ASTM International Symposium on Masonry Scheduled for June

The ASTM International symposium Masonry 2014 will be held June 24 at the Sheraton Centre Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ASTM International is an international standards development and delivery system provider. ASTM International Committees C01 on Cement, C07 on Lime, C12 on Mortars and Grouts for Unit Masonry and C15 on Manufactured Masonry Units are co-sponsoring the event.

The objective of Masonry 2014 is to gather and disseminate the latest information on all aspects of the innovations in masonry materials, design, specification, construction, maintenance and rehabilitation. It will emphasize the application of ASTM standards to those areas, and their coordination with building codes, project specifications and international standards. The technical program will include more than 15 papers that cover a broad range of the masonry industry topics, including:

• Descriptions of new test methods for masonry systems and their components
• Case studies
• Current work in developing new ASTM Standards and building codes
• Innovative approaches to masonry mortar materials and units
• Exploration of the properties of masonry products.

Online registration opens approximately eight weeks before the symposium and closes June 18. There is no attendance fee for ASTM members, presenters and students with a valid ID. The fee for non-ASTM members is $25 online and $50 onsite.

For registration and additional information, visit www.astm.org/C07Masonry2014.

Additional technical information is available from symposium chairman Mike Tate, Graymont Dolime Inc., Genoa, Ohio (419-855-8662; mtate@graymont.com).


 

Building Envelope Company Keene Expands Facilities

Keene Building Products’ has acquired a new facility located in Euclid, Ohio. The industrial complex’s 11 acres provide room for Keene to create a new laboratory for research and development, along with a prototype production line for small filament products.

The manufacturing for Keene will be moved in during the next 18 months. Additionally, an application lab will incorporate all of the products in the Keene family of companies, including epoxy coatings from Cansto Coatings, cement and gypsum materials from Dependable.

The acreage allows room for expansion and the creation of a rail spur to manufacture products in one location. Future plans include a new 40,000-square-foot manufacturing facility.

“I grew up close to this area and my family has a long history in Euclid,” says Jim Keene. “This is an opportunity to revitalize a small portion of this nice community. We selected Euclid because of its proximity to transportation lines and its local support for industry.”

Keene Building Products is the manufacturer of three-dimensional filament products for the building envelope and noise control markets. Dependable is a manufacturer of professional grade floor products for repair, restoration and new construction.

Cansto Coatings is an 83-year-old Cleveland company that makes specialty coatings for flooring and industrial applications. Plans for the facility could mean as many as 75 jobs for the community.

For further information, call 877.514.5336, or email info@keenebuilding.com.

Mason Contractors: Silica Comments in and Public Hearings Approaching

By Stephen A. Borg

As we have covered previously in this column, one of the biggest issues facing the masonry industry – and the construction industry as a whole – is the proposed new rule being pursued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to further reduce the permissible amount of workers’ exposure to crystalline silica. 

As a part of MCAA’s game plan to combat this misguided and infeasible rule, the association joined with 25 other associations who represent almost every facet of the construction industry to create the Construction Industry Safety Coalition (CISC). Over many months, numerous briefings, weekly conference calls, and massive efforts by MCAA and our Coalition partners, we finalized our Coalition comments and officially submitted them to the OSHA on Feb. 11.

While our comments were detailed and extensive, the overarching theme and summary of our comments is as follows:

“Given the lack of scientific explanation justifying the new exposure limits, the many contradictions between the rule and the realities faced in the construction industry, and the fact that agency officials made significant errors in the basic data the rule is based on, we are urging the administration to withdraw this proposed rule. We strongly urge agency officials to work with us and employee groups to craft a silica measure that will build upon the work all of us have done to reduce silica-related deaths by 93 percent during the past three decades.”

On top of these efforts, MCAA and all of our coalition partners also individually submitted our own individual comments to OSHA, and MCAA has requested a time block to testify at the public hearings scheduled to be held in Washington, D.C., beginning March 18, 2014. We truly appreciate all of the MCAA members throughout the country who took the time to become educated on this drastic proposed rule and submitted comments of their own to OSHA. 

While the comment period to submit comments to OSHA has officially closed, it is imperative that each of you continues to educate yourselves on this rule, participates in combating the rule at every opportunity, and voices your concerns to your Members of Congress in both the House of Representatives and Senate. The more we can raise our unified voices and show how impactful this rule would be to our businesses, our industry, and our economy, the more we can have an impact on the final rule or the hopeful withdraw of the rule all together.

