Sources: Occupational Safety and Health Administration; CP staff As employers approach one year of pandemic response measures, OSHA’s just-issued “Protecting Workers: Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of Covid-19 in the Workplace” provides updated recommendations plus reminders of existing safety and health standards. Among essential prevention program elements, the guidance recommends that employers:
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PCA projects minor 2020-21 shipment drops, or gain, under two recovery models
Sources: Portland Cement Association, Skokie, Ill.; CP staff
Portland Cement Association Chief Economist and Senior Vice President Ed Sullivan offers two U.S. cement consumption scenarios around “U” or “W” shaped economic recovery curves, with respective 2020 and 2021 figures of -3.4 percent or +1.7 percent and -4.8 percent and -2.7 percent—this year’s projections measured against 2019 shipments.
Read MoreOSHA revises enforcement policies for coronavirus infection cases
Source: Occupational Safety and Health Administration
As states reopen after more than two months of shelter orders, OSHA has adopted two revised enforcement policies with respect to coronavirus exposure in workplaces, spurred by improved understanding about infection transmission and prevention throughout the course of the pandemic.
Read MoreASTM C01/09 summer meetings canceled; alternatives pursued
Source: ASTM International, West Conshohocken, Pa.
ASTM International staff will confer with C01 Committee on Cement and C09 Committee on Concrete and Concrete Aggregates leadership regarding alternatives to meetings scheduled June 28-July 2 in Boston, all of which have been canceled. ASTM announced the change in response to continued review of information and recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, and other governmental bodies; input from ASTM International members whose organizations are increasingly concerned with travel; and, specific information on the projected city restrictions, with input from the hotels. Looking forward, ASTM will rely on these and other relevant criteria and input points to assess the status of future standards development meetings.
Read MoreOSHA outlines pandemic response enforcement plan measures
Source: Occupational Safety and Health Administration
An interim enforcement response plan for the coronavirus pandemic provides guidance to Occupational Safety and Health Administration Area Offices plus compliance safety and health officers (CSHO) for handling coronavirus-related complaints, referrals or severe illness reports. Effectively immediately, it contains what OSHA Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Loren Sweatt calls “commonsense procedures for investigating complaints related to the coronavirus while also ensuring the safety of workers, employers, and inspectors.”
Read MoreTransportation groups see nearly one-third drop in state DOT budgets
Sources: Highway Materials Group, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Washington, D.C.
The 11-member Highway Materials Group has requested that U.S. House and Senate leadership consider granting immediate use of nearly $50 billion in flexible federal funding to offset revenue shortfalls constraining state department of transportation budgets.
Read MoreContractors report project delays, cancellations, supply disruptions
Source: Associated General Contractors of America, Washington, D.C.
Of the nearly 1,650 contractor participants in an online survey gauging market activity amid federal, state and local pandemic response measures, 39 percent note that owners have halted or canceled current construction projects, while 23 percent cite material, part or equipment shortages, including respirators and other protective gear.
Read MoreProducer, contractor coalitions pursue work shutdown exemptions
Sources: National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Alexandria, Va.; Associated General Contractors of America, Washington, D.C.; CP staff
Major construction material and product groups, along with contractor counterparts, have implored federal, state and local officials to exempt building and nonbuilding work from business shutdowns as part of efforts to contain the coronavirus spread.
Read MoreRegistration trajectory points toward near-record ConExpo-Con/Agg
Source: Association of Equipment Manufacturers, Milwaukee
ConExpo-Con/Agg and International Fluid Power Exposition organizers closed out the last week of February with 4,000-plus new registrations for their March 10-14 equipment, education and networking bonanza at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Advance registration is well ahead of the 2017 show, they add, and signals attendance exceeding 130,000.
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