Feds enter suit charging defective rebar, quality control lapses in nuclear waste facility

Sources: U.S. Department of Justice; CP staff

The Justice Department has intervened in a False Claims Act lawsuit, alleging Energy & Process Corp. (E&P) of Tucker, Ga., knowingly failed to perform required quality assurance procedures and supplied defective steel reinforcing bars in connection with a Department of Energy nuclear waste treatment facility contract.

Read More

U.S. stainless steel bar producers invoke antidumping duty terms for Indian peers

Sources: Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, Washington, D.C.; CP staff

Through the U.S. Department of Commerce, seven domestic stainless steel bar producers have filed a request for changed circumstances reviews, arguing that Viraj Profiles and Venus Wire Industries Pvt. Ltd. should be immediately reinstated back under the existing antidumping duty order on competing product from India. Following respective 2004 and 2011 revocations from the order, they contend, Viraj Profiles and Venus Wire resumed dumping concrete reinforcing and other stainless steel bar products in the U.S.

Read More

Landscape architects embrace resilient design principles

Sources: American Society of Landscape Architects, Washington, D.C.; CP staff

ASLA’s new online guide [https://www.asla.org/resilient] explains how communities can better protect themselves from natural disasters through resilient landscape planning and design, including strategies to help control flooding through such green infrastructure as pervious or permeable pavements.

Read More

Trimble streamlines concrete pipe-grade lasers

Trimble Construction Tools recently announced the Spectra Precision DG613 and DG813 pipe lasers, a new generation of DialGrade models for gravity flow pipe lines. The new lasers are smaller in length than their predecessors, the DG511 and DG711, a feature especially helpful when setting up the units in manholes with precast inverts and tight radii. Both models are fully self-leveling over their entire grade range of -12 to +40 percent. The cross axis is also fully compensated, providing quick set up and ensuring the laser will be level without having to manually rotate it in the invert.

Read More

USDA certifies Cresset architectural form release agent

Cresset Chemical Co. has attained U.S. Department of Agriculture Biobased Product certification for its Crete-Lease Bio-Tru ALL-Xtra with Poly-Release agent, becoming one of the first concrete-grade products to carry such labeling. Bio-Tru ALL-Xtra is a chemically active, non-staining, product that breaks cleanly from all form types and delivers high-impact visual results for architectural surfaces.

Read More

Onsite wastewater treatment spurs opportunities for precasters

Onsite wastewater treatment spurs opportunities for precasters

Cast across North America by local precasters, and integrated into standard size septic tanks, Premier Tech Aqua’s Ecoflo Coco Biofilter is widely recognized as an ecological and durable compact filter for onsite wastewater treatment systems. By combining their concrete fabrication expertise with Ecoflo developer Premier Tech, precast producers have gained a stronger foothold in the residential market by giving a new purpose to their existing tanks. Compact, easy-to-install and lift, the filter’s modular design can also be scaled to fit most types of commercial applications.

Read More

3M Personal Safety Division launches Center for Respiratory Protection

The site guides work place health and safety professionals on a path to compliance with OSHA guidelines for employees requiring respiratory protection.

From exposure assessments to respirator selection to fit testing, a written respiratory protection program has multiple requirements companies must meet. To help health and safety managers find the resources they need to develop and implement a successful, Occupational Safety and Health Administration-compliant program, 3M Personal Safety Division has announced the online Center for Respiratory Protection.

Read More