rates, and one award honors most improved safety record. Congratulations to the winners of this year's Safety Awards!

It's not every night that construction leaders take center stage, but four industry icons received the red carpet treatment at May 18th's CLC event. An Evening with Industry Icons was held at the Muvico Rosemont 18 and some of construction's most successful voices shared their wisdom with the crowd.

Though social media can seem overwhelming, there's no doubt that it's important for companies to have a presence on it these days. If you're not sure where to start, just choose one platform to focus on, instead of creating a bunch of accounts that are rarely updated.

For the past 15 years, the Builders Foundation has been building a solid foundation for the industry to grow upon by supporting qualified college students from the Chicagoland area majoring in the fields of construction management or constructing/civil engineering. Come celebrate our 15th annual golf outing fundraiser for a good cause!

With the advent of new mass-timber technologies and specialized connection systems, sustainable wood-based structures are steadily gaining traction. The Chicago Committee on High Rise Buildings is hosting a seminar, The Heavy Timber High Rise: Building Tall with Wood in the 21st Century, devoted to this timely topic. Presentations will cover everything from new technologies and design process to fire safety issues and challenges. The event will end with a panel discussion, featuring leading industry professionals.

As you may know, construction is rated as one of the industries most highly affected by suicide. Therefore, it is imperative to shatter the stigma surrounding mental health and to create caring cultures within our companies.

In February, the Builders Association partnered with the Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention to put on a Suicide Prevention Summit. Currently, the Department of Psychology at Florida State University is conducting a study to better understand the high suicide rate in the industry.

Many contracts are being renegotiated through June 1. All updates are reported in real time on the members-only side of our website. Please note that you will need your member login information in order to access the Trade Wages/Allocations/Updates page. Contact us at info@bldrs.org for login information.

Don't forget that by being a member of the Builders Association, you are automatically a member of AGC National and receive member pricing on any events. AGC is hosting a number of excellent conferences over the course of the next several months. Take this opportunity to be a part of the wider AGC community.

No priority is more important to your business than hiring top talent. Yet, when it comes to hiring, many managers put recruiting tasks at the bottom of their "to do" list. Here are three reasons why recruiting it should be at the top.

Lockton is the world's largest privately-held, independent insurance broker. Energy, innovation and deep expertise fuel their efforts to solve problems and achieve real results. Lockton harnesses all of its global resources to do one thing: help you make your business better. They achieve this by improving your bottom line, managing your capital, attracting and retaining talent and by protecting your people, property and reputation.

PPG is a global manufacturer of paints, coatings, optical products, specialty materials, and fiber glass. Their vision is to be the world’s leading coatings company by consistently delivering high-quality, innovative and sustainable solutions that customers trust to protect and beautify their products and surroundings.

The Builders Association is proud to offer congratulations to Bob Hill, Senior Project Engineer of Crain's Leadership Academy. This prestigious program is offered only to professionals who have at least seven years of business experience and/or manage a team and who are on the fast track for increased responsibility at their organization. Professionals must be nominated and admitted before participating in this five-week program. Please join us in congratulating Bob!

Lean Construction is based on the holistic pursuit of continuous improvements aimed at minimizing costs and maximizing value on a construction project. To help contractors develop the knowledge needed to build lean, the Associated General Contractors of America developed the Lean Construction Education Program.

This month, all 11 Michuda Employees who completed the seven-unit course passed the exam.