Portable Hand-Washing Stations

Read More

Oldcastle APG packaging business unit goes from sand to sanitizer

The Oldcastle APG division specializing in paver jointing sand and concrete hardscape unit surface treatments has added a medical-grade sanitizer aimed at supporting the industry and trade professionals during the current pandemic and beyond. Techniseal Hand Sanitizer abides World Health Organization-recommended guidelines for handrub formulas and is manufactured according to U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations. With 75 percent alcohol content, it quickly rids hands of germs, bacteria and viruses in the workplace, public spaces or at home. The product is shipped in 5-gal. boxes, their built-in lockable dispensers allowing for easy use at sanitary checkpoints or mess-free filling and refilling of smaller-scale containers.

Read More

Quikrete continues expansion into 3D printing with housing demos

On the heels of a cooperative research and development agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to design next-generation concrete mixes ideal for printable construction of large-scale structures or components, Atlanta-based Quikrete Companies is branching out further into the 3D-printing process with its latest partnership.

Read More

LafargeHolcim, GE Renewable Energy turn 3D-printed turbine pedestals

The latest target in a LafargeHolcim Ltd. investigation of 3D-printed concrete elements or structures is a pedestal for a new class of turbines, 150-200 meters high, that have the potential to harness one-third or more energy than the shorter towers dotting wind farms the world over. After participating in a 10-meter scale model printing late last year, the Swiss concrete, cement and aggregates giant has entered a partnership with GE Renewable Energy and Copenhagen-based COBOD International A/S to develop supertall wind turbines with optimized, 3D-printed bases. GE Renewable Energy will provide expertise related to turbine design, manufacture and commercialization; COBOD, short for Constructing Buildings on Demand, will focus on robotics automation and 3D printing assemblies; and, LafargeHolcim will refine the concrete material or ink, along with its processing and application methods.

Read More

Commission staff assess cloud services security for businesses

From the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Consumer Protection’s Elisa Jillson and Andy Hasty … As cloud computing has become business as usual, frequent news reports of data breaches and other missteps should make companies think carefully about how they secure their data. The Federal Trade Commission has tips for business about making use of cloud services safer—both for owners and customers who rely on them to safeguard their information.

Read More

3D-printed concrete specialist to keynote agency’s two-day, online conference

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Building Sciences has replaced its Washington, D.C. conference this year with Building Innovation 2020: Virtual Edition, billing the August 18-19 program as “a powerfully compact event, focusing on technology, workforce, resilience and Covid-19.”

Read More

Court rejects Big Labor petition to force OSHA’s hand on Covid-19 standard

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit dismissed an American Federation of Labor–Council of Industrial Organizations petition seeking an order compelling the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for infectious disease and Covid-19 workplace exposure. AFL-CIO had filed a writ of mandamus petition in May after initially petitioning OSHA in March to issue an ETS addressing the virus outbreak.

Read More

EPA measures air pollutant levels’ 50-year descent

The federal government’s latest annual report on air quality trends, “Our Nation’s Air – EPA Celebrates 50 Years!,” documents pollution reduction progress from 1970-2019, emphasizing gains during the last few years. The combined emissions of Environmental Protection Agency-designated criteria pollutants and their precursors dropped 7 percent from 2017 to 2019. That metric reflects three-year declines in the emissions levels of nitrogen oxides, -10 percent; particulate matter 2.5, -1 percent; sulfur dioxide, -16 percent; carbon monoxide, -6 percent; and, volatile organic compounds, -3 percent.

Read More