• Get the latest updates on congressional activity which directly affects construction safety and health.
• Hear from key OSHA representatives on the latest updates to regulations and OSHA activities.
• Participate on Subcommittee and Taskforce meetings - Government, Education and Performance.
• Take an active role in improving safety and health in the construction industry.

The AGC Safety & Health Conference is open to both interested AGC members and non-members.

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August 11, 2015 
2 - 3 p.m.
The objective of this webinar is to discuss the process of creating a world class safety culture in your company and why it’s important. We will review how a systematic approach to developing a culture can assist you in creating a safety culture in your own organization. We will also discuss the value and importance of using benchmarking to improve practices and performance in safety.  

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September 2-3, 2015 
Arlington, Virginia 
Join us Sept. 2-3 for the nation’s foremost management conference for environmental professionals in the construction industry—AGC’s 2015 Contractors Environmental Conference (CEC) in Arlington, Virginia. The CEC offers you the opportunity to learn from and network with experts in the field and share best practices with your peers. With separate tracks on compliance and sustainability, you will find great resources for environmental professionals who work in the building, highway and transportation, federal and heavy, and utility infrastructure markets. Whether your goal is an excellent compliance record or setting your company apart as a green contractor, AGC’s CEC is the conference for you.

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AGC Safety Management Training Course
October 7-9, 2015 
St. Louis, Missouri
The AGC Safety Management Training Course (SMTC) provides attendees three days of training on the basic skills needed to manage a company safety program in the construction industry. The program builds on Focus Four training and prepares attendees to manage key safety issues on the jobsite and provides techniques for delivering basic safety training to field personnel. Participants will receive intensive instruction and training that will allow them to return to their firms with readily applicable new skills to positively impact their company’s safety and health program.

At its annual June Membership Meeting on June 9, 2015, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Edison, New Jersey, Associated Construction Contractors of New Jersey (ACCNJ) presented awards to a record 39 members for exemplary safety records during 2014 that resulted in Zero Lost Work Days and Lost Workday Incidence Rates Below the National Average.

Recognized for Zero Lost Work Days: Berkowsky and Associates Inc. of Cranbury; CJ Drilling of Dundee IL; Drill Construction Co., Inc. of West Orange; Willard Dunham Construction Co. of South Plainfield; Epic Management Inc. of Piscataway; Fitzpatrick & Associates Inc. of Eatontown; Foster Contracting Inc. of Somerville; Albert Garlatti Construction Co., Inc. of Highland Park; Gilbane Building Company NJ of New Brunswick; Hall Building Corp. of Farmingdale; Hall Construction Co. Inc. of Howell; Hutton Construction LLC of Cedar Grove; Lend Lease (US) Construction LMB of Ewing Twp.; Merco Inc. of Lebanon; Joseph A. Natoli Construction Corp. of Pine Brook; JR Prisco Inc. of Summit; RCC Builders & Developers of Paterson; Schnell Contracting Services LLC of Freehold; Sundance Construction/BD Malcolm Co. of Lincoln Park; Torcon Inc. of Red Bank; Vericon Construction Co. LLC of Mountainside; TN Ward Company of Atlantic City; Walker Diving Underwater Construction LLC of Hammonton; Waters & Bugbee, Inc. of Hamilton; Weeks Marine Inc. of Cranford; and West Bay Construction Inc. of Absecon.

Recognized for Lost Workday Incidence Rates Below the National Average: Atlantic Concrete Cutting Inc. of Mt. Holly; Wm. Blanchard Co. of Springfield; J. Fletcher Creamer & Son Inc. of Hackensack; JR Cruz Corp. of Aberdeen; JBL Electric Inc. of South Plainfield; Moretrench of Rockaway; Nordic Contracting Co., Inc. of Ledgewood; Railroad Construction Co., Inc. of Paterson; Schiavone Construction Company LLC of Secaucus; Tilcon New Jersey of Wharton; Tishman Construction Corp. of Newark; Tutor Perini of New Rochelle NY; and Vollers Excavating & Construction of North Branch.

In addition, 12 ACCNJ members received safety awards from Associated General Contractors of America, ACCNJ’s parent organization in Arlington, Virginia: Drill Construction Co., Inc.; Willard Dunham Construction Co.; Epic Management Inc.; Hall Construction Co. Inc.; Hutton Construction LLC; Lend Lease (US) Construction LMB; JR Prisco Inc.; RCC Builders & Developers; Torcon Inc.; Waters & Bugbee Inc.; Weeks Marine Inc.; and West Bay Construction Inc.

The summer months are upon us and with that the heat index will begin to soar, creating a safety hazard for all contractors and their employees.  Regulatory agencies such as OSHA are cracking down on heat-related illness and strictly enforcing the regulations in place to prevent these injuries. As a contractor it is critical for the safety of your employees to have in place, an effective and properly implemented Heat Illness Prevention Program that is accepted, taught, monitored, and altered as needed throughout the hot summer months and beyond, as is applicable.