MCAA will continue this fight by participating in the public hearings in Washington, D.C., and voicing our concerns with the overall rule. The more information we can have on the overall impact of this rule on your businesses and real world examples, the better we will be able to tell our story to back up our overall opinions of the infeasibility of this rule.

Please take the time to visit the docket for the rule at www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=OSHA-2010-0034. Read the proposed rule and official comments that have been submitted, become educated, and make your voice heard. Our comments and public testimony will hopefully have a great impact on this rule, but our fight is only just beginning. We are only as strong as the involvement from you, our members.

Stephen A. Borg is vice president of The Keelen Group, www.keelengroup.com.

Good News for Masons: Construction Industry Adds 15,000 Jobs in February

Construction employers added 15,000 workers to payrolls in February despite harsh winter working conditions, raising industry employment to the highest level since June 2009, according to an analysis of new government data by the Associated General Contractors of America. However, association officials noted that as the industry adds jobs many firms report they are already having a hard time finding skilled workers.

“The rate of construction hiring has outpaced job growth in the overall economy for the past year,” says Ken Simonson, the association's chief economist. “During that time, all construction segments have added workers.” 

Construction employment totaled 5,941,000 in February, the highest total in 4.5 years and an increase of 152,000 or 2.6 percent from a year earlier, whereas total nonfarm employment rose by 1.6 percent over that span, Simonson noted.  Among industry segments, residential construction employers led the way with the addition of 1,700 workers in February and 101,200 (4.8 percent) over 12 months. Nonresidential construction added 12,700 employees since January and 50,600 (1.4 percent) since February 2013.

“While demand for construction employees is rising at a healthy clip, workers are still leaving the industry faster than they are being hired, a dynamic that may result in widespread worker shortages in the near future,” Simonson warns. “In the past four years, nearly a million experienced workers have left the industry for jobs in other sectors, retirement or school. They are no longer available for immediate recall to construction jobs.”

The unemployment rate for workers actively looking for jobs and last employed in construction declined from 15.7 percent a year earlier to 12.8 percent last month - the lowest February rate since 2008. Simonson noted that the unemployment rate for construction workers had fallen by more than half since February 2010, when it reached 27.1 percent. During that time, the number of unemployed workers who last worked in construction declined by 1.34 million, but industry employment increased by only 438,000.

“Because persistently severe winter weather delayed many projects in the past few months, contractors are likely to be posting ‘help wanted’ signs on even more jobsites this spring,” Simonson adds. “Multifamily, manufacturing, and oil and gas-related facilities will generate particularly strong demand for workers. Contractors in many regions and specialties may have trouble finding the employees they’ll need.”

Association officials noted that two-thirds of construction firms responding to a recent survey reported having a hard time finding enough qualified workers to fill vacant positions.  They urged federal, state and local officials to enact measures outlined in the association’s recently released Workforce Development Plan that will make it easier for schools, firms and local construction associations to establish training programs.

“Unless we find a way to get more students to consider and train for careers in construction, many firms will get to a point where they don’t have enough workers to keep pace with demand,” says Stephen E. Sandherr, the association’s CEO. “The last thing the hard-hit construction industry needs is to be unable to take advantage of increasing demand because of the decreasing supply of available workers.”

ASTM Committee on Manufactured Masonry Units Names Chin as Chairman

Ian Chin, VP and senior principal at Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc. (WJE) in Chicago, has been elected chairman of ASTM International Committee C15 on Manufactured Masonry Units. WJE is an interdisciplinary firm of structural engineers, architects and materials scientists that specializes in the investigation, analysis, testing and design of repairs for historic and contemporary structures.

Formed in 1937, Committee C15 has a membership of about 315 technical experts who oversee ASTM standards development related to the manufacture of manufactured masonry units of inorganic materials, including fired clay and shale, concrete, sand-lime and coatings for such units. C15 includes 13 subcommittees responsible for more than 65 ASTM International published standards.

Chin has been an active ASTM International member since 1986, serving on ASTM Committees C12 on Mortars and Grouts for Unit Masonry, C18 on Dimension Stone, C24 on Building Seals and Sealants and E06 on Performance of Buildings in addition to C15. He was honored with the ASTM Walter C. Voss Award in 2007 for his outstanding contributions to the field of building technology, and received the ASTM Award of Merit and accompanying title of fellow in 2005.

A graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he earned a master’s degree in structural engineering and a bachelor’s in architecture, Chin has been with WJE since 1978. His work focuses on the evaluation of architectural and structural problems in existing buildings and structures. He became a vice president in 1992 and senior principal in 2008.

Chin is a licensed architect and professional engineer in several states, and a licensed structural engineer in Illinois. He is a member of the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) and the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois (SEAOI), and serves on the Chicago Committee on High-Rise Buildings and the city of Chicago’s Standards and Tests committee. He has won several career awards, including the 2012 John F. Palmer Award from SEAOI and the Structural Engineers Foundation “for his outstanding lifelong contributions and dedication to the pursuit of excellence in structural engineering.”

ASTM International is one of the world’s largest development and delivery systems of standards and related products and services. ASTM International meets the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles for the development of international standards: coherence, consensus, development dimension, effectiveness, impartiality, openness, relevance and transparency. ASTM standards are accepted and used in research and development, product testing, quality systems and commercial transactions.

Montabert Extends Brand Into North America

Montabert, a designer and manufacturer of hydraulic demolition and drilling attachments and pneumatic equipment, has completed a transition that extends its brand into North America and replaces the Tramac brand name on select products.

The rebranded products include hydraulic breakers, plate compactors, drilling attachments and pneumatic equipment — which formerly had been branded “Tramac by Montabert.” Now that the Montabert brand is established in North America, the “Tramac” name has been dropped on these Montabert attachments.

“Joint branding on our products introduced the Montabert name to the market without a complete departure from what people were accustomed to,” says Stephane Giroudon, business manager for Montabert North America. “It provided a good foundation for us to move in this direction.”

With the transition to simply “Montabert,” customers and dealers will benefit from a heightened level of product support and service.

“It’s the same great product and exceptional service as before, backed even more by Montabert’s long-standing commitment to innovation and technological leadership,” Giroudon adds. “We are even keeping our iconic green color, which we’ve had since we invented the first hydraulic breaker 50 years ago.”

More important, Giroudon says, customers can rely on Montabert’s ongoing commitment to what customers have come to expect in its products: ease of use, great efficiency, low maintenance costs and unrivaled reliability.

For more information on the Montabert brand, please visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmDLKopAr0w. 

Construction Spending Posts Biggest Increase Since 2006

Total construction spending in January posted the steepest year-over-year increase since 2006, with growth in public construction as well as private residential and nonresidential spending, according to an analysis of new Census Bureau data by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC).  Association officials warned that federal investments in highway repairs could decline rapidly this summer because of funding shortfalls, undermining the sector's recovery.

 “Overall construction spending increased in January compared with both December and January 2013 despite uncommonly adverse weather conditions,” said Ken Simonson, the association's chief economist. “The monthly gains were limited to homebuilding and multifamily residential construction, although private nonresidential work should rebound in the next few months. Public construction is up for now on a year-over-year basis, but funding remains questionable.” 

Construction put in place totaled $943 billion in January, 0.1 percent higher than the December total, which was revised up $12 billion from the initial estimate. The January mark was 9.3 percent higher than in January 2013, the fastest rate of growth for total construction spending since May 2006. Private residential construction spending increased by 1.1 percent in January and jumped 15 percent over 12 months. Private nonresidential spending slipped 0.2 percent for the month, but rose 9.7 percent compared to January 2013. Public construction spending dropped 0.8 percent for the month, but increased 2.5 percent from a year earlier.

“Contractors are clearly more optimistic about the outlook for private nonresidential markets this year, as shown by their upbeat answers to an AGC survey in January,” Simonson commented. “In addition, apartment construction is still very strong in much of the country, and homebuilding should remain positive.”

Simonson added that the Census Bureau estimates for January and December may not accurately reflect the impact of severe winter weather because the agency relies in part on models as well as field reports. He noted that the bureau will hold a webinar on March 12 explaining its estimation process.

Association officials cited highway and street construction as an example of a category that may be revised. The preliminary data show spending soared 3.7 percent in January and 15 percent year-over-year. But they cautioned that federal highway funding could decline abruptly as early as this summer if the federal highway trust fund runs out of money as predicted. They urged Congress and the president to work together to pass new transportation funding measures as quickly as possible.

“Even with spending on the rise, the construction industry remains vulnerable to any sudden downturn in demand,” said Stephen E. Sandherr, the association’s CEO. "Letting highway investments lapse will only hurt overall economic growth and put more construction jobs at risk.”