Concrete Facts Magazine Online

OSHA MEMORANDUM — RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION FALL PROGRAM

September 22, 2011

MEMORANDUM FOR: OSHA REGIONAL ADMINISTRATORS

FROM: DAVID MICHAELS, PhD, MPH

SUBJECT: Residential Construction Fall Protection

Effective immediately and until March 15, 2012, the following general policy guidance is to be followed Construction, STD 03-11-002) and for compliance assistance related to that directive. Please share this information with the State Plans and On-site Consultation Projects in your region, and ensure that all Area Offices follow this temporary policy.

1) OSHA will make it a priority for our Compliance Assistance Specialists (CASs) to provide assistance to the residential construction industry. Please instruct the Area Offices that residential fall protection requests are to be the CAS’s highest priority. In addition, please inform the State On-site Consultation Projects that, from September 16, 2011 through March 15, 2012, excluding imminent danger situations, requests from residential construction businesses should be their highest priority for receiving an on-site visit.

2) During inspections of employers engaged in residential construction who are not complying with the new residential fall protection directive, but are following the old directive (Plain Language Revision of OSHA Instruction STD 3.1, Interim Fall Protection Compliance Guidelines for Residential Construction, STD 03- 00-001), the Regional Administrators and Area Directors will take the following actions:

— Area Directors will allow an additional good faith reduction in penalties of up to 10% for employers engaged in residential construction. In addition to the safety and health management system good faith determination in Chapter 6 of the Field Operations Manual, the Area Director shall consider examples of attempting to comply in good faith to include: requesting and scheduling an On-site Consultation visit, ordering protective fall equipment for its employees, or performing a documented evaluation of feasible means of abatement. This good faith reduction does not apply in cases of a fatality, catastrophe, or serious injury resulting from a fall during residential construction activities.

— Area Directors will allow residential construction employers at least 30 days to correct fall protection violations identified under the new residential fall protection directive. During that time, if such employers are not in compliance at that site or another site, no additional citations or repeat citations shall be issued. This policy does not apply in cases of a fatality, catastrophe, or serious injury resulting from a fall during residential construction activities.

From: “James R. Baty II” <jbaty@cfawalls.org>

Subject: Memorandum for Residential Construction Fall Protection

Date: May 2, 2012 11:27:45 AM CDT

3) All proposed citations under this enforcement policy shall be submitted to the OSHA Regional Office to ensure consistency and clarity. For cases where the Regional Office needs interpretative assistance in its review, it shall consult with the National Office Directorate of Construction.

All of the measures described in this policy apply only to employers that are, at a minimum, following the old directive (STD 03-00-001). If the employer is not complying with either the new directive or the old directive, the Area Director shall issue appropriate citations.

As a resource, an OSHApedia page with examples of feasible fall protection for various scenarios can be accessed at http://oshapedia.osha.gov/mediawiki/index.php/DOC or by going to the DOC section from the OSHApedia home page.

CFA Members Tour Bilco’s Manufacturing Facility

Sixteen members of the Concrete Foundation Association (CFA) from around the county recently attended an open house tour of The Bilco Company’s Zanesville, Ohio manufacturing facility. The group learned more about the company’s history, technology and residential product line.

The facility houses both blow-molding and injection-molding equipment used to manufacture Bilco’s line of polyethylene products for the residential market. These products include the Ultra Series Basement Door, ScapeWEL® Window Well System and stakWEL(TM) Modular Window Well System. The plant also contains equipment to manufacture Bilco’s flagship steel basement doors.

During the tour, members enjoyed an up-close look at a number of different areas within the plant, and were particularly impressed with the cleanliness and overall operation of the facility. Being able to observe first-hand the blow- and injection-molding techniques for window wells, as well as intricate steel fabrication of Bilco’s basement doors, provided a better understanding of what goes into creating the company’s quality products.

“Bilco has a fantastic operation, so I can see why its products are of such value to the market,” one member commented.

Bilco operates two of the largest plastic blow-molding machines in the United States, each with a 60-pound drop that allows for molding a 4’ x 8’ product, such as a basement door or a ScapeWEL window well, in one shot. The extensive blow-molding capability is complemented by a 15-pound machine that provides a platform to produce a small-to-medium-sized product. Window well panels are blow-molded from high-density polyethylene resin and filled with rigid-setting closed-cell polyurethane foam for added strength and rigidity.

