Flashings

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Roofing manufacturers join Clinton's environmental initiative

Beachwood, Ohio-based Tremco Roofing and Building Maintenance and BASF Polyurethane Foam Enterprises LLC, Wyandotte, Mich., have joined the Clinton Foundation's Climate Initiative (CCI), which aims to combat global climate change. Tremco Roofing and Building Maintenance has been named CCI's cool roof systems supplier, and BASF Polyurethane Foam Enterprises will offer CCI member cities its spray polyurethane foam roofing. Additionally, Tremco Roofing and Building Maintenance has been selected by the William J. Clinton Presidential Center to provide a green roof system for the Clinton Library in Little Rock, Ark.

Former President Bill Clinton launched CCI in August 2006. CCI aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by providing sustainable solutions to cities worldwide.

"Climate change is a global issue that we must address immediately if we are to reverse its catastrophic effects," Clinton says. "I am pleased that many businesses are working with my foundation to supply energy-efficient and clean-energy products. By offering these products at a discounted rate, we can ensure more cities and citizens have access to them and that the market for clean-energy technology will grow."

New standard encourages sustainability

The International Organization of Standards (ISO) has issued ISO 21930:2007, "Sustainability in building construction—Environmental declaration of building products," which is designed to ensure building construction materials are environmentally friendly.

The standard describes principles for building products' environmental declarations and aims to help construction industry professionals gain information addressing the environmental effects of buildings and other construction.

The goal of environmental declarations in the construction industry is to provide accurate information about building products' environmental implications and increase demand for building products that cause less stress on the environment.

ISO 21930:2007 is available through ISO's Web site, www.iso.org.

The Alliance establishes scholarship program

The Roofing Industry Alliance for Progress has established the Melvin Kruger Endowed Scholarship Program, which will replace the Alliance's current scholarship program. The program will begin with the 2009-10 academic year and will award scholarships to individuals involved with the roofing industry and those who indicate a desire to enter it.

The scholarships will provide recipients with $5,000 per year for enrollment in accredited university or vocational programs. Eligible participants must be employees of NRCA member companies; immediate family members of employees of NRCA member companies; or students indicating a strong interest in entering the roofing industry. Scholarships may be renewed annually, provided recipients reapply and continue to meet scholarship criteria.

The Alliance's goal is to secure pledges to the scholarship program so that commitments will total $2 million by April. The Alliance initially will fund the program with $400,000 from prior scholarship fund receipts. Additionally, the Alliance will match 50 percent of the first $100,000 pledged each year during a five-year period, as well as commit $25,000 per year thereafter to fund the scholarships directly. Once the program is fully funded, it is expected that 25 scholarships will be awarded each year.

Donations to the Melvin Kruger Endowed Scholarship Program are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law, and funds can be established in the names of individuals or companies.

For more information about the Melvin Kruger Endowed Scholarship Program, contact Bennett Judson, the Alliance's executive director, at (800) 323-9545, ext. 7513 or bjudson@roofingindustryalliance.net.

IRS issues mileage deduction rates

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued its 2008 optional standard mileage rates for calculating the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.

Effective Jan. 1, the standard mileage rate for the use of a car (including vans, pickup trucks and panel trucks) is 50.5 cents per mile driven for business purposes, an increase of 2 cents per mile from the 2007 rate. The standard mileage rate is 19 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes, a decrease of 1 cent per mile from the 2007 rate, and 14 cents per mile driven in service to charitable organizations.

The standard mileage rates are based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an auto­mobile. Runzheimer International, Rochester, Wis., conducted the study.

Help non-English-speaking employees adjust

Businesses function best when all employees—including non-English-speaking employees—feel like part of a team. Here are some suggestions for helping non-English-speaking employees adjust to your business's work environment:

• Make hiring decisions based on the specific responsibilities of the job in question, and focus on language only when it is vital to the job.
• Try to limit the number of languages employees speak on a work site. Although it may be unreasonable to expect all your employees to speak one language, too many languages can create confusion.
• Don't separate employees based on language. Help employees find ways to work together.
• Provide opportunities for employees to expand their language skills. Offer non-English-speaking employees a chance to learn English as a second language, and provide similar opportunities for English-speaking employees to learn other employees' native languages.
• There is more to culture than language; demonstrate your willingness to accommodate different customs and traditions.

DETAILS

Howard Willis
Owner and chief operating officer of Krupnik Brothers Inc., Glen Burnie, Md.

What is the most unusual roofing project you've performed?
Installing copper diamond-shaped mansard panels on a temple in Washington, D.C.

Why did you become a roofing contractor?
My wife's family has been in the roofing business for 50 years. The company needed an estimator, and we wanted to return to Maryland. It was a good fit.

What was your first roofing experience?
Painting a built-in tin gutter on a four-story mansion without using fall protection.