AGC has compiled a detailed analysis of the more than 850 pages of final regulations the Obama Administration issued last week to implement the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces (Blacklisting) Executive Order. AGC members are encouraged to contact their U.S. representative and senators to support AGC legislative efforts to block the implementing regulations for this Executive Order from coming into effect as soon as Oct. 25, 2016. While AGC will continue its efforts to combat this Order on the legislative and legal fronts, AGC  members must plan accordingly in the event these regulations come into effect. AGC will post updates and analysis of this rule at its website: http://www.agc.org/blacklisting.

In conjunction with FMI, AGC's Surety Bonding and Risk Management Forum recently completed a survey of the risks that AGC contractors are perceiving and how AGC contractors they are managing these risks.  The 83 responses that AGC and FMI received from 83 best-in-class companies that collectively perform approximately $50 billion of construction each year suggest the following:

• Today's construction risk environment is drastically different than it was five years ago;
• Skilled craft labor shortages, contract language and subcontractor default are top risks in today's construction industry;
• Construction firms are managing risk differently today;
• Risk management effectiveness varies; and
• Mitigating and managing risk has become a strategic priority.

For a full analysis of the survey's results, simply click here.  For more information on AGC's Surety Bonding and Risk Management Forum, contact Michael Kennedy at AGC of America at kennedym@agc.org.

Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels has selected Dean McKenzie as the new director of the agency's directorate of construction. McKenzie served as director of OSHA's Office of Construction Services from 2012-2013, then became the deputy director in 2013, and has been the acting director since January of this year.

With more than 40 years of experience in the field of construction, McKenzie has an exceptional understanding of the safety and health issues facing the industry. He started out in the steel mills of Gary, Ind., as a journeyman millwright in the mid-1970s. McKenzie worked in construction, particularly industrial, in Indiana, Florida, Colorado and the Caribbean. He has been a licensed general contractor, business owner, and project and operations manager.

In his seven years with OSHA, he has accomplished many things, including addressing fatalities in the communication tower industry, building a strong relationship with the Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, and taking a lead role in the Stand Down to Prevent Falls in Construction campaign.

"Dean has been a valuable member of the OSHA team," said Michaels. "I congratulate him on his new position and I am confident he will continue with his forward thinking and innovative leadership in DOC."