In addition to blow-molding, Bilco uses a 2,200-ton injection-molding machine to produce large scale products such as the stakWEL window well. Rounding out the company’s plastics capability is a 10’ x 10’ vacuum forming machine that is used to create domes for ScapeWEL and stakWEL window wells, as well as to construct other architectural products.

For steel product manufacturing, Bilco operates punching and forming presses and welding units, which are arranged in a one-piece-flow configuration and feed products into the paint line. The paint line incorporates a three-stage wash and 3,300-gallon dip tank that can submerge an entire door at once. The paint line guides a single unit at a time through the entire process, including packaging. With this technology, Bilco can change from one product to another within six minutes, allowing an array of products to be created for next-day shipping.

New to the plant is a one-piece-flow powder coating cell that applies a durable powder-coat finish to Bilco’s Classic Series steel-sided basement doors. A door is constructed and washed on the paint line before it diverges to the powder-coating booth for application. Once the powder adheres to the door, it is melted and fused together into a solid coating in a curing oven.

For more than 85 years, The Bilco Company has been a building industry pioneer in the design and development of specialty access products. The company has built a reputation among homeowners, builders, architects, and engineers for products that are unequaled in design and workmanship. Bilco – an ISO 9001 certified company – offers a line of basement doors, egress window wells, and specialty access products for commercial applications.

For information on The Bilco Company or its products, call (203) 934-6363 or visit www.bilco.com.

CFA Projects of the Year

Each year the Concrete Foundation Association of North America (CFA) calls for entries to its Project of the Year contest. The entries are voted on and chosen by CFA members through an online ballot that runs for several weeks.

This year’s entries were all very large residential projects worthy of multiple awards. The winners will be recognized at this year’s CFA Summer Convention in Traverse City, Michigan on July 28, 2012. See all of the incredible photos of these projects online at your Association website.

Overall Grand Project Winner —

Ekedal Concrete, Inc.

From Newport Beach, California is the winner of the overall grand prize for a massive single-family home foundation they completed in La Jolla, California.

The foundation for the 8,700 square foot home looked more like a commercial project than a single-family residence. When Ekedal began their work, the entire site had been stabilized with soldier piles and lagging, installed during the excavation phase. Something you wouldn’t normally see on a residential job-site in most parts of the country.

With basement walls up to 22 feet in height and footings as wide as 12’-6” an already difficult job was made more challenging when Ekedal Concrete, Inc. was forced to use a one sided forming system due to the limited workspace of only eighteen inches available to them on the project.

Without the ability to use conventional wall ties, to tie forms together on both sides of the wall, the difficulty factor was multiplied many times. The entire basement wall was formed with HDO plywood rather than modular forms such as aluminum or steel-ply systems. Although this method of wall construction was a real challenge the end result was a very smooth concrete surface when the HDO plywood was removed.

As if the complicated walls weren’t enough, the job also included structural elevated slabs on two levels. The first level was 3,700 square feet of 10-inch thick concrete, including 30,000 pounds of rebar. Incorporated into the slab were eleven 42 inch by 16 inch beams, each containing several #11 bars which were 36 feet in length.

When the structural slab concrete reached sufficient strength, the deck forms were removed and relocated to start the 1,500 square foot second floor structural slab. A top and bottom mat of reinforcing steel was placed consisting of #5 rebar at 6” on center. Four more beams were formed into the slab and with the added rebar; the second floor slab totaled 20,720 pounds of reinforcing steel.

When asked how they approached the project from a technical aspect Ekedal responded: “Like all of Ekedal Concrete, Inc.’s projects, the plan detailer, estimator and management team sit down and dissect the project, explain how it was bid, concerns, schedule etc. From there our plan detailer will close all dimensions and make sure everything works while generating wall profiles showing embeds, beam pockets, elevations, hardware, etc.”

All told, Ekedal Concrete, Inc. poured over 900 yards of concrete, placed 160,000 pounds—80 tons—of rebar, in 405 feet of wall, and 5,200 square feet of structural elevated slab.

