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Association & Industry News
Last week, NRMCA’s Safety, Environmental and Operations Division launched a new webpage to serve as an industry clearinghouse on relevant resources members can use to address the widening COVID-19 situation. The webpage houses information on regulatory guidance, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and even NRMCA’s new Guidance For Ready Mixed Concrete Companies During the COVID-19 Pandemic. The SEO COVID-19 Resources webpage is also linked from NRMCA's home page. For more information, contact Gary Mullings at gmullings@nrmca.org, Kevin Walgenbach at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org or Eileen Dickson at edickson@nrmca.org. Established by the Tilt-Up Concrete Association in 1992, the Tilt-Up Achievement Awards program honors projects that use site-cast tilt-up concrete to introduce new building types, advance industry technology and provide unique solutions to building programs. The winning entries illustrate the variety, beauty and flexibility of the tilt-up construction method. The entry deadline for this year’s program is June 1. Click here for more information, program guidelines and criteria and to submit a project. COVID-19 has had a profound impact on supply chains for many different critical products, both in the United States and worldwide. The pandemic has created major changes in freight flows and has challenged the ability to deliver products to companies and consumers within the needed time frame. This has perhaps most acutely become an issue an issue for both medical supplies and food delivery. The Transportation Research Board is hosting a webinar on Wednesday, April 8, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Eastern time that will explore the impacts of COVID-19 on the supply chain and logistics industries. Presenters will discuss lessons learned from past freight transportation and supply chain disruptions; identify research that has been done to address resilience in the supply chain; describe how to mitigate the economic impacts of these disruptions and provide commentary on current supply chain disruptions due to COVID-19. Click here to register and for more information. 
Buildings
NRMCA and Build With Strength have launched a series of webinars for members and affiliates addressing key building promotion topics. Topics range from building codes and standards to communicating the sustainable attributes to state and local legislative issues affecting the ready mixed concrete industry. (Note: times below are Eastern) • April 7, 2 - 3 p.m. - The Urgency of Embodied Carbon • April 14, 2 - 3 p.m. - NRMCA’s Concrete Design Center: How to Get the Conversation Started • April 21, 2 - 3 p.m. - Building Your Project Pipeline Through Developer and Influencer Engagement • April 28, 2 - 3 p.m. - Market Activity and Communication of EPDs • May 5, 2 - 3 p.m. - Industry Advances in Carbon Reduction—Successfully Communicating our Message • June 2, 2 - 3 p.m. - Emerging Trends in Building Codes Click here for more information or contact Lionel Lemay at LLemay@nrmca.org. Earlier this week, NRMCA attended the virtual meeting of the joint ACI-TMS Technical Committee on Fire Resistance and Fire Protection of Structures. The committee discussed revisions to ACI/TMS 216.1-14, Code Requirements for Determining Fire Resistance of Concrete and Masonry Construction Assemblies. The next edition of the standard will include a new chapter on loads in addressing fire strength reduction factors, load factors and load combinations, and fire scenarios in addition to the prescriptive ASTM E119 fire curve. The update will bring the ACI/TMS standard closer to other international standards in supporting performance approaches to concrete fire design and analyses. The committee is also developing a new rational design document on determining fire resistance. The document will establish engineering design criteria for exact calculation of fire resistance for existing concrete elements. In summary, the document will provide guidelines for determining fire resistance through analytical methods in addition to the existing prescriptive methods and will be referenced by the revised ACI 216 standard. The technical committee is also involved in the development of a new chapter on fire in ACI 562, Code Requirements for Assessment, Repair, and Rehabilitation of Existing Concrete Structures. The chapter will focus on the impact of fire on repair, including post-fire event assessments of existing structures as well as consideration of external factors such as fiber-reinforced polymers and anchorage. Provisions for assessments will be prescriptive with an emphasis on level of damage and repair of concrete. Build With Strength is a coalition led by NRMCA that promotes standards advocacy to leverage policies advocating safety and resiliency and help place more concrete. For more information on fire codes and standards advocacy efforts, contact Shamim Rashid-Sumar at ssumar@nrmca.org.
May 6, Build With Strength Webinar May 7, Concrete Pavement Webinar Series May 12, Concrete Paving Promotion Webinar Series May 13, Build With Strength Webinar May 13 – 15, Glendora, CA May 14, Concrete Pavement Webinar Series May 19, Concrete Paving Promotion Webinar Series May 20, Build With Strength Webinar May 20, Nashville, TN May 21, Concrete Pavement Webinar Series May 26, Concrete Paving Promotion Webinar Series 
Government Affairs
On Monday, March 30, NRMCA hosted a webinar to discuss federal legislation affecting ready mixed concrete companies. NRMCA Government Affairs Chairman Nathan McKean, NRMCA Executive Vice President for Government Affairs Andrew Tyrrell and former Rep. Geoff Davis presented on the developments in Washington as Congress responds to the spread of the coronavirus. The webinar outlined the relevant portions of Congress’s Phase Two (H.R. 6201, the Families First Coronavirus Relief Act) and Phase Three (H.R. 748, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act) and NRMCA’s engagement and advocacy on behalf of the industry throughout the process. Click here for a copy of the slides. For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org. A number of loan and grant programs in Phase Three (the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act) are available for ready mixed concrete companies and small businesses of all sizes. For small businesses, Congress expanded eligibility for Small Business Administration (SBA) loan programs, creating the Paycheck Protection Program and beefing up the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program while dropping a number of the restrictive requirements.
