25 MOST FREQUENTLY CITED SAFETY STANDARDS DURING CONSTRUCTION INSPECTIONS
(October 1, 2005 – September 30, 2006)
from Virginia OSHA

Minimum Wage Increases 
Part of the emergency Iraq funding bill signed by the President on May 25 was an increase in minimum wage.  Increases are planned over the next three years as follows:

effective 7/24/07 - $5.85

effective 7/24/08 - $6.55

effective 7/24/09 - $7.25

Unintended incidents result in nearly 700,000 underground utility damages annually - more than one unintentional hit per minute.

Smart digging means calling 811 before each job.  Marked lines show diggers the approximate location of underground lines and helps prevent undesired consequences.

AGC – Saving You Money on Motor Vehicles
(ebulletin December 22, 2006)

AGC of America recently announced that it had negotiated a discount program for AGC members with General Motors.  In essence, negotiate your best deal, then show your AGC membership card and you will be entitled to an additional discount of up to $2,000 per vehicle.

For many members the savings on a single vehicle could exceed your AGC dues for the year.  And the more you buy, the more you save!

While all the details aren’t available yet, some basic information on this great money-saving program are at the end of this newsletter.

This is just another example of the value of AGC membership to your firm.

VOSH Multi-Employer Jobsite Policy
(eBulletin Sept. 29th, 2006)

In March the Virginia Safety and Health Codes Board conducted a public hearing on the Commonwealth’s policy relating to multi-employer jobsites.  AGC, and some AGC members, testified at that time that the policy should not always require the issuance of safety citations to the general contractor.

As a result of the public hearing, VOSH has revised its field operations manual and is now instructing its inspectors to look at the specific circumstances in these instances to determine:

• Contractual rights and responsibilities;
• Actual work practices on the site;
• Whether the individual employers knew or should have known of the hazard;
• Whether the employers had provided adequate safety and health programs and trained their employees;
• Whether employers had complied with VOSH standards requiring frequent and regular inspections of the jobsite;
• What was the level of technical expertise and experience of the employers involved;
• How long the hazard was in existence before the accident occurred.

Thus, if a VOSH inspector finds a safety violation on a jobsite, he will most likely cite:

• The employer who actually creates the hazard;
• The employer whose employees are exposed to the hazard;
• The employer who has the responsibility for actually correcting the hazard;
• The controlling employer.

The difference is that now the controlling employer is considered to be either:

• The employer who, by contract or actual work practices, is responsible for overall jobsite safety, and who has authority for ensuring that the hazardous condition is corrected (the general contractor); or
• The employer who, by contract or actual work practice, is responsible for safety and health conditions for a specific area of the worksite, or a specific work practice, or a specific phase of the construction project, and has authority for ensuring that the hazardous condition is corrected (usually a prime or subcontractor).

Click here for a copy of the VOSH Manual

Quick Facts About the Construction Industry

The construction industry has played a powerful role in sustaining economic growth and helping the recovery.

•   Construction is a major source of jobs. The industry provides employment to 7.5 million employees—more than 5% of the total nonfarm workforce. From June 2005 to June 2006, construction employment rose by 228,000 or 3.1%—more than double the 1.4% increase in all new nonfarm jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).  More than 260,000 people are employed in Virginia's construction industry.

 •   Construction jobs are good-paying jobs. In June 2006, seasonally adjusted hourly earnings in construction averaged $20.03 per hour, 20% higher than the average for all private industry nonsupervisory workers, according to BLS.

•   Construction makes a disproportionately large contribution to GDP. The value of construction put in place in 2005 exceeded $1.14 trillion—more than 9% of gross domestic product (GDP), which was considerably higher than the construction industry’s share of employment.

•   Construction is a major purchaser of U.S. manufactured products. In 2005, shipments of construction materials and supplies topped $500 billion for the first time—nearly 11% of total manufacturing shipments. Shipments of construction machinery totaled $33 billion—10% of total machinery shipments.

 •   The typical construction firm size is very small. In 2004, according to the Census Bureau, there were 760,000 construction establishments with 6.6 million paid employees, plus more than two million firms without paid employees—mainly self-employed individuals but also partnerships and holding companies.  Thus, average employment was only nine per establishment. (An establishment is a permanent business location. Most construction firms have only one establishment.)

 •  Small business is big in construction. In 2004, 91% of construction establishments had fewer than 20 employees. Only 1% had 100 or more.