According to Ekedal “A project like this can only be approached in a systemized, organized, team effort where the foundation contractor, GC, architect and engineer all work together with the goal being a successful start to the project by bringing the project out of the ground correctly and efficiently. Ekedal Concrete, Inc. continues to be thankful to all the builders, designers, subcontractors, and suppliers and last and certainly not least our amazing staff, who continue to excel and improve and set the bar even hirer than we could have imagined.”

Ryan Ekedal added, “Being selected for Project of the Year gives us a very respected accolade in the industry, which in turn serves as a key point in certain marketing campaigns. It shows how our peers perceive our work and attention to detail.”

Project of the Year —

Coello & Associates, Inc.

Of Waukesha, Wisconsin is one of the winners of the Project of the Year category. Their foundation for a 9,543 square foot home in Chenequa, Wisconsin is a testament to the fact that concrete can be very attractive.

Great care was taken to make sure the home was positioned properly to take full advantage of the natural surroundings. “Not only was this home built into a hill, it was specifically designed to fit within an area with a very dense population of mature trees and various species of animals,” Coello stated. “The home was to be great in size, but also to be considerate to the natural surroundings.”

The owners of the home wanted the concrete inside the basement to add to the appearance of the home rather than to be covered up like the concrete walls in most high-end homes. Approximately 25 percent of the foundation walls were formed with a rustic, wood grain pattern creating a striking appearance in much of the lower level.

Many times, what is easily drawn on paper is discovered to be quite difficult during construction. Coello & Associates, Inc. determined early on that the form liners—consisting of real wood boards—would not work very well with their aluminum forming system. “Our first step was to find a forming system that would allow us to fasten the boards in eight to twelve foot sections and would withstand the hydrostatic fluid head pressure of a sixteen inch by nineteen foot wall.” They chose a gang form system utilizing tapered ties, reducing the total number of ties and eliminating any exposed ties in the wood grained wall. “Using a different forming system was a challenge, but our crews adapted quickly,” Coello indicated.

It’s interesting to note that Coello experimented with both rough cut lumber and smooth-planed lumber, before reaching the conclusion that the chemical reaction between the wood sugars and the concrete created the most desirable effect when using the smooth wood board.

The architect wanted to achieve an R-20 concrete wall, but the inner face of the wall had to be left exposed. In order to accomplish this, Coello determined it would be best to utilize two types of insulating systems. They installed R-10 Warm-N-Dri® insulation board on the exterior and incorporated the Thermomass® sandwich wall system with R-10 Styrofoam® into the middle of the concrete wall.

Coello stated that while this was a great solution, using Thermomass ® did create some further challenges including additional wall reinforcement and some consolidation problems in the reduced thickness portion of the sandwich wall.

Wisconsin winters are known to be some of the most brutal in the nation and a December start to the project certainly complicated things. A 4,000-psi concrete mix with high and mid-range water reducers along with a non-chloride accelerator were a critical part of the concrete mix design.

This unique project used a total of 944 cubic yards of concrete and 42 tons of rebar in the 1,975 lineal feet of wall and footing. With 75 different wall and thickness combinations it was very difficult to establish the natural rhythm, or flow normally found on large projects.

Coello & Associates is justifiably proud of the completed project. They’re equally happy that the homeowners wanted the concrete to be seen, not covered up. “The owners truly embraced the use of concrete within their new home. Many luxury homes are built and once finished, show little of the concrete foundation. When this home is finished, our concrete walls will be displayed and show others how beautiful concrete can be,” states Michael Coello, General Manager.

When asked about involvement in the CFA and particularly this award program, Mr. Coello had this to say; “Coello & Associates continues to work on its company culture. We strive to achieve excellence in all concrete work our company performs. The CFA ‘Project of the Year’ competition gives us a gage to measure ourselves by against the best concrete foundation contractors in the nation. We know that if we can show well in the competition we have met our goal. The competitive nature of our staff helps bring out the best in all facets of our planning and execution on each and every job we do. The award confirms our consistent high level of achievement.”

Project of the Year–

Herbert Construction

Of Marietta, Georgia is a Project of the Year winner for the foundation of a 19,942 square foot home currently under construction in Canton, Georgia.

When the homeowners purchase an entire new subdivision to build their home, you know the house will be something special. Before the foundation for the main house was started, Herbert Construction was “tested” on the guesthouse within the same exclusive subdivision. The guesthouse itself was a 4,625 square foot home, a large home by most standards.

