PowerPoint presentations from the June 2010 ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½app Building Contractors Conference in Midway, Utah are now available by clicking here.Presentation topics include: lean construction case studies, EPA Effluent Limitations Guidelines rule, OSHA's agenda, material prices outlook, sustainable design return on investment, an update on surety issues, and a presentation on the future challenges of growth in construction.Presentations from past Building Contractors Conferences can be found at www.agc.org/building.
ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½app of America, together with the National Association of State Facilities Administrators (NASFA), Construction Owners Association of America (COAA), APPA: The Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers, and the American Institute of Architects (AIA), just released Integrated Project Delivery for Public and Private Owners.Integrated Project Delivery for Public and Private Owners explores the varying degrees of collaboration found in IPD, defining it as a philosophy and as a delivery method. The publication explores why owners should consider adopting IPD principles, how IPD fits in to related industry trends, such as BIM and Lean, and offers suggestions on how to integrate IPD principles into construction projects. Owners, general contractors and all project stakeholders will find Integrated Project Delivery for Public and Private Owners to be a useful resource regarding IPD. This publication is available for free at www.agc.org/projectdelivery or by clicking here.
The ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½app Specialty Contractors Council Executive Committee (SCC EC) met June 10, 2010 at the ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½app Building Contractors Conference in Midway, UT. Topics included the current construction market, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½app's value to specialty contractors, and future SCC initiatives. The SCC EC will meet via conference call this Fall and in person at the 2011 ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½app Annual Convention in Las Vegas, NV.
OSHA is now enforcing the Severe Violators Enforcement Program that it announced in April. The program focuses enforcement efforts on employers who willfully and repeatedly endanger workers by exposing them to serious hazards. The directive establishes procedures and enforcement actions for the severe violator program, including increased inspections, such as mandatory follow-up inspections of a workplace found in violation and inspections of other worksites of the same company where similar hazards or deficiencies may be present.ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½app is concerned that the administration's efforts to emphasize fines and penalties over collaboration and results will undermine successful partnerships between industry and government that helped cut the construction fatality rate in half between 1998 and 2008.For more information, contact Kevin Cannon at (703) 837-5410 or cannonk@agc.org.
July 22, 2010 | 2:00pm-3:30pm ETThere are still a few spots left for this FREE informative webinar. ConsensusDOCS has dozens of administrative forms to help you whether your project is large or small. Discover the advantages of using ConsensusDOCS forms to help you manage the day-to-day administration of your construction projects. Using the ConsensusDOCS 700 Series as a baseline for examples, you will learn how to use these administrative documents to manage your projects more efficiently starting with the ConsensusDOCS 705 Invitation to Bid/Sub-Bid Proposal all the way through to the 782 Certificate of Final Completion. Documents to be reviewed include:RFI's, Bidding and Qualifications StatementsBond FormsMaterials StorageChange OrdersPurchase and Payment FormsCertificates of CompletionRegister Today - FREE.For more information, contact Megan McGarvey at (703) 837-5369 or mcgarveym@agc.org.
EPA recently finalized its new stormwater rules that will impact nearly every construction and development project in the United States. The so-called Construction and Development Effluent Limitations Guidelines (C&D ELG) rule for the first time imposes an enforceable numeric limit on stormwater discharges from sites disturbing 10 acres or more at one time, requires monitoring to ensure compliance with the numeric limit, and requires nearly all construction sites to implement a range of prescriptive erosion and sediment controls and pollution prevention measures. Both the homebuilding industry and the U.S. Small Business Administration have taken legal action to challenge EPA's C&D ELG rule and, in particular, its numeric turbidity standard that dictates how murky stormwater can be when it runs off regulated construction sites. The new C&D ELG requirements, published in the Federal Register on December 1, 2009, will directly apply to a construction site "operator" when they are incorporated into an individual or general NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) stormwater permit that applies to his/her project(s). Construction stormwater permits are good for five years. States are required by EPA to incorporate the new ELG requirements into their permits upon next reissuance. For detailed information on the ELG rule and a list of state permit expiration dates, click here for an ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½app article. Click here to find out more about the challenges brought against EPA's national stormwater rules.For more information, please contact Leah Pilconis at (703) 837-5332 or pilconisl@agc.org.
EPA's Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting Program (RRP) rule was fully implemented on April 22, 2010. Under the current rules, contractors who perform renovations, repairs and/or painting projects in most pre-1978 housing, child-care facilities and schools (i.e., that have, or are assumed to have, lead-based paint) must comply with federal accreditation, training, certification, and recordkeeping requirements, or risk fines of up to $37,500 per day per violation.  ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½app has distributed news articles that explain the legal requirements and contractor responsibilities - click here.Note: EPA can authorize states to administer and enforce their own RRP programs. Several states have already done so (e.g., Kansas, Rhode Island, Utah, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Iowa and North Carolina), and several more have introduced legislation to take over the RRP rule.Adding to the already complex regulatory regime, EPA has just taken three new actions that widen the rule's potential impact on the construction industry. 1. Most notably, in an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR), EPA announced its intention to apply lead-safe work practices and other requirements to renovations on the exteriors of public and commercial buildings. The advance notice also announces EPA's investigation into whether lead-based paint hazards are created by interior renovation, repair and painting projects in public and commercial buildings. If EPA determines that lead-based paint hazards are created by interior renovations, EPA will propose regulations at a later date to address the hazards.2. EPA also has eliminated the so-called "opt-out" provision. (The RRP rule originally provided an exemption from the training and work requirements if the property owner certifies that no child under six and no pregnant woman resides in the subject premises.) This final rule also requires renovation firms to provide a copy of the records demonstrating compliance with the training and work practice requirements of the RRP rule to the owner (and to the occupant of the building being renovated or the operator of the child-occupied facility, if different).3. In addition, EPA made a separate rulemaking proposal that would require contractors to perform "dust-wipe testing" after most renovation, repair, and painting activities covered by the RRP rule to show that dust-lead levels comply with EPA's regulatory standards. Regulated contractors would also need to provide the results of the testing to the owners and occupants of the building. For some of these renovations, the proposal would require that lead dust levels after the renovation be below the regulatory dust-lead hazard standards.In related news, in response to an August 2009 petition submitted to EPA by the National Center for Healthy Housing, the Alliance for Healthy Homes and the Sierra Club, EPA has agreed to issue a proposal to (1) modify the regulatory definition of "lead-based paint" and (2) lower the regulatory dust-lead hazard standards. The Agency has not, however, committed to either a specific rulemaking outcome or a certain date for promulgation of a final rule.To get the detailed story, please click here.
