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Pavement

Wisconsin Parking Lot Boot Camp Contractor Posts YouTube Video

A Wisconsin ASCC flatwork contractor has posted an impressive video of his company on YouTube, reports NRMCA Senior Vice President, Local Paving, Jon Hansen.

"It’s an interesting story behind Dylan Milis and his then-small company in early 2016," Hansen related. "Phil and I were in Wisconsin conducting a Parking Lot Boot Camp for another company and got a call from Dylan, insisting we meet with him before we left the area. We arranged a meeting for the next night, with Dylan booking a Parking Lot Boot Camp the following month. We returned the following month to conduct the boot camp, with three people from Milis Flatwork. This was the smallest group we have ever done a boot camp for."

"Take a look at the video and see what Milis Flatwork is doing this year," Hansen added. "Needless to say, his company is much larger than it was in early 2016 and notice what he says about concrete parking lot paving cost."

For more information, contact Jon Hansen at jhansen@nrmca.org.

Colorado City Choose Concrete as Key Component of Largescale Streetscape Project

NRMCA Vice President, Local Paving, Don Clem, PE, recently met with Wenk Associates, a landscape architecture firm, to review the jointing scheme and material specifications for a large streetscape project in Westminster, CO. Wenk is working with city officials to upgrade and improve mobility in downtown Westminster. The project includes improvements along eight existing roadways and will require over 2,500 cubic yards of ready mixed concrete. Concrete is the primary construction material for the project. NRMCA first learned of the project through the Dodge Pipeline database in March.

For more information, contact Don Clem at dclem@nrmca.org.

Association & Industry News

Next MIT CSHub Webinar Set for Mid-August

The next public Webinar hosted by the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub will be on Thursday, August 17, at 11 a.m. Eastern time on Life Cycle Assessment for Buildings.

Click here to register and please also share this URL with colleagues who may be interested in attending. Click here to visit the 2017 Public Webinar Schedule page for more information about this and other upcoming Webinars.

Early Bird Deadline for NRMCA’s ConcreteWorks 2017 Fast Approaching

The early bird registration deadline is Tuesday, August 8, for NRMCA’s ConcreteWorks 2017, scheduled for October 1-3 at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine, TX, with Board of Directors’ events and committee meetings preceding the conference on September 29-30. Register now to take advantage of the early bird pricing discount and save more than $100 off the regular registration fees. NRMCA has contracted a block of rooms at the resort at a discounted rate of $209/night plus taxes and a $20/night resort fee that covers several in-room amenities. Hotel reservations can be made by calling the Gaylord Texan directly at 877-491-5138 and asking for the "NRMCA’s ConcreteWorks 2017" rate or we encourage you to make your hotel reservations online. The hotel reservations cut-off date is Wednesday, September 6, or when the block sells out, whichever occurs first.

The Exhibitor Prospectus for this year’s event is also available. Please sign up now to reserve your spot in the expo hall. This year’s NRMCA’s ConcreteWorks is once again co-located with the American Concrete Pumping Association’s (ACPA) Education Conference.

For more information, please contact Senior Director of Meetings Jessica Walgenbach at jwalgenbach@nrmca.org. Click here to access ConcreteWorks' registration, the resort's online reservations' link, the exhibitor prospectus and more.

Deadline to Submit Nominations for NRMCA Board of Directors is This Friday, July 28

NRMCA is looking for good men and women to serve on the Association's Board of Directors. While serving on the Board requires both commitment and energy, it is a rewarding opportunity to give back to the industry. NRMCA represents a broad range of ready mixed concrete companies across the United States and its success is a direct result of the skills and expertise of the professional staff working in conjunction with Board members. Nominees must be committed to promoting NRMCA programs and working in the best interest of its membership and the industry at large. The Board provides strategic direction, fiduciary oversight and governance of the organization’s operations.

Nominees are vetted by the Nominating Committee which consists of the current chairman, the immediate past chairman and past chairmen of the Board for the previous seven years who are still in active in the industry. The selected slate of nominees is then presented to and elected by the general membership and will begin serving three-year terms immediately following the 2018 annual convention. Nominees should have the following attributes:

•Current NRMCA producer member in good standing;

•Hold key decision making responsibility within his or her company;

•Inherent leadership, management and interpersonal skills;

•Ability to participate in and sustain collaborative group efforts;

•Commitment to attend and participate in two Board meetings each year and fulfill the duties and responsibilities as referenced in the Board Job Description;

•Serve on NRMCA committee(s) of his or her choice;

•Annually support the association's Political Action Committee (CONCRETEPAC) and the RMC Research & Education Foundation;

•Attend and participate in promotion programs in his or her region; and

•Actively recruit new members and help to retain existing members.

Any NRMCA member can submit a nomination and individuals are also free to nominate themselves. Click here for a list of current NRMCA Board members along with the year that his or her term expires. Please note that members who have served three-year terms and are going off the Board in 2018 are not eligible for re-election until 2019. The exception to this is Board Members who are filling an unexpired vacant seat. Those individuals are marked with an asterisk. Help build NRMCA’s future by nominating a strong industry leader today! The deadline for nominations is now Friday, July 28, 2017.

For more information, contact Heather Houck at hhouck@nrmca.org.

Buildings

Eight-Alarm Fire Destroys Wood Apartment Building in Boston Suburb

On July 23, a five-building, four-story, lightweight wood-framed apartment complex under construction in Waltham, MA, was engulfed in flames, destroying all five structures over a two-block area. The apartment complex, which would have comprised 264 luxury apartments and 26 affordable units, was slated to open in 2018. The blaze marks the FOURTH major regional fire featuring this type of construction in the region since June, with the other three occurring in Dorchester, Lowell and Lawrence, MA.

