Six Appointed to Advisory Committee on Construction Safety, Health

Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis has appointed four new members and re-appointed two current members to the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health. They will serve two-year terms and represent the interests of the public, employers, employees and government.

The 15-member committee meets at least twice a year. The newly appointed and re-appointed members will join nine other current members serving the remainder of their terms on the committee.

“The new ACCSH members have a wealth of knowledge and real-world experience on a breadth of safety and health issues spanning the construction industry,” says Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. “We want good, safe jobs for American workers, and I am confident that these new members – representing the views of labor, management, government and the public – will use their expertise to provide valuable advice and recommendations toward our shared goal.”

Two members represent the public:

• Jeremy Bethancourt, co-owner and program director, Arizona Construction Training Alliance, Scottsdale, Ariz. (new)

• Letitia K. Davis, director, Occupational Health Surveillance Program, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Boston (current)

Five members represent employees:

• Roger Erickson, mobilization, optimization, stabilization and training administrator, International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers, AFL-CIO, Kansas City, Kan. (new)

• Walter A. Jones, occupational safety and health associate director, Laborers’ Health and Safety Fund of North America, Washington, D.C. (re-appointed)

• Gary L. Batykefer, administrative director, Sheet Metal Occupational Health Institute Trust, Pittsburgh, Pa. (current)

• Laurie A. Shadrick, training specialist, United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters, Arlington, Va. (current)

• Erich J. (Pete) Stafford, director, safety and health, Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, Silver Spring, Md. (current)

Five members represent employers:

• Kristi K. Barber, president, Glen C. Barber and Associates Inc., Rapid City, S.D. (new)

• Donald L. Pratt, president and CEO, Construction Education & Consulting Services of Michigan, Auburn, Mich. (new)

• Kevin R. Cannon, safety and health services director, Associated General Contractors of America, Arlington, Va. (current)

• Thomas Marrero, safety manager, Zenith Systems LLC, Seven Hills, Ohio (current)

• William E. Hering, environmental health and safety corporate manager, SM Electric Co. Inc., Rahway, N.J. (current)

Two members represent state governments:

• Steven D. Hawkins, assistant administrator, Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Nashville, Tenn. (re-appointed)

• Charles Stribling, occupational safety and health federal-state coordinator, Kentucky Labor Cabinet, Department of Workplace Standards, Frankfort, Ky. (current)

One member was appointed by the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:

• Matt Gillen, construction program coordinator and senior scientist, Centers for Disease Control –National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Washington, D.C. (current)

Wynne Systems Achieves ARA Rental Market Metrics Certification

Wynne Systems, Irvine, Calif., is the first software company serving the equipment rental industry to achieve ARA Rental Market Metrics certification from the American Rental Association (ARA).

ARA Rental Market Metrics provides equipment rental companies with a consistent way of calculating, benchmarking and reporting critical performance measures. It defines industry standards for the definition of a day, original equipment cost (OEC) and for the calculation of time or physical utilization of equipment, financial utilization, fleet age and percentage change in period-over-period rental rates.

“The ARA has been working with software companies to license and certify the use of ARA Rental Market Metrics to further the growth and professionalism of rental companies within the industry and help analysts and financial institutions better understand the equipment rental industry," says Christine Wehrman, ARA’s executive VP and CEO. “It is a priority of ARA to make this business management intelligence available to rental businesses of all sizes."

Equipment rental industry software providers continue to be licensed for ARA Rental Market Metrics. ARA Rental Market Metrics provides equipment rental companies a way to measure the performance of their business with a common benchmark that can be used within the company, by industry professionals, investors and analysts to compare a company’s performance over time and in relationship to a competitor.

Hilti to Provide Tools for 'Holmes Makes it Right' Series

Hilti is teaming up with Mike Holmes on his new series, "Holmes Makes it Right," by providing Holmes and his crew with a full line of  Hilti cordless tools as well as drills, breakers, measuring tools and consumables. He will use Hilti tools in his new series, Holmes Makes it Right, to help desperate homeowners whose homes, lives and finances have been compromised by disastrous events and renovations.

“We’re doing huge jobs on the new show," says Mike Holmes. "And, for what I need, my crew needs, and what these jobs need, there’s nothing better. We put these tools to the test every day. They’re tough tools for tough jobs. And they’re helping us make it right.”
 
Currently in production, the new Holmes Makes it Right series is scheduled to air on HGTV in Canada Oct. 16, 2012, and in the United States in early-2013.

Terex Equipment Opens Columbus, Ohio, Location

Terex Equipment Services (TES) is opening a new service center location in Columbus, Ohio. The location will service all brands of aerial and industrial crane equipment in the Great Lakes region. 

“We are very excited to bring TES together with Crane America Services (the North American service segment of Terex Material Handling and Port Solutions) for the first time,” says Siva Balakrishnan, VP and global manager, Terex Aerial Work Platforms. “CAS has many strengths to offer our aerial customers as they are a recognized leader in providing equipment maintenance and have built a reputation on a quality staff. Crane America Services invests thousands of hours per year to keep their personnel current with today’s codes and technologies.”

The new location will be staffed by factory-trained technicians to perform extensive engine repairs, warranty updates, annual inspections, maintenance and preventative maintenance on aerials and industrial cranes. The 17,500-square-foot location offers two full bays, additional space and a secure yard.

Hunt Country Masonry Certified at MCAA Midyear Meeting

Hunt Country Masonry Inc. of Leesburg, Va., is the latest company to have earned certification through the Masonry Certification program, sponsored by the Mason Contractors Association of America (MCAA).