When the main residence was started it was a hurry-up job, complicated by the fact that the architect was still drawing it. Josh Morris, who draws all of Herbert’s jobs on CAD, was working extremely long hours to expedite the job drawings, “only portions of the foundation would be released for construction at a time, but even when a section was supposedly finalized, the architect, engineer, or the home owner would change something. It was impossible to get ahead.”

One of the most difficult portions of the project was the 385 lineal feet of radius walls with various wall heights of 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18 feet tall. “In several instances, circular walls intersected into other circular walls. In one instance, three circular walls intersected at the same point,” said Doug Herbert, President of Herbert Construction Co. “Deep brick ledge in most of the curved walls further complicated the construction.”

Amanda Morris, VP of Operations, schedules all the crews, calculates and orders the concrete and schedules the pumps. She the Year indicated that concrete scheduling was quite difficult on this project. “From a scheduling standpoint the job was much more difficult than usual because it was so out of the ordinary. We’re not used to that many tall radius walls and it was hard to know how much wall we’d get set each day. Each wall was a different radius and a different height.”

Most residential foundations are drawn with primarily ninety-degree corners. Ninety-degree corners are the easiest to form because any other angle requires special corner forms, special fillers, and extra bracing. In this project there were a total of 2,682 vertical feet of corners other than ninety-degrees.

The multifaceted structure included two garages, separated from the main foundation area, but attached by second story framing, creating a porte-cochere with an automobile court behind the garages. Two hundred seventy-five feet of retaining walls were also part of the project. There were a total of 935 cubic yards of concrete in the walls and footings, and 35 tons of rebar.

It’s nice to be complimented for a job well done, especially when the scope of the project is so extensive. “From the start, Leonard Jacklett with Jacklett Construction, Inc.—the general contractor— made his expectations clear regarding the level of quality and professionalism he needed from us, and the schedule that we had to hit,” said Carl Hire, who managed the job for Herbert Construction. “He expressed a genuine level of appreciation for the job we were doing. His sincere thanks always assured me that we were exceeding his expectations.”

Doug Herbert recognizes the marketing benefits of winning a national award such as this. “Winning this award brings our company national attention,” he said. “However, the real benefit for us comes from publicizing it in our own building markets. We will incorporate this award into all of our sales and marketing efforts. This separates our company from all of the other concrete contractors in our area. It’s a huge advantage for us.”

Honorable Mention–

Procon, Inc.

Of Rocky Mount, Virginia received honorable mention for the foundation to a 9,065 square foot single family home in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

The foundation consisted 1,464 lineal feet of wall ranging in height from two feet high to seventeen feet high with footings as wide as 8’-6”. Concrete totaled 862 cubic yards for the footings and walls. Over 66 tons of rebar were used in this very impressive project.

Barry Herbert is a 45-year veteran of the concrete industry. He is CEO of Herbert Construction Co., which performs work throughout the Southeast with its corporate headquarters in Atlanta. He’s a member of ACI’s 332 Residential Concrete Committee, is Past President of the Concrete Foundation Association (CFA), a CFA Certified Concrete Technician, and in 2009 was presented with CFA’s coveted Robert D. Sawyer Distinguished Service award for his contributions to the concrete foundation industry. For more information visit www.HerbertConstruction.com.

Honoring Wendy Ward

It is with great sadness that the Constructive Communication, Inc. team shares with you that Wendy Ward, Senior Vice President, passed away Friday night, May 17 at the age of 32. She is survived by her husband Chris, daughter Caroline (6) and son Jack (3).

For the last two years, Wendy has bravely fought breast cancer. During her battle, she inspired so many with her optimism and strength. In fact, last year she was chosen by Komen Columbus as their first “Most Courageous Mom Survivor.”

She was known to keep everyone in good spirits and make friends everywhere she went and with all whom she had contact. Her quick wit, compassion and dedication to being the best mom, friend, sister, aunt, daughter and employee never wavered.

