Across the United States, any mass timber building designed to be taller than six stories high has to receive special approval from the building codes department. After a recent addendum was added to the Oregon’s building code, the state has become the first in the country to allow high rise mass timber buildings without receiving any special considerations.
Read moreNTSB Provides Update to Report on Collapsed Florida Pedestrian Bridge
On March 15, 2018, 6 people were killed and 8 others were injured when an under construction pedestrian bridge collapsed in Florida. Several months later, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released their preliminary report while conducting an official investigation. The NTSB has recently released an “Investigative Update” to their preliminary report.
Read moreThe Top States to Work in Construction: #30 Montana
Montana is one of the biggest states, by area, and has one of the smallest populations in the country, but that doesn't have anything to do with it being #30 on our countdown. It may be surprising to many, but Montana actually has a larger than average cost of living, at .7% higher than the national average.
Read moreProcore is Searching for This Year’s Hard Hat Hero
There’s no doubt that construction workers do not get enough recognition for the hard work they put into building our nation's structures. At the end of each project, the workers are typically on to the next jobsite while executives and politicians are cutting the ribbon on their new facility.
Read moreThe Top States to Work in Construction: #31 Virginia
Virginia, which averages a just slightly higher than average cost of living, is next on our countdown at #31. The state is all over the board when it comes to profession by profession breakdown, with several rankings in the 40s, 30s, 20s, and teens. Their lone profession to be ranked in the top 10 is construction managers, who have an average hourly wage of $51.46, after adjustment, which is good for 6th highest in the country.
Read moreThe Top States to Work in Construction: #32 New Mexico
New Mexico, our nation's 47th state, lands at #32 on our continued state-by-state countdown. After adjusting for the state's lower cost of living (5.9% lower than national average), New Mexico jumped roughly 8 spots on the list. There were 3 construction professions ranked in the top 10 versus all other states, including solar panel installers, reinforcing iron and rebar workers, and welders.
Read moreUpdate on Miami Beach Hi Rise Demolition Collapse
Last Monday, a 13-story building in Miami Beach was in the process of being manually demolished when the building suddenly came crashing down, some of it horizontally, and critically injured 1 of the demolition contractor’s project managers. There have been some developments in the story that we would like to update you on.
Read moreThe Top States to Work in Construction: #33 Idaho
I promised myself that I wasn't going to mention potatoes, so I won't. That doesn't count. Coming in at #33 in our countdown is the state of Idaho, often referred to as the "Gem State." Boosted by their relatively low cost of living at 8.7% below the national average, Idaho jumped 11 spots after adjustment.
Read moreOSHA Proposes Rule Rolling Back Injury and Illness Requirements for Large Companies
OSHA
When the Trump Administration released their Spring 2018 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions earlier this year, they promised a few regulation rollbacks that would affect the construction industry throughout the year.
Among those rollbacks was a plan to “reconsider, revise or remove provisions of Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses, also known as the Electronic Injury Reporting and Anti-Retaliation final rule in July 2018.” Just under the wire, on July 27, OSHA has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would remove the requirement for companies that have 250 or more employees to submit information from OSHA Form 300 (Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) and OSHA Form 301 (Injury and Illness Incident Report).
Just like smaller companies, these larger companies will now only be required to electronically submit OSHA Form 300A, which is merely a high level summary of work-related injuries and illnesses. The Department of Labor stated that the proposed change was issued in order to protect privacy and reduce burdens on employers. OSHA Forms 300 and 301 contain sensitive information about individual workers who are injured or made ill.
July 1, 2018 was supposed to be the deadline for large companies to submit the OSHA Forms 300 and 301 with 2017 data through the online system, but OSHA is not currently accepting them, pending the rule change. OSHA is, however, currently accepting OSHA Form 300A with 2017 data, though any forms submitted past July 1 will be counted as late.
Full story: The Department of Labor Proposes Rule to Better Protect Personally Identifiable Information | OSHA
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The Top States to Work in Construction: #34 New York
There are a ton of songs about the city of New York, but that unfortunately doesn't help the state in our countdown. Despite having the 4th highest cost of living, at 31.6% higher than the national average (according to MERIC), New York did still manage to land a few construction professions in the top 10, like crane operators, roofers, and concrete finishers, even after adjusting the numbers.
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Last summer, Hilti announced that they had developed their first exoskeleton designed for construction tradespeople in a partnership with Ottobuck, a prosthetics, orthotics, and exoskeleton provider. Earlier this month, Hilti officially released the exoskeleton, announced more details, and published its retail price on their website.