Robert Logan, vice president of the Waltham City Council and former chair of the council’s ordinance and rules committee, expressed concern Sunday about the use of that type of construction."It seems to be all the rage these days," Logan said. "But they seem to burn pretty well." Logan called for the state to reevaluate the use of wood-frame construction, citing a number of fires across the country that burned down such apartment complexes during construction.

OES

White House Finally Releases Regulatory Agenda, Deregulatory Actions

Last week, the White House Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) after nine months published an updated Unified Agenda. The Unified Agenda is the clearinghouse for public access to federal regulatory agencies’ respective regulatory actions, covering 60 departments, agencies and commissions, including EPA, OSHA, FMCSA and the IRS. New to the agenda this year is a section detailing the deregulatory and completed actions the Administration’s agencies have accomplished. As a welcome surprise in the agenda are the withdrawal of numerous regulations left in limbo from the Obama Administration, including FMCSA’s Sleep Apnea and CMV Insurance Rules, and OSHA’s I2/P2 and Preventing Backover Injuries and Fatalities Rules, to name a few.

Click here to view the updated regulatory proposals/rules and their timelines. Click here to review the deregulatory and completed actions list. For more information, contact Kevin Walgenbach at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org.

OSHA Announces Injury/Illness Electronic Website Release

Last week, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), following its notice in late June delaying its rule requiring businesses to electronically report injury and illnesses until December 1, 2017, announced that the Web site necessary to be compliant with the delayed rule will be available August 1, 2017. However, OSHA has indicated that the Web site to be used for the electronic reporting will be accessible starting August 1, 2017. As background, the injury/illness electronic tracking rule, finalized on May 12, 2016, imposes new requirements on companies filling out and posting their 300A forms at their respective workplaces. The new rule, known as the "Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses" rule, requires companies establish new anti-retaliation programs and applies to company facilities with 20-249 employees to originally submit their OSHA 2016 Form 300A by July 1, 2017 and their 2017 Form 300A by July 1, 2018. Then beginning in 2019 and every year thereafter the information would be submitted electronically by March 2 of each year.

In addition to announcing the Web site and delay, OSHA also indicated that it will subsequently request comments from stakeholders about a "proposal to reconsider, revise, or remove other provisions of the prior final rule." The timing of the subsequent notice is unknown, however NRMCA welcomes these developments, has submitted comments supporting the rule’s delay and plans to submit comments in support of a full repeal of the rule.

Click here to view the electronic submission page. Click here to view the postponement notice please. Click here to review the latest information on the electronic submission requirements and new changes. For more information, contact Kevin Walgenbach at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org.

New Silica Compliance Guide for Small Businesses Released

Last week, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released a new compliance guidance document for small businesses in anticipation of the upcoming respirable silica rule effective date. The guide specifically targets small businesses operating in general industry that will be covered under the new silica rule, which holds a compliance date for general industry (such as the ready mixed concrete industry) of June 23, 2018. The new silica standard, finalized in March 2016, aims to cut in half the permissible expose limit (PEL) of respirable crystalline silica, add a new action level, as well as require new employee area limits, recordkeeping, reporting, medical surveillance, housekeeping, exposure control plans and employee training.

Click here to review the small business guidance. Click here to review the silica rule and other compliance documents. For more information, contact Kevin Walgenbach at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org.

Entry Forms for 2017 Environmental Excellence Awards Are Due Friday

NRMCA’s Commitment to Environmental Excellence Awards competition offers producers national recognition for outstanding contributions to protecting the environment and maintaining sound management practice in their operations. The program salutes companies that have not only met, but surpassed governmental compliance measures and demonstrated a commitment to environmental excellence through plant and staff investment. NRMCA member companies producing ready mixed concrete from a fixed plant location in the U.S., its territories or Canada is eligible to enter. Awards will be determined upon individual plant merits. Winning entrants will be honored at the Awards Luncheon at NRMCA‘s ConcreteWorks this October in Dallas and also be featured in a 2017 edition of NRMCA’s Concrete InFocus magazine as well as Concrete Products magazine.

Entries and photos must be e-mailed to Gary Mullings at gmullings@nrmca.org by Friday, July 28. Click here for more information, staff contact and to download the entry form.

This year, in addition to the recent fires in Massachusetts, there have been a number of notable wood-framed apartment fires, including those in East Hollywood, CA; Waterbury, CT, Oakland; St. Petersburg, FL; Arlington, VA; College Park, MD; Overland Park, KS; Raleigh, NC and Maplewood, NJ. There have been dozens over the last few years. Because of regulations ascribed to the International Building Code, which is the base code standard for much of the United States, many buildings throughout Boston and the United States as a whole are built using this type of construction.

Through the Build with Strength initiative, NRMCA has resources to help members and state affiliates advocate for resilient and safer construction, including model legislation, talking points, public relations and other key strategies. To learn more about how NRMCA can assist in state advocacy, please contact NRMCA Vice President of State and Local Government Affairs John Loyer at 703-675-7603 or jloyer@nrmca.org.

Calendar

A Look Ahead

*Please note that e-mail and direct links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's Web site.

August 15, Jackson, MS

Regional ConcreteWorks, Gulf Coast Region

Email: Tamara Waugh, 240.485.1132

September 18 - 20, Salt Lake City

Concrete Durability Course