More contractors and dealers attended the 10th Annual Hardscape North America (HNA) trade show than ever before. Attendance for the 2016 HNA, an Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute event, and co-located GIE+EXPO jumped 11 percent over the prior year, with 10,500-plus landscape and hardscape professionals convening in late October at the Kentucky Exposition Center, Louisville.
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Members of the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) under the Geneva-based World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) concur with formal adoption of the United Nations-crafted Paris Agreement, under which signatory countries pursue long-term greenhouse gas emissions reduction measures. A threshold crossed earlier this fall—where more than 50 percent of signatories took official action toward commitments affirmed at the December 2015 Conference of Parties in Paris—triggered last month’s commencement of GHG management protocols.
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By a 6-0 vote last month, U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) members preliminarily determined there is reasonable indication that concrete reinforcing steel imports from Japan, Taiwan, and Turkey have materially injured the U.S. rebar industry. ITC figures show shipments from the three countries totaled nearly 20 percent of the $4.5 billion in rebar U.S. concrete construction consumed last year.
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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has tailored its new set of Recommended Practices for Safety and Health Programs to help employers establish a methodical approach to improving their workplaces. The document updates agency guidelines from 1989 to better reflect changes in the economy, workplaces, and evolving safety and health issues. It features an easier-to-use format, and should be particularly helpful to small and medium-sized businesses, agency officials note. Also new to the document is a section on multi-employer workplaces as well as a greater emphasis on continuous improvement.
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Ahead of his re-election on November 8, Georgia Ready Mixed Concrete Association (GRMCA) hosted Representative Rob Woodall (R-GA-7) at the Martin Marietta quarry in Augusta. The visit was a stop on a statewide transportation speaking tour, and the third meeting between Rep. Woodall and GRMCA members.
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Late in his successful White House campaign, GOP candidate Donald Trump introduced what he called “a bold, visionary plan for a cost-effective system of roads, bridges, tunnels, airports, railroads, ports and waterways, and pipelines in the proud tradition of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who championed the interstate highway system.” Construction interests take those observations to heart, along with the effect of a Trump Administration on federal agencies driving employment, environmental and land management policy.
Read MorePrivate sector employers, employees and job seekers will soon have a friend in the White House. Before looking at the new administration’s promise, a brief look back to November 2001, when this column noted Donald Trump’s appreciation for quality construction. The then-celebrity developer had assessed post-Twin Towers building practice in a prime time exchange with ABC 20/20 host Barbara Walters, citing “more concrete,” as a means of constructing “a great building a lot tougher than the World Trade Center turned out to be.”
Read MoreSources: ASTM International, West Conshocken, Pa.; CP staff
The green building industry-driven Program Operator Consortium has added as affiliate members the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association and Sustainable Solutions Corp. The Consortium launched last year to provide simpler, standardized, and more useful environmental-product transparency solutions and reduce complexity in the marketplace. It serves as an expert resource for creating product category rules (PCR), reviewing life cycle assessment reports (LCA), and verifying and publishing environmental product declarations (EPD).
Read MoreSources: ASTM International, West Conshohocken, Pa.; CP staff
Studio interviews plus construction site, testing lab, urban setting and Hoover Dam footage underpin the production value of a YouTube video on cement and concrete basics, plus the critical role of ASTM Committees C01 on Cement and C09 on Concrete and Concrete Aggregates standards.
Read MoreSources: U.S. Green Building Council, Washington, D.C.; CP staff
A new report documents large-scale environmental, health and economic benefits that Washington, D.C., could realize from such “smart surface” technologies as pervious concrete or permeable concrete paver installations, cool or green roofs, and solar photovoltaic panels. “Achieving Urban Resilience DC” estimates the District, as a stand alone municipality, could save $5 billion over 40 years; enhance health and livability; and, temper peak summer heat.
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