Events
Thursday, April 21, 2016 7:30 a. m. - 9 a.m. AGC Houston
The Employment Practices Committee specializes in issues facing human resource professionals, labor and employment attorneys, and anyone dealing with the Department of Labor.
Visit http://agchouston.org/calendar.asp?pageid=901&calid=2099 to view the full article online.
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Thursday, May 5, 2016 Crisp In The Heights 4:30 - 6 p.m.
Celebrate Cinco De Mayo and join us for our second members-only network mixer of the year!
This popular event draws a large crowd of commercial construction industry professionals. Early bird pricing ends April 21, 2016. Sponsorship available! Contact Shannon Giordano for details.
Visit http://agchouston.org/calendar.asp?pageid=901&calid=2137 to view the full article online.
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Thursday, May 19, 2016 AGC Houston 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Please join us for this FREE information-packed luncheon! You’ll hear from AGC Houston staff, active members and company representatives about the many benefits of AGC Houston.
Visit http://agchouston.org/calendar.asp?pageid=901&calid=2159 to view the full article online.
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June 12-15, 2016 Horsehoe Bay Resort - Texas Hill Country
Don't miss this annual event, which includes educational meetings, a golf tournament on Apple Rock Golf Course at Horseshoe Bay Resort, safety awards and Outstanding Construction Awards to AGC chapter members.
Download registration form here.
Visit http://www.agctbb.org/#!agc-tbb-convention/cken to view the full article online.
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Safety
Save the date: The annual construction industry Safety Stand-Down, focusing on fall protection, occurs May 2-13, 2016. There are numerous resources available to plan a toolbox talk, safety activity and training for workers. Numerous free materials and resources are available from OSHA (available in several languages) at www.osha.gov/stopfalls.
AGC Houston Safety Consultants Offer Free Safety Demonstrations Would you like to have an AGC Houston member company come to your jobsite and hold a Safety Stand-Down demonstration? Click here for details.
Visit http://agchouston.org/pages/2016_safety_stand_down_1801.asp to view the full article online.
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Membership Benefits
AGC Houston and Louisiana AGC are pleased to announce that the joint chapters' sponsored 401(k) plan—representing 80 companies—has reached $185 million in assets.
In addition, the overall cost of the plan has been reduced significantly by an average of 10 percent as of April 15, 2016. All of the savings are being passed on to the employees in the plan.
"One of the reasons our plan is so successful is the expertise and hard work the AGC Southwest Chapters 401(k) Plan committee provides. With five CFOs, an HR manager and legal counsel, the committee provides unparalleled oversight and guidance," stated AGC Houston President/CEO Jerry Nevlud.
Visit https://www.naylornetwork.com/hca-nwl/articles/?aid=372868&issueID=44509 to view the full article online.
Job seekers can post their résumés at no cost, and employers can post job ads at affordable rates. AGC members enjoy 50 percent discounts on job postings through May 31!
• Single 30-day Online Job Posting Package: $250 to $125 • Three 30-day Online Job Posting Package: $675 to $337.50 • Five 30-day Online Job Posting Package: $995 to $497.50 • Ten 30-day Online Job Posting Package: $1,895 to $947.50
Visit http://www.texasconstructioncareers.com/ to view the full article online.
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AGC News
The Internal Revenue Service issued an alert in March to payroll and human resources professionals to beware of an emerging phishing email scheme that purports to be from company executives and requests personal information on employees.
The IRS has learned this scheme—part of the surge in phishing emails seen this year—has already claimed several victims as payroll and human resources offices mistakenly email payroll data including Forms W-2 that contain Social Security numbers and other personally identifiable information to cyber criminals posing as company executives.
The AGC Houston Employment Practices Committee will discuss this and other relevant topics on April 21 from 7:30 - 9:30 a.m. Contact Charlene Anthony for details.
Visit https://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Alerts-Payroll-and-HR-Professionals-to-Phishing-Scheme-Involving-W2s to view the full article online.
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Calling the new federal silica standard "unobtainable," as well as costly and disruptive, contractors, a construction industry coalition, the aggregates industry and others are claiming the new OSHA silica standard is a missed opportunity to improve workplace safety without adding an additional regulatory burden on employers. The Louisiana chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America filed a challenge to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) final respirable crystalline silica rule in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. "Administration officials appear to have instead opted to set a new standard that is well beyond the capabilities of current air filtration and dust removal technologies," said Stephen Sandherr, AGC of America CEO.