The following are key components that should be considered and included when creating an effective heat illness prevention plan:

1. Purpose – Make clear the purpose of this plan, which should be in line with the prevention of heat-related illness while meeting the requirements set forth in the applicable standard. It should establish the various sections of the plan that will be incorporated and are necessary to prevent and recognize heat illness.   

2. Definitions – The program should be clear in defining key words used throughout the plan. This would include words such as acclimatization, heat illness, personal risk factors for heat illness, temperature, etc. By defining these key aspects, you are eliminating confusion or incorrect interpretation that could lead to a loss.

3. Responsibilities – As with any effective plan, responsibilities need to be established and defined. It is here you need to specifically identify positions within your organization (e.g., risk manager, safety coordinator, foreman, supervisors) while outlining their duties as they relate to implementation, training, and monitoring of the plan ensuring its effectiveness.

4. Requirements – This will be the "guts" of your overall plan. This section should include all the basic requirements required including:

5. Procedures – This section should address the procedures in place when a hazard is identified and puts the above-noted requirements to action. This would include, but is not limited to your action plan and notification requirements upon identifying an employee experiencing symptoms of heat illness. It is here that you should bullet point each aspect of your plan that is meant to prevent heat illness. For instance, note the amount of water that will be available to employees over a certain period time or the allowance of rest periods.

6. Training – Any plan is only as good as its implementation and to do this you must train all employees that could be affected by heat illness. This section should make clear the intentions of your training program for all employees. It should outline the added training for supervisors given the added responsibilities in the identification of hazards, emergency response, training, etc.

7. Audits – For any plan to succeed long term it is critical the program be audited annually to review and ensure all procedures and reports are being completed as outlined in the plan. An audit report should be prepared as part of this program outlining the results and action plan, if any, needed to better implement the plan or suggestions for improvement based on each organization’s needs and exposures while maintaining the requirements of the standard.   

Now that the plan is in place, put it to use, but be sure that key training topics are being incorporated into your plan. The most important one is the overview of the plan with all applicable employees, but secondary to that, the employees should have a clear understanding of the various types of heat illnesses including how to recognize them based on an individual’s symptoms.  

As a quick review, the major types of heat illness from least severe to most severe include:

• Heat Cramps: This is the most common heat-related injury in which the muscles spasm due to heavy sweating where water is not being replaced quick enough. It's important to recognize this and begin to replenish your body with an electrolyte solution.
• Heat Exhaustion: A condition where the internal temperature is overworked. Symptoms can include headache, heavy sweating, dizziness, loss of coordination, nausea, rapid pulse, and others. It is critical that heat exhaustion be addressed immediately to avoid heat stroke.
• Heat Stroke: A life-threatening situation occurring when the body has depleted all water and salt from the body with a core temperature rising to deadly levels. Symptoms can include an elevated temperature while no longer sweating, flushed or red skin, rapid pulse, headache, and others. Advanced or critical symptoms can include convulsions, loss of consciousness and body temperature reaching 108 degrees. The victim needs to be cooled rapidly and 9-1-1 must be contacted.

Other important training topics should be on the precautions and conditioning of your body to prepare for high temperature situations.  While there are numerous training documents available to you, we feel these are just a couple that should be incorporated as part of the training section of your plan.

The above is meant to be a brief overview of the steps and components needed to create an effective heat illness prevention plan including some sample training topics to consider. The hazard is real so putting a plan in place will further secure the safety of your employees and guarantee they return home each day from the jobsite.

AGC of Massachusetts recently awarded Tocci Building Companies with a 2015 National Safety Award. This marks the 22nd consecutive year that Tocci has received this award, which is a testament to the superior safety standards the firm strives to exemplify. 

The National Safety Award recognizes firms that have developed superior safety standards to implement onsite for each project. In order to qualify for a Safety Award, an AGC-member firm must participate in the AGC Safety Awards Program for three consecutive years and have either zero lost-day incidence cases or an average incidence case rate 25 percent below the average rate of all firms that participate in that particular division. In total, 25 AGC of Massachusetts firms received National Safety Awards for their model safety records. 

In the past four decades, the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and its state partners have had a dramatic effect on workplace safety. Tocci diligently promotes awareness of the industry’s dangers through its commitment to strict safety protocol, ensuring that its jobsites are managed with an even higher level of safety compliance than required by OSHA. 

"Establishing a safe work environment on the jobsite for all Tocci team members and project partners is a top priority for our firm," commented John Tocci, chief enabling officer. Tocci's commitment to safety begins off the jobsite and is implemented through a proven strategy including clear communication, ongoing training, OSHA certification, and subcontractor "Toolbox Talks." 

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AGC of America now offers a new, dynamic, and cost-effective way for AGC member firms to provide quality health insurance and other employee benefits. AGC’s new private exchange program is available exclusively to AGC member firms with 100+ employees in all states and in Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin for firms with 10 or more employees. If you are in one of these states or have over 100 employees, contact us to find out how The AGC Alternative can help your company build a better benefits package – one that benefits you and your employees. To learn more or to get a quote for your company prior to your renewal, visit www.agc.org/exchange or call Willis† at 1-800-210-5290 to discuss your company’s needs with a benefits specialist.