Wendy celebrated her 10th anniversary with the company in April and during her battle, she continued to stay involved and work when her treatments allowed. In fact, many did not know about her cancer as she didn’t want any special treatment. But even when she didn’t have the strength to carry her usual workload, she continued to be an advocate for all our clients and the industries we serve. From the early days when the company was just six months old and she joined as the second employee, Wendy quickly asserted herself as the voice for our organization and our clients. She was adamant about doing the right thing and was known for pushing clients to share that same passion and dedication to get the job done, and done right. Her tenacity and energy were contagious.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. This will help women and families everywhere who are affected by Breast Cancer. These funds will go to support vital clinical and genetic research into the causes and treatment of breast cancer at over 70 leading medical institutions across the U.S. and around the globe.

To donate: https://support.bcrfcure.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=14. Wendy will always have a special place in our heart.

Summer 2012 —Way Up North

It may be the middle of winter but its time you start making your plans for the CFA Summer Meeting 2012 at the Grand Traverse Resort in Traverse City, Michigan. The dates of the event will be July 26-28. 2012. The water should be warm enough to swim in by then and the frost will be off the greens by 10:00 am.

Building on the success of last year’s event will be a challenge but we feel we have the strongest line-up of presentations we have ever assembled for a summer meeting. There will be a variety of presentation formats as well as a broad range of topics. Our goal is to leave you with enough information and potential cost savings to pay for the meeting several times over in your business. We know many of you don’t have the time and money to go on vacations so we have included enough educational materials to make it worth your while as a business venture. There will be time to enjoy the area as well, and you are more than welcome to extend your stay.

Two “Staples” in our program of the past several years will make return appearances. David Whitlock, an Atlanta attorney who has spoken on immigration lay and employees as subcontractors will present on how to legally counter Unionization at this summers conference. David is very knowledgeable and always entertaining. He has a way of connecting with our audiences. Doug Staebler is the other long-time returning presenter. Doug will discuss increasing production through production-based pay rates. Managing production at the job site with hourly employees has always been a challenge. “Piece rate pay” might be a solution for at least a portion your work.

Doug Herbert was just getting started with his plethora of simple, cost-effective marketing ideas when his hour was over. We have asked him back to give us more tips, tricks, and ideas to inexpensively market your businesses.

When you are looking at your weather radar you might have seen some unusual blips. Those blips are OHSA inspectors waiting to descend on your companies to enforce new fall protection regulations which the residential foundation industry has, for the most part, been exempt from. No longer is that the case. Learn with the CFA committee and team have been working on to help you avoid huge fines and comply with the law.

We will expand and better organize the Speed networking portion of the program this year. Networking with peers is still listed as the most valuable membership benefit and this exercise helps you expand your network of peers. We will also employ round table discussions in order for you to talk more privately in smaller groups as you share ideas, thoughts, and even the occasional failure.

A technology panel discussion will bring you up-to-speed on how members are currently using modern technology to improve the efficiency of their businesses. Twitter, Linkedin, Global Positioning, Off the Shelf Scheduling, and pdf Markup software will be some of the innovations discussed. There will also be programs on the new CFA insurance captive and a certification seminar and exam for the Foundation Technician program. As you can see, there will be tremendous value in the educational portion of the program. 

The price of registration had to be increased by $100 this year to meet our minimum food and beverage requires (set 3 years ago) but we have added the Friday night dinner into the cost of registration so you will not have to pay extra for that event. We are looking into an extra cost winery tour/dinner for Thursday night following the reception.

You should make your hotel reservation now. When I performed an on-line check of the hotels website it shows that they are sold out (except for our block) for the nights of our event. You can register for the event as it draws closer. As with the last several years we have drastically reduced the room set aside to avoid attrition costs so rooms may be in short supply as the event draws near. Call the hotel directly at 1-800-968-7352 to make your reservation or register on-line. The code for the event is CFA0710. While we did not set aside any condominium rooms there are 1, 2 and 3 bedroom units available if you plan to bring the family.

Ed Sauter, Executive Director, CFA, esauter@cfawalls.org

CertainTeed® T-Roc™ Foundation Insulation System Achieves ICC-ES Approval

Leading North American building products manufacturer, CertainTeed Corporation, has received an evaluation report from ICC Evaluation Services, Inc. (ICC-ES), confirming that T-Roc™ Foundation Insulation System is building code compliant. T-Roc enables building professionals to bypass several costly, time-intensive tasks required to turn foundation walls into finished walls as part of a livable basement space.

