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Association & Industry News
The RMC Research & Education Foundation is excited for the return of the Walk for Wellness as part of NRMCA’s ConcreteWorks 2021. Registration information is provided from the Walk’s informational page. The Walk will again take place in conjunction with NRMCA’s National Truck Mixer Driver Championship, scheduled for Saturday, October 2. Registration is $25 and is tax deductible as a donation to the Foundation. Sponsorships are also available for this event and are another terrific way to demonstrate your company’s support for the Foundation and the industry. For more information, contact Foundation Senior Director Jennifer LeFevre at jlefevre@rmc-foundation.org or at 571-235-6247. 
Engineering
The NRMCA Research Engineering and Standards Committee, chaired by John Cook with Thomas Concrete, will meet virtually from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, September 14. The committee plans to discuss activity in industry standards, development of technical publications, progress in the P2P Initiative, industry and NRMCA research, quality initiatives, and other topics of technical interest. NRMCA members interested in attending can register here. For more information, contact Karthik Obla at kobla@nrmca.org or Colin Lobo at clobo@nrmca.org for more information. SEO
Fact: people quit because they have serious issues with their immediate supervisors. In an environment where our industry cannot lose one more mixer driver, it is critical that plant, operations, dispatch, fleet and driver managers, and supervisors understand the scope and tasks they are expected to execute. To stress this importance even more, according to the U.S. Department of Labor the most common business lawsuit filed is by employees against their employers - and the employees cite their direct supervisors as the cause. Therefore, the class content includes industry-specific, hands-on exercises to develop solid procedures to increase efficiency and profitability by using better business processes and communication methods with front line employees. The class is held just once a year; for 2021 it is being held November 9-11 in Dallas. Click here for more information, registration options and staff contact. Last week, NRMCA’s Safety, Environmental and Operations (SEO) staff weighed in with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on its plan for revising the definition of waters of the US (WOTUS). Earlier this year, the EPA and the Army Corp. of Engineers (Corp) announced their plan to “revise the definition of WOTUS to better ensure clean and safe water for all.” They stated they “are committed to developing a reasonable, effective, and durable definition of WOTUS that protects public health, the environment, and downstream communities while supporting economic opportunity, agriculture, and other industries.” 
Buildings
Are you interested in evaluating the risk to your facilities from different hazards? A recently published article by NRMCA Senior Vice President, Structures and Codes, Scott Campbell explains the philosophy behind performing a risk analysis and discusses two different approaches. The purpose of a risk analysis is to identify threats, determine the likelihood of those threats occurring, and evaluating the consequences for your personnel and facility. The column is part of an ongoing series where Dr. Campbell lays out various aspects of security and resilience for a technical, but not specialist, audience and advances the concept of resilience as envisioned by NRMCA. Build With Strength is a coalition led by NRMCA that promotes concrete building systems through communications, project promotion, education and advocacy. To learn more, contact Scott Campbell at scampbell@nrmca.org or 502-552-5034. The Build With Strength program has created a video which documents the work done in Paradise, CA, by NRMCA members and Habitat for Humanity to rebuild that community which was heavily damaged by wildfires in 2018. In addition to NRMCA, industry partners Insulating Concrete Forms Manufacturers Association and American Concrete Pumping Association also lent critical support in the rebuilding. Click here to view the video. For more information on NRMCA and Build With Strength's partnership with Habitat for Humanity, contact Gregg Lewis at glewis@nrmca.org. NRMCA recently verified a system level Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) program for 10 plants in CalPortland’s Arizona division as it continues to build on its practices to disclose environmental impacts of concrete products. The EPD was developed in consultation with and based on a software tool by Athena Sustainable Materials Institute. The software tool integrates LCA impacts with mix design criteria to generate EPDs when desired. The software, underlying life cycle data for each plant and EPD were reviewed and verified by Sustainable Solutions Corporation, a verifier in NRMCA’s EPD program. Public access to the EPD is available on the NRMCA EPD website and is listed as NRMCAEPD: 20045 CalPortland Company. This directory of EPDs reports the impacts of ready mixed concrete from 10 plants in Arizona. The trend in reporting environmental, social and governance practices is growing and, with environmental impact criteria being specified in green building construction documents and proposed in state and local legislation, procurement decisions are expanding beyond price and performance. To date, the North American ready mixed concrete industry, including material suppliers, have invested into 85 verified EPDs with more than 35,000 products/mixes, and is the leading material industry that reports environmental impacts. As part of the Build With Strength campaign, NRMCA promotes Strength Through Transparency for member and industry competitiveness in the green building marketplace and the trends toward product and company transparency. For more information, contact James Bogdan at jbogdan@nrmca.org or 412-420-4138. Session 2 of the Global Concrete Summit is scheduled for Wednesday, September 15, from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Eastern time. Topics include innovations in low-carbon concrete, durability and extended service life. Speakers and topics for Session 2 are:
There is still time to register for the Global Concrete Summit. For more information, contact Lionel Lemay at llemay@nrmca.org or 847-922-7995.
Learning & Development
Please accept our invitation to the semi-annual Workforce Development Committee Meeting to be held online this Friday, September 10, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern time. The three tasks groups - Partnership, Practices and Strategies - will provide updates, plus other agenda items. Click here to register; after registering you will receive a confirmation e-mail containing information about joining the webinar. For more information, contact Eileen Dickson at edickson@nrmca.org. Concrete 101 (CCSP I) will be held October 19-22 in Dallas. This annual introduction to concrete fundamentals is for those who need a broad overview of technical and operations essentials. The curriculum is appropriate for sales reps, dispatchers, administrative/home office and mid-level staff as well as those in executive functions whose jobs do not relate to concrete per se, but who should have knowledge of the industry. This class is NOT appropriate for technical ready mixed concrete personnel. For those working toward their NRMCA STEPS® CCPf certification in Sales and Marketing Track, this is a required class. For others working toward CCPf certification in other STEPS tracks, the class is the qualifying prerequisite or an elective. Click here for more information, including registration options and staff contact information. Calendar
Please note that e-mail and direct links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's Web site. September 10-17, Online Course September 15, Free Virtual Conference September 29 - October 3, Kissimmee, FL October 13, Free Virtual Conference October 18 - 20, Orlando October 19 - 22, Dallas November 9 - 11, Dallas November 17, Free Virtual Conference November 30 - December 2, Orlando December 7 - 10, Orlando December 7 - 9, Dallas December 15, Free Virtual Conference 
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