The MCAA has developed the national Masonry Certification program to provide customers with a tool to select mason contractors who are committed to quality and end user satisfaction. Quality of work and end-user satisfaction are at the foundation of the certification program. Companies must earn 100 credit hours and pass an exam in order to become certified. In addition, companies must obtain 75 credits every three years to renew their certification.

"We congratulate Hunt Country Masonry Inc. in their commitment to quality service. Our goal is to provide architects, designers, construction contractors and consumers with an easy way to select and specify professional mason contractors," says Jeff Buczkiewicz, president and CEO of the MCAA. "Certification now gives them the tools to seek out contractors who have committed their entire firm to meet the stringent requirements of the program."

For more information about certification, visit www.masoncontractors.org/certification.

~ Written by Tim O'Toole

OSHA Awards $10.7 M in Safety, Health Training Grants

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safetyand Health Administration awarded $10.7 million through the Susan Harwood Training Grant Program to 72 nonprofit organizations, including community/faith-based groups, employer associations, labor unions, joint labor/management associations, and colleges and universities.

The goals of the Susan Harwood Training Grant Program are to provide training and education for workers and employers on the recognition, avoidance, and prevention of safety and health hazards in their workplaces, and to inform workers of their rights and employers of their responsibilities under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Target trainees include small-business employers and under-served, low-literacy workers in high-hazard industries. Since 1978, more than 1.8 million workers have been trained through this program.

The award categories for fiscal year 2012 grants include Capacity Building Developmental, Targeted Topic Training, and Training and Educational Materials Development. 

Sixteen new organizations have been awarded a total of $1.6 million in grants for Targeted Topic Training, and Training and Educational Materials Development. Both grant types require that recipients address occupational safety and health topics designated by OSHA, and support the development of quality training materials and educational programs that address identifying and preventing workplace hazards.

OSHA has awarded approximately $785,000 in new Capacity Building Developmental grants to seven organizations whose past activities have demonstrated their ability to provide occupational safety and health training, education, and related assistance to workers and employers in high-hazard industries; small-business employers; and vulnerable workers. Organizations selected to receive these grants are expected to institutionalize organizational capacity to provide safety and health training on an ongoing basis.

An additional $8.3 million representing follow-on grants has been awarded to 49 FY 2011 Capacity Building Developmental grantees that performed satisfactorily during the last year and provided awardable applications this year.

For information about the FY 2012 Susan Harwood Training Grant Program recipients, visit http://www.osha.gov/dte/sharwood/2012_grant_recipients.html and

http://www.osha.gov/dte/sharwood/2012_grant_targeted_recipients.html.

Perkins Eastman Names Parmar as Associate Principal

Sanjay M. Parmar, AIA, has joined design and architecture firm Perkins Eastman's Charlotte office as an associate principal. Parmar joins with more than 20 years of experience in healthcare facility and strategic planning. As a firm-wide resource in strategic planning, he will join Perkins Eastman’s growing international healthcare practice. 

His experience spans facility master planning and facility planning, comprising quantitative and qualitative studies, facility programming, cost models, and master plans for health systems and hospitals including Ascension Health System, Emory Health System, Mt. Sinai, Cleveland Clinic, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Shriners Children’s Hospital.

“Sanjay Parmar brings a diversity of experience in strategic and facility planning that will help to continue the growth of our healthcare practice and the depth of services we can provide our clients,” says chairman and CEO of Perkins Eastman, Bradford Perkins, FAIA.

Parmar joins from the Charlotte office of FreemanWhite, where he was a healthcare planner and consultant. He previously was with both Odell Associates and NBBJ.
 

Code Council App Provides Egress Details

The International Code Council’s new iPad app provides egress-focused text, figures and tables from several ICC publications, including the widely adopted 2009 International Building Code (IBC). The app was designed to offer relevant, practical and valuable safety information, related to means of egress.
 
The easy-to-use Means of Egress App: 2009 IBC assists with the design, application and compliance of egress requirements by compiling related information from multiple resources into a single digital tool. 2009 IBC details and helpful references such as the IBC Commentary, IBC Code Opinions Q&A, IBC Study Companion and Significant Changes to the IBC are included to allow users to access egress provisions in any of these documents directly or search the documents by topic.
 
“This new app places an impressive amount of need-to-know information in the hands of the architect, inspector, contractor or student,” says ICC Senior Staff Architect Jay Woodward. “By including the IBC code text and commentary for the egress provisions, as well as the egress-related pages from IBC references, users can review code requirements and access supporting information to easily understand how to properly design, construct, inspect or perform plan review of an egress system. The ability to search by topic or code section is an added convenience along with the ability to move between documents.”
 
Helpful to designers, contractors and code officials, the app is affordably priced at $13.99 and available for immediate download from the Apple Store.

GE Capital Provides Credit Facility for Acme Lift Co.

GECapital Corporate Finance, is administrative agent on a $75 million, asset-based credit facility for Acme Lift Co. LLC, an wholesale rental company for aerial work platform equipment. The loan will be used to refinance existing debt and support future growth. GE Capital Markets served as sole bookrunner.

Acme Lift provides equipment to more than 900 rental companies in the United States and Canada, who, in turn, rent equipment to commercial, industrial and specialty construction firms. Acme is one of the world’s largest strictly wholesale rental companies, with an extensive fleet of boom lifts, telehandlers and truck-mounted cranes.

“GE Capital brought extensive industry knowledge and creative structuring concepts to the deal,” says Steve Nadelman, president and COO of Acme Lift Co. “Their deep understanding of our business model enabled them to deliver a financing solution that will help build our business.”

“We’re committed to providing capital and market insight to our customers,” says Bob McCarrick, COO, lending for GE Capital, Corporate Finance. “Leveraging GE’s insight and industry experience in the rental equipment marketplace allowed us to develop tailored financing options that support the growth of mid-size businesses.”