Newsline

According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics/Department of Labor Sept. 11 report, construction fatalities decreased slightly in 2013, and fatalities in the industry have dropped 36 percent since 2006. There were 796 workplace deaths in the private construction industry in 2013 and 806 in 2012. That translates into a 2013 fatality rate of 9.4 per 100,000 workers, down from 9.5 in 2012.

With the ABC Career Fair we’re helping you find the best recruits to join your team. Whether you’re looking to fill an internship or full-time position, we can introduce you to some of the top construction management students from across the country. If you want to pre-screen and interview students who could potentially be the next-best hire, join us Nov. 11 in Miami, Fla.

The annual National Craft Championships (NCC) brings together the best craft trainees from across the country to show off their skills and compete in one of thirteen crafts. At the end of the week, 13 of the competitors will be walking away with a gold medal around their necks and a cash prize in their pocket—showing that your training program produces truly the best and most-skilled craft professionals. 

Did you know that less than 38% of the voting-age population actually voted in the last mid-term election of 2010? The new online election resource ABCvotes.com equips ABC members and their employees with the tools to make the right decisions in the upcoming elections on Nov. 4. 

Under a final rule issued By the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Sept. 11, contractors will face new deadlines and requirements for reporting severe injuries on the jobsite. The rule will go into effect Jan. 1, 2015 for all employers covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act, even those who are exempt from maintaining injury and illness records.

The Obama administration has recently issued several heavy-handed executive actions that affect the federal contracting community, particularly the construction industry. These actions cover everything from potential blacklisting to super-minimum wage to overtime.

As required under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Treasury (Treasury) Aug. 28 released draft information reporting form instructions that employers will use to report on the health coverage they offer their employees. This impacts employers with 50 or more full-time employees and full-time-equivalent employees as well as employers that self-insure. Effective 2015, employers must collect the information required to be reported under ACA and, beginning in 2016, file the information reporting returns with the IRS. Learn more by reading the update from Littler Mendelson, ABC’s general counsel .

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) New York District has issued a survey requesting comments from the construction industry on the potential use of a project labor agreement (PLA) for a beach erosion and dredging project in Sea Bright, New Jersey.

Green Globes® certification guides projects to save money, conserve energy and water use, use sustainable materials and create healthy indoor environments. It is a cost-effective system for designing, constructing and operating high-performance interiors, buildings and facilities.

In a court ruling Aug. 28, a San Diego, Calif., superior court judge upheld legislation (S.B. 7) that allows the state to limit construction funding to charter cities that do not subject their locally funded projects to prevailing wage requirements, negatively impacting merit shop contractors that complete public projects within those cities and the taxpayers paying the bill for the projects.  

Finding the right way to thank your employees can be difficult, but through ABC’s Workforce Development Awards, we’re giving you the opportunity to showcase their talent, hard work and dedication to the construction industry. Your construction craft professionals have the chance to win our national award, Craft Professional of the Year along with additional prizes. All you have to do, is nominate them.