On May 4, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed the first-ever national rules related to the disposal and management of coal ash from coal-fired power plants. Coal combustion wastes, including coal ash or fly ash, are widely used in construction applications.The agency will publish a proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register and begin taking comments on which of two regulatory paths the agency should follow under the Resource Recovery and Conservation Act (RCRA). One option is drawn from authorities available under Subtitle C, which creates a comprehensive program of federally enforceable requirements for waste management and disposal. The other option includes remedies under Subtitle D, which gives EPA authority to set performance standards for waste management facilities and would be enforced primarily through citizen suits.The agency states that today's action safeguards environmentally safe and desirable forms of recycling coal ash, known as beneficial uses. Under both approaches proposed by EPA, the agency would leave in place the Bevill exemption for beneficial uses of coal ash in which coal combustion residuals are recycled as components of products instead of placed in impoundments or landfills. Large quantities of coal ash are used today in concrete, cement, wallboard and other contained applications. These "encapsulated" uses would not be impacted by today's proposal. Other uses may be impacted. The public comment period is 90 days from the date the rule is published in the Federal Register. ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½app of America will comment on the proposed rule. If you would like to advise ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½app in the comment-writing process, please contact Melinda Tomaino at tomainom@agc.org or 703-837-5415. ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½app of America is concerned about implications to the shipping and handling of that material as well as any threats-stigma or otherwise-to beneficial use. ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½app previously reported on this issue in ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½app's Environmental Observer on February 24, 2010.More information about the proposed regulation can be found here: http://www.epa.gov/coalashrule.  To view the chart comparing the two approaches, please click here or go to http://www.epa.gov/coalashrule/ccr-table.htm.To view results of the impoundment assessments, please click here or go to: http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/industrial/special/fossil/surveys2/index.htm.
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is launching a pilot program seeking to partner with building inspectors in 11 cities to reduce injuries and fatalities at construction sites. The pilot program was initially announced during the April 14 - 15, 2010, Latino Worker Health and Safety Summit held in Houston, Texas.Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis has sent letters to the mayors of the selected cities, proposing that OSHA work with and train local building inspectors on hazards associated with the four leading causes of death (falls, electrocution, being crushed or caught between objects, or being struck by moving machinery or objects) at construction sites.Under this program, building inspectors would notify OSHA when they observe, during the course of their work, unsafe work conditions. OSHA, in turn, would send a federal agency compliance officer to that workplace for a safety inspection.OSHA seeks to partner with building inspectors in the following cities:Austin, TexasBoise, IdahoCincinnati, OhioConcord, N.H.Greenwood Village, Colo.Madison, Miss.Atlanta Metropolitan area, Ga.Newark, N.J.Oakland, Calif.Washington, D.C.Wichita, Kan.ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½app encourages Chapters and their members in the selected cities to meet with their local building inspectors to discuss the proposed partnership and express their concerns with this approach to policing safety. Meanwhile, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½app will continue to monitor OSHA activities as they pertain to this issue. To view a copy of the letters click here.For more information, please contact Kevin Cannon at (703) 837-5410 or cannonk@agc.org.
On April 22, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½app of America released a plan calling for market-based solutions, incentives and needed investments to deliver environmental improvements in our nation's infrastructure-buildings, transportation, water and land resources and power generation.The plan-Building a Green Future-outlines measures designed to stimulate demand for green construction projects, boost infrastructure capacity, improve building efficiency and green construction practices. It openly addresses how the places where we live, work, play and travel impact the natural environment; and it gives credit to industry and other groups for their efforts to reduce those impacts. The plan offers recommendations to stimulate demand for new investment in our infrastructure-making it greener and safer. It provides some common sense ways that contractors can help, such as recycling waste and reducing emissions from equipment; and it also addresses how policymakers can support those efforts instead of setting up roadblocks."You can't wish for a green future-you have to build it." ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½app maintains that construction and renovation ultimately are the most immediate and effective ways to improve the built environment. ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½app intends to use this plan to guide policymakers, educate the public and provide members with a tool they can use to develop an environmental strategy for their firm.ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½app of America and the ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½app of Washington unveiled the plan after a tour of a construction site for a green building in Seattle. The new structure will serve as local construction firm McKinstry's incubator space for start-up green construction technology firms. Citing that company's recent successes, David D'Hondt (executive vice president, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½app of Washington) said that while the plan would deliver significant environmental benefits, it also would provide new opportunities for the nation's hard-hit construction firms.To read the plan, go to www.agc.org/greenfuture.