Welcome to another exciting year of Construction Junkie’s Best Construction Podcast competition, 2018 edition. This is our 4th straight year running the competition and this year’s already shaping up to be the best one yet.
Read moreReport: First 6 Months OSHA Silica Regulations Yields 116 Violations
OSHA newer and more stringent regulations regarding employee’s exposure to respirable crystalline silica officially went into effect on September 23, 2017. The new reduced the permissible exposure limit of the substance, which is found mostly in products containing sand (like concrete, mortar, and brick), from 250 micrograms per cubic meter of air down to 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air averaged over an 8 hour shift.
Read more2 Construction Workers Rescued While Dangling 6 Stories High After Scaffolding Failed
For the third time in a year, construction workers have had to be rescued while dangling mid-air by fire rescue teams in Southern Florida. Last year, there were two incidents in Sarasota, Florida that involved failed suspended scaffolding in as many months. Just last week, another incident in Palmetto Bay required the Fire Department to intervene.
Read moreSelf-Driving Track Loader Has Started Moving Dirt on its First Commercial Jobsite
Built Robotics’ Autonomous Track Loader (ATL) first made headlines late last year when it began beta tests on small test tracks in San Francisco. The ATL is powered by a rooftop cargo carrier that is filled with electronic equipment, including Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR). LIDAR utilizes a pulsing laser in order to measure distance and range from objects around it.
Read moreThe Top States to Work in Construction: #46 Maine
Maine is the first state in our countdown so far whose ranking was not dramatically affected by the cost of living adjustment, with their overall average ranking only dropping around 9 spots.
Read moreEngineers Believe They Have a Fix for San Fran’s Sinking, Tilting High Rise
It’s been about 2 years since the public became aware that San Francisco’s Millennium Tower, a 58-story luxury condo high rise, was significantly sinking and tilting. Our last update on the tower was almost a year ago, when an engineering firm determined that the tower had continued to sink and tilt at a rate that was twice as fast as originally estimated. Now, engineers believe they have determined a way to keep the building from continuing to move, but it’s going to be an extremely lengthy process and be extremely costly.
Read more98 Year Old Man Gets His Birthday Wish to be a Construction Worker for a Day
picture courtesy of Diggerland XL
I thought this would be a great story to get the week started off on a positive note. While there are stories upon stories of shortages of construction workers all throughout the country, one 98-year-old man got to fulfill a lifelong dream of his and become a construction worker for a day.
Bill Grun, who lives at a senior retirement living community in Pennsylvania, wanted to celebrate 98 years in this earth in one of the best ways possible: doing some demolition. Through the retirement community’s program called WEL Wishes, which encourages residents to fulfill their “bucket list” aspirations, Bill, along with his friend who also lives at the community and is also named Bill, travelled to Diggerland XL in New Jersey to cross this one off the list.
Bill chose his buddy to join him, because he was one of the few people in the community that actually worked construction in his life. While at Diggerland, which is an amusement park focused on construction equipment for both adults and children, the pair of Bills got to tear apart an old bus using an excavator.
It’s a cool story and just shows that there are still people out there that think what construction workers do on a daily basis is cool. I’m glad Bill got to experience the thrill.
CBS Philly was there to capture some video of Bill’s big day, which you can watch below:
Full story: 98-Year-Old Man Spends His Birthday Becoming A Construction Worker | CBS Philly
Featured
DeWalt Announces Release of Supercharged 12.0Ah Battery
In the ever evolving power struggle for the major tool manufacturers, converting users to their personal cordless battery powered platform is paramount. With new battery technology hitting the market, we’ve seen tools that we never imagined would ever be able to be run off of a battery platform even outperform their corded version. DeWalt has recently made another huge advancement in battery technology with the announcement of a new 12.0Ah battery.
Read moreBluebeam Launches Revu 2018 with Updates and Productivity Improvements
Bluebeam Revu is a very popular PDF markup and collaboration tool for the construction industry. Each year, the technology company updates its flagship program to adapt to how their customers currently use the program and makes changes to increase their productivity. Bluebeam recently announced the launch of Revu 2018 and we have a breakdown of all of the changes.
Read moreThe Top States to Work in Construction: #47 Oregon
Overall, Oregon was in the middle of the pack with regards to hourly wage for the 25 construction professions analyzed, with an average ranking of 18. However, the Northwest state has the 3rd highest cost of living, according to MERIC, as it costs 31% more to live there versus the average state.
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