Through the analysis of T-Roc, including testing, calculations and quality control methods, the ICC-ES report (ESR-2842) provides third-party verification to architects, builders, contractors and code officials that the product meets the 2006 and 2009 International Building Code® (IBC), and the 2006 and 2009 International Residential Code® (IRC). The comprehensive report is available at www.iccsafe.org.

T-Roc is a composite panel comprising CertainTeed® GlasRoc® paperless gypsum boards permanently laminated to high R-value expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam. The product is easily installed within conventional concrete wall forms at the time the foundation wall is poured, eliminating the need for stud frame out, batt insulation and drywall. The combination of GlasRoc and EPS delivers superior moisture resistance and provides no food source for mold growth, minimizing mold and mildew concerns. Once installed, T-Roc can be left as installed, painted as is, or can be finished using mesh tape and setting compound, followed by painting.

“T-Roc offers a faster, more economical approach to insulating and finishing poured concrete walls ,” says Mark DaSilva, Senior Marketing Manager for CertainTeed Foundations. “The ICC-ES Report provides specifiers and contractors with evidence that T-Roc is a superior, innovative, code compliant product that meets growing industry demands for production efficiency and energy savings.”

T-Roc exceeds UL 1715 fire test requirements for interior finishing material. T-Roc’s EPS foam is treated with non-toxic Perform Guard® for superior termite protection. To find out more about T-Roc, visit www.certainteed.com.

Irving Equipment is the new CIFA dealer

As 2012 begins, Cifa announces its new business strategy for the North American area. The historic Italian concrete machinery company, previously represented by its subsidiary Cifa USA, has appointed Irving Equipment LLC as its new sole dealer for the US market, with the aim of meeting new requirements on a market that is starting to show signs of recovery.

The crisis on the construction market has forced US companies to make significant changes. But now that the most acute years of the recession are hopefully behind us, American companies are finding that their machinery fleets are too small (many used machines having been exported) and obsolete.

“The economic trend is on an upturn; construction business is slowly but surely resuming, and a lot of machinery and equipment needs replacing”, says Mark Irving, Sales and Marketing Director of Irving Equipment.

Irving Equipment LLC is based Tiffin, Ohio, in the industrial heartland of the USA. The company, which was founded in 2003 by Joe and Kaye Irving, has worked with Cifa’s US subsidiary for years. This has enabled the Irving family to acquire long experience with the sale and maintenance of concrete machinery, and excellent knowledge of the electrical and hydraulic systems of truck-mounted equipment.

“For us, Irving is already one of the family”, says Clive Brown, Cifa’s Sales Support Manager for North America. “We’ve admired the quality of their work in the field of responsible sales and after-sales service for over 7 years. The dealership agreement is a further demonstration of our confidence in their work, and we will give them our full support.”

As Daniel Metivier, Commercial and After-sales Service Director, explains, “Irving LLC will focus on distributing all products sold under the Cifa brand, and will sell spare parts and after-sales service for the over 200 Cifa machines already operating in the USA”.

CFA ANNOUNCES PASSING OF FORMER PRESIDENT

We are saddened about the loss of CFA member and past-president Travis Gene Gloyd, 70, of Fort Wayne who passed away February 27, 2012. Born on December 9, 1941 in Fort Wayne, he was the son of the late Robert and Evlyn Gloyd. He graduated in 1961 from Huntertown High School. Travis worked at GE for 5 years. In 1969 he founded Gloyd Concrete, the family business the sons have continued and though Travis retired, he was still active in the business when needed. He was also a member of BCA and ABC. He married Beverly Engelmann in 1964 and they had three children Jeffrey (Teresa) Gloyd, Jill (Michael) Emenhiser, and Matthew (Heather) Gloyd, and 10 grandchildren. To sign the online guest book, go to www.mccombandsons.com.

12 TIPS For Preventing Back Injuries In Construction

25% of construction injuries are back injuries, so it’s worth planning, equipping and staffing sites to preserve back health

The Center for Construction Research and Training says the construction industry has the highest incident rate of back injuries of any industry except transportation. Of all the construction-related injuries that occur each year, 25% of them are back injuries.

Every year, a back injury causes 1 in 100 construction workers to miss work — usually missing about seven workdays, but sometimes more than 30. Most problems are low-back injuries. Repeated injury to your back can cause permanent damage and end your career.

