The CFA has been a volunteer choice for our business and my family for 25 years. We’ve been involved as directors on the CFA Board, we’ve been to countless events like the Summer Convention and we put a lot of effort into being a CFA member. For years, we’ve not been shy in stating that we get far more back from being a member than what we put in.

You cannot always place a price on the value of a network. In fact, I’d say it is impossible to place a price tag on networking until it directly benefits or impacts your business. Well, this week we experienced a benefit of the CFA that not only has placed a price on the value of our CFA membership, it has paid for our membership for the next 20 years.

On August 15, 2011 we received a surprise inspection from OSHA on one of our project sites. We had been at the recent CFA Summer Convention and had heard of the pending changes to fall protection and were, in fact, putting energy into developing a corporate position on fall protection and related regulations. Still, the inspection came and we were suddenly presented with citations totaling $17,500. A date was set for our informal conference with the OSHA office and we immediately went to work. By contacting the CFA, we were offered a teleconference with the CFA OSHA Regulation Task Force that includes Mary Wilson of Michel Concrete in Springfield, IL and Lance Jordan of Stephens and Smith from Lincoln, NE as well as CFA Staff Jim Baty. During this teleconference, we reviewed each citation, the regulations impacting the decision and the position that we could/should take as a company. The guidance we received at that time gave us confidence that we could enter into the informal conference armed with knowledge of the regulations and how to make objections to the citations issued.

We were rewarded for our effort in preparation and our ability to access the expertise of the CFA resulting in a total of $3,920 for the violations we were cited for. Three of the citations were deleted and the other two were substantially reduced. In our informal settlement agreement with OSHA we were allowed to make payments on our penalties without interest, the first payment becoming due in March of 2012. This was very helpful, so we could get through the slow winters months without having an additional expense.

Were it not for the knowledge of this Task Force and the willingness to help us prepare for this conference, I am confident the outcome would have been much different and far more damaging to operation. This is not to say that we should not have been responsible for infractions to the regulatory requirements, but rather we can demonstrate the knowledge and fair application of the regulations to our business operation and to show compliance in ways that may not be inherently obvious. Thank you CFA, Mary, Lance and Jim.

CFA membership has never been a doubt for us at ABI Corporation but now it is something we feel is a cornerstone for the foundation of our business. It is a must in this ever-changing world of regulation, competition and risk.

To find out more about the teleconference opportunities with this Task Force, contact Jim Baty, CFA Technical Director at jbaty@cfawalls.org or 866-232-9255.

Dan Bromley

Dan Bromley, President of ABI Corp, Lee’s Summit, Missouri