It is critical that NRMCA members seeking a Paycheck Protection Program loan contact their lenders immediately. While Treasury and SBA have not yet released guidance on these, your lender will be aware and should be prepared to assist when guidance has been issued. For medium and larger businesses, loans are available on the demonstration that a company cannot access credit elsewhere, the investment is prudent and with several limitations on executive compensation, stock buybacks and dividend payments. Businesses should talk to their lenders about these loans. For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org. Both the Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) and the North American Concrete Alliance (NACA) have canceled their annual fly-ins. The TCC Fly-In was scheduled for May 13-14 and the NACA Fly-In was scheduled for May 19-20. NRMCA Government Affairs team and NRMCA members have participated in both of these fly-ins in years past. At this time, the House and Senate office buildings are closed to non-official business and many staff are working from home. Both chambers are out of session until at least April 20 and could remain out of session for longer. For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org. 
This could be the opportune time for your mixer drivers to receive ONLINE and TOTALLY SELF-DIRECTED skill development. NRMCA’s Concrete Delivery Professional (CDP) program, the industry’s premier mixer driver-specific training program, strives to help your drivers gain industry-specific knowledge and customer service strategies to help them be your best ambassadors. It consists of approximately 10 hours of curriculum divided into 20-minute lessons in five broad areas: concrete, safety, environmental considerations, customer service and mixer truck operations. It is led by a voice-over instructor with subtitles that support drivers with reading or hearing difficulties. For even more learning support, CDP-Online directly coordinates with an optional textbook. The succinct learning modules can fit between loads or can be spontaneously accessed from any computer, 24/7. Lessons also have a stop/start feature, making CDP participation adaptable to a driver’s ever-changing work schedule. Exams are online as well, so the need for third-party proctors has been eliminated at a time when “social distancing” is critical. Finally, group discounts pricing starts with 10+ drivers. Click here for CDP’s online information page and staff contact. September 25 – 29, Denver October 20 – 22, Mendota Heights, MN November 17 – 19, Glendora, CA December 15, Charlotte, NC December 15 – 18, Phoenix Learning & Development
On March 12, President Trump signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), covering private employers with fewer than 500 full-time or part-time employees working within the U.S., U.S. territories and possessions. The count includes employees on leave and temporary employees who are jointly employed with another company as determined under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA). To that point, the Department of Labor (DOL) confirmed that the joint-employer test from the FLSA and the integrated-employer test under the FMLA determines if multiple entities constitute a single employer for purposes of determining whether the employer has less than 500 employees. Businesses, including non-profits and trade associations, with fewer than 50 employees may be exempt from FFCRA if they can prove that providing leave would be an undue burden, placing them at risk of going out of business. Does your company fall under the FFCRA? If so, here’s a very basic summary: the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is temporarily expanded from April 1 through December 31, 2020, in response to the coronavirus and the illness it causes, COVID-19. Among other things, it creates two weeks of paid sick leave for the care of children out of school because of COVID-19 and also makes weeks 3 through 12 its effective period for the paid leave. It also creates two weeks of paid sick leave for childcare and other leave related to the coronavirus. Third, it provides tax credits related to the paid leave provisions of FFCRA. Finally, companies that fall under FFCRA must post DOL’s FCCRA Employee Rights poster by April 1. To help understand the new law’s intricacies, DOL Hours & Wage Division published Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Questions and Answers. As of March 30, it consists of 59 Q & A /clarifications about FFCRA’s effects on wages and hours worked under FLSA, job-protected leave FMLA, paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave. DOL will provide even more guidance further into April; it will post it as additional Q & A on the same link provided above. Acknowledging it’s a lot to digest in a very tight window, NRMCA posted direct links on its website to the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division. Finally, please note NRMCA offers no legal advice; please work with your company’s legal counsel. Calendar
*Please note that e-mail and direct links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's Web site. April 2, Concrete Pavement Webinar Series April 8, Build With Strength Webinar April 9, Concrete Pavement Webinar Series April 14 – 16, Nashville, TN – Sponsored by Tennessee Concrete Association April 15, Build With Strength Webinar April 15 – 17, Indianapolis *Postponed April 16, Concrete Pavement Webinar Series April 17, Sweetwater, TN April 22, Build With Strength Webinar April 23, Concrete Pavement Webinar Series April 28 – 30, Nashville, TN – Sponsored by Tennessee Concrete Association April 28 – May 1, New Orleans *Postponed April 29, Build With Strength Webinar April 30, Concrete Pavement Webinar Series 
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