Most back injuries are sprains and strains from lifting, lowering, carrying, pushing, and pulling materials. You are at higher risk of low-back injury if you carry heavy loads, must twist while carrying heavy loads, or work a lot while bent over or in other awkward postures.

Injuries can be reduced by planning, changing how work is done, and training workers and supervisors.

Plan

• Cut down on carrying. Have materials delivered close to where they will be used.
• Store materials at waist height whenever possible.
• Raise your work to waist level, if you can. Pipefitters use pipe stands. Masons have adjustable scaffolds to keep the work at waist height.
• Make sure floors and walkways are clear and dry. Slips and trips are a big cause of back injuries.
• Take rest breaks. When you are tired, you are more prone to injury.
• Get Help
• Use carts, dollies, forklifts, and hoists to move materials — not your back.
• Use carrying tools with handles to get a good grip on wallboard or other odd-shaped loads.
• If materials weigh more than about 50 pounds, do not lift them by yourself. Get help from another worker or use a cart.
• Move Carefully
• When lifting or carrying materials, keep the load as close to your body as you can.
• Try not to twist, when lifting and lowering materials. Turn your whole body instead.
• Lift and lower materials in a smooth steady way. Try not to jerk the lift.
• When you pick up materials off the ground, try supporting yourself by leaning on something while lifting. Don’t bend over; instead, kneel on one knee pull the load up on to your knee before standing. (Wear knee pads when you kneel.)

Apprentices

Apprentices get some of the hardest work to do. Being young and strong, they sometimes carry more weight than they should. Make sure apprentices are against back injuries, so they don’t end up with back problems and have to leave the trades.

Work with your employer to decide how the work can be changed protect you and your coworkers from back injuries. Build back-safety into any training. Fewer injuries mean better productivity and lower costs.

What About Back Belts?

Some contractors have workers wear back belts. If a doctor prescribes a back belt, it may help someone recovering from a back injury. But a recent government study (by NIOSH) found no evidence that back belts can prevent injuries.

Don’t depend on a back belt to protect you; instead, try to change the lifting work so it can’t hurt you.

If you have questions about stretching exercises, back belts, or other issues, visit www. cpwr.com, call or visit the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (1-800-35-NIOSH or www.cdc. gov/niosh), or OSHA (1-800-321- OSHA)

 

 

Source: Center for Construction Research and Trainingm Created: February 22, 2012As seen at forconstructionpros.com and Concrete Contractor magazine

PART II: IT’S ABOUT THAT TIME… Taking the next step.

In the last edition of Concrete Facts you were given some simple instructions to some very valuable assets for connecting with your Association and peers during a time when the economy makes travel difficult. Being able to plug in to discussions is the most inexpensive decision you can make to provide tools for progress in today’s market.

So, I might ask you the question again, “what are you waiting for?”

At the time of printing last time, there were 31 members of the LinkedIn private group for CFA members. Today, there are only 36, so most of you reading this column have just not taken the time (15-20 minutes) to get this done. Conversely, in the public ‘Concrete Foundations’ group there are not 573 members. Let me encourage you to go back to those instructions from the past edition or contact me if you no longer have your copy and I’ll get an excerpt to you. It is more than worth your minor time investment.

Since last issue, members of this private group have discussed the purchasing of stone-slingers, ideas for brand marketing of companies in the form of apparel, and OSHA regulations for walking surfaces. Much more is possible the more of you that connect and decide to contribute your thoughts or ask your questions.

For this issue, I want to give you the rest of the story or the steps to making this effective. I have heard from CFA members that LinkedIn is not very intuitive or easy to use. Although your first couple of interactions may try and prove that point, like anything, kicking the tires several times will improve your ability to move in and out quickly and not waste time trying to get around to what you want most, the discussions and the connections. That is what we are about to take a look at.

The next steps will detail the quickest way to get involved in our groups on LinkedIn and begin seeing benefit from your time investment.

We know that in order to benefit from the smallest amount of invested time, you need a few steps or ideas that can quickly produce results. Before we start in that direction let me tell you a bit about how LinkedIn operates.

You will receive email communications from LinkedIn when messages are sent to you through the network like when other people want to connect with you or when someone posts a message to the discussion area, etc.