 •   The 2003 Construction Industry Annual Financial Survey, conducted by the Construction Financial Management Assn., included responses from 575 companies. Net margins in 2002 averaged 1.7%. The return on assets averaged 5.1%

The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) recently announced it has reached an agreement with The National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) for the development of AGCxml, a set of standard industry schemas for exchanging electronic data among A/E/C business process software applications in order to increase efficiency and collaboration among facility owners and design and construction professionals.

AGCxml will be one of the few document exchange standards to address the interoperability issue in the construction industry, enabling any software products or tools using AGCxml to exchange information in a manner that is recognizable between authors using different software systems.  While building information modeling has received a great deal of recent attention in the industry, AGCxml is intended to address a related challenge by facilitating the reliable, electronic exchange of the business-to-business transactional data created by owners, contractors and design professionals in the course of every design and construction project and found in such documents or forms as owner/contractor agreements, change orders and requests for information.

AGCxml will enable the efficient exchange of electronic construction project information between various industry software applications, including software designed for generating construction contract documents, project management, accounting or related construction work-flow systems.

Peninsula Construction Academy

Peninsula district AGC companies, in cooperation with other local agencies, will be launching the Peninsula Construction Academy this fall.  The initiative is a proactive response to the continuing need for qualified commercial construction industry workers.

The effort involves Peninsula AGC of Virginia, the Peninsula Council for Workforce Development, New Horizons Regional Education Center and Thomas Nelson Community College.  The goal is to provide a series of courses and training certificates to prepare individuals for the continuum of career opportunities within the construction industry serving the Peninsula Region.  Key elements of the program will include safety training, workplace readiness skills and computer and technical skills. 

The Skill Certificate Adult Program is set to roll out this August and includes 28 hours of employment skill training and 66 hours of skills training.  Initial skill areas will focus upon General Carpentry, Electrical, Plumbing, Masonry and Concrete Finishing.

The Leadership Pathway portion of the program is being developed for the 2007 school year and will include a focus upon Construction Leadership, Construction Management and other related areas that can lead to an Associates Degree in Project Management.

Peninsula District AGC recently held a Breakfast Seminar to introduce the Peninsula Construction Academy to interested companies.  For further information regarding this program, contact AGC Executive Director Dick Moyers at (804) 364-5504.

McGraw-Hill Construction, the nation’s leading provider of construction information and intelligence services and the AGC of Virginia, have announced that they have entered into an “Industry Alliance Agreement.”  The partners will promote the AGC of Virginia /McGraw-Hill Construction Network and Bid Management Service, offering members of AGC-VA the opportunity to find, manage and bid jobs faster and easier than ever before.

“The AGC of Virginia entered into this alliance to add value to the benefits enjoyed by our members,” said Steven Vermillion, AGC of Virginia CEO. “We believe that access to the various products and services offered by McGraw-Hill Construction will enhance our members’ competitiveness in the marketplace and increase their ability to access viable construction information.”

Vermillion also noted that significant discounts are available to AGC of Virginia members through the new program. Members will have access to the McGraw-Hill Construction Network Bid Management Service at special AGC of Virginia rates. 

In addition to access to the McGraw-Hill Construction Network, members will receive special pricing on other services and products. Through web links between the AGC of Virginia and McGraw-Hill Construction, members will also be able to participate in a variety of future events.  

"The AGC of Virginia believes these services will provide a great opportunity for our members to gain a competitive edge and increase profits.  We are pleased to promote the AGC of Virginia /McGraw-Hill Construction Network and Bid Management Service.  We believe this Network will provide our members with a fast, easy way to find and manage jobs,” added Vermillion.  

“We are proud that the AGC of Virginia selected McGraw-Hill Construction to provide their members with construction information, intelligence and bidding services,” said Cleveland Parker, Director, Sales, McGraw-Hill Construction.  “We believe that this Network will save AGC of Virginia members time and money in finding jobs, securing plans and specifications, and will increase their members’ ability to grow more profitably.”

Health Savings Accounts

Legislation passed this year allows insurance subscribers to make tax deductible contributions to a Health Savings Account (HSA). And we are pleased to advise that Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield recently announced that they will offer these programs.

The money deposited into an HSA can be used to pay qualified healthcare expenses. With a high deductible health plan, as defined by the same bill, these consumer-driven concepts may help reduce health insurance premiums.

The potential savings with these plans is largely dependent on your company’s particular situation. Some of the most immediate advantages may be to an employer currently enrolled in a low or no deductible PPO plan, and to small businesses with very little claims experience.

To learn how HSAs and high deductible health plans may reduce your company’s health insurance premiums, please contact AGC’s endorsed insurance professional, Jay Dew at (804) 965-9744 or (800) 234-7817.