Visit http://agchouston.org/pages/osha_crystaline_silica_2139.asp to view the full article online.
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Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine and Monroe, Mich. Top Growth List; Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas, and Bloomington, Ill. Have Largest Declines; Many Energy-Producing Metro Areas Experience Big Losses
Construction employment increased in 234 out of 358 metro areas, was unchanged in 52 and declined in 72 between February 2015 and February 2016, according to a new analysis of federal employment data released by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials noted that many energy-producing areas experienced job losses during the past year.
Visit https://www.naylornetwork.com/hca-nwl/articles/?aid=372849&issueID=44509 to view the full article online.
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Member News
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The University of Houston is building a new Multidisciplinary Research and Engineering Building (MREB) that will support the university’s mission to provide Tier One research facilities. Under construction since 2014, Tellepsen is currently finishing the $51 million facility located on the footprint of the old Y-Building, just east of Engineering Building 1.
The four-story, 120,000 gross -square-foot building will house research labs, computational training facilities, visualization lab, high-performance computational server room, and a NMR spectrometer lab.
With this new facility, UH will be able to increase its annual research expenditures to $36 million per year, which should promote approximately $612 million worth of economic activity in Houston alone. UH anticipates that its graduate student population will grow by 250 students because of the state-of-the-art research facilities needed to attract leading faculty, including members of the prestigious National Academy of Engineering.
The building is expected to open its doors in Fall. View more information here.
Visit http://uh.edu/infotech/services/webcam/ to view the full article online.
Here's Looking At You
Nine university students received Patrick J. Kiley Excellence In Leadership scholarships on April 14, 2016 at the HESS Club. The annual event also served to present AGC of America scholarships to deserving university students; recognize the Standard Of Excellence Award recipient; and celebrate the Leadership AGC Class of 2016 participants.
Stan Marek, Marek Brothers Systems, Inc. presided over the event and thanked the Patrick J. Kiley Excellence In Leadership sponsors who helped to contribute funds for the scholarships. In its 21st year, the Patrick J. Kiley Excellence In Leadership Scholarship program has awarded 122 scholarships, representing $418,000.
Visit https://www.naylornetwork.com/hca-nwl/articles/?aid=372919&issueID=44509 to view the full article online.
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Construction Career Collaborative and the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston hosted a town hall meeting for seven Contractors on April 11, 2016 at the AGC Houston offices to discuss Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Archidiocese of Galveston-Houston's support of the C3 initiative. Attendees included representatives from Arch-Con Construction, Axis Builders, Brookstone, LP, Durotech, Inc, Humphries Construction Corporation, Westfall Group Constructors, Ltd. and Zenith Construction.
The meeting featured Steve Faught, Director of Construction and Preventive Maintenance for the Archdiocese, who discussed 10 projects currently in the planning stages, which are being considered as C3 projects. Faught showed how the Archdiocese recently compared bidding a job for a a large commercial office building using C3 and without the organization's principles. Once the bids were totaled, the cost differential for the bids, which specified C3 criteria, was approximately .04 percent more than the bids without C3 requirements. Faught believes that the potential savings gained from higher quality construction, resulting in lower building operational and maintenance costs, and a safer job site, will far surpass the incremental cost of C3 in construction.
Visit https://www.naylornetwork.com/hca-nwl/articles/?aid=373374&issueID=44509 to view the full article online.
News You Can Use
Imagine looking at a field of pipes and being able to identify them and what's flowing through them. Instead of keeping employees in the control room to monitor data, a worker could be able to tell if a measurement is out of line just by having the camera on the helmet read it.
Los Angeles-based Daqri is developing a virtual helmet for use in construction and other industries. The helmet's sensors and cameras are designed to make the construction industry safer and more productive. Autodesk, Hyperloop and Siemens have already placed orders for the helmet.
Visit http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-the-daqri-smart-helmet-2016-4 to view the full article online.
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Registration is open for this year’s GCG symposium, Apr 28 at the MATCH in midtown. The theme this year is smART Design: the Intersection of Art, Architecture & Sustainability. Keynote speakers are Kai-Uwe Bergmann of BIG Architects and Jimmy Diresta from the FX show Trash to Cash and the Discovery Channel show Dirty Money.
Visit https://aiahouston.org/v/registration/Gulf-Coast-Green-2016/fc/ to view the full article online.
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