It is important to note that anything that comes from LinkedIn will have graphics or logos telling you this. You will not be able to reply using your email program like you might think. A reply to an email notice will likely go directly to the person sending it to

You may also go back to LinkedIn and login (unless you’ve told it to stay connected) and look at the discussions (fig. 1) or check your Inbox (fig. 2) and you will be ready to go.

The inbox is just like your email only within LinkedIn. If someone sends you a private message or requests connection with you, you will receive a message here first and a notice will be sent to whatever email address you registered with. This benefits you since no matter what groups you join, all communication that is related to LinkedIn can be found separately here. It will also never be confused with spam or unwanted messages.

Finding Our Discussions

Whenever you are ready to start or participate in discussions, or even find what is being talked about, you need to login.

When you arrive at your welcome screen (fig. 3 ) the first thing you’ll want to do is click on the tab for “Groups”.

Here your summary of all groups you’ve joined will be shown (fig. 4) and you can select the one of interest.

Once you have been approved to join our private group, click on “CFA Members” and arrive at the landing page for this private group (fig. 5).

Across the page, near the top are the options for interacting with this group. They read as ‘Discussions’, ‘Members’, ‘Promotions’, ‘Jobs’ and ‘Search’. Pretty self-explanatory and ‘Discussions’ should be the one that is automatically set for you. You’ll find the most popular discussions listed in order. A title will describe the topic and then perhaps the question or details abbreviated. You’ll also see photos of the people that have participated and a bubble for the latest response. There is already quite a variety for you here. Let’s take a look at one discussion and get you involved.

Click on the title for “Panelizing Wall Software and Foundation Management Systems”, you will scroll down the page and find it is currently topic number eight (at the time I am writing this) and you’ll be taken to a dedicated page for this discussion (fig. 6).

You’ll find the full text for the question or subject to be talked about. You will see in descending order the persons that have commented on the topic and their response. In the case of this Panelizing topic, Tim Parrish (current CFA President), Mike Ausloos from Wisconsin and Rich Kubica from North Carolina have all posted responses. At the bottom of the list you’ll see a box representing you or your photo if you have made it to the point of uploading one. You’ll see a comment box for you to type your thoughts and then a check box pre-selected that guarantees you’ll be sent any updates to this thread. Go ahead, type in your thought here if you care to and then click the blue button to “Add Comment”.

That’s all there is to it.

You are now communicating in a valuable member tool. Admit it, it wasn’t that bad now was it? Once you have made it this far, you’ll be amazed at how convenient this is. If you don’t have time Monday through Thursday but then find yourself in your office on Friday with a spare half hour, come back and check LinkedIn. You can catch up on what others have been asking all week, you can start your own discussion by clicking on the “+Discussion” link seen in fig. 6 and you will be given a dialog box (fig. 7) where you enter your own subject and text.

 

The more you put into this effort, the more you’ll get out of it. You can like comments that others have made and you can disagree at any time. You can begin connecting with other members by following the direction LinkedIn gives you. You can follow someone that is making consistent comments and that you would like to read more every time they participate. And, best of all, you can do this once per day, once per week or come back in a month and get caught up. It is always here for you.

Here is a list of the discussions that are ongoing right now:

CFA Members

• Superior Wall vs. PIP Concrete Walls
• Panelizing Wall Software and Foundation Management Systems
• Safety Programming: Stacking Forms for High Walls
• Fall Protection Discussion – CFA Draft AFPP
• CFA Insurance Captive Momentum
• Fall Protection Standard Takes Effect 9/15/11
• Garage floors that are “too slick”. What is your solution?
• Jerry Hoyer: I need to come up with a warranty document for 15 years…
• “Has anyone sandblasted a concrete wall for exposed ag effect?…”
• “In case you have not heard yet, OSHA has issued…”
• Comparative Financial Ratios
• Public Review: Guide for the Interpretation of Structural Design Options
• And much, much more…

So, what are you waiting for? There is a step-by-step reality to getting you involved. There really is no excuse for not getting plugged in yourself and encouraging others from your company that can benefit and contribute to also getting involved. Let’s face it; connecting in the CFA is still the number one benefit. If your not connected, you’re not benefitting! LinkedIn has been set up with specific CFA content to give you a chance to participate in your Association without paying a single travel dollar. It merely takes a small investment in your time to generate potentially large benefit to your company.

When all else fails, call me. This is one of the many reasons why CFA staff is here to support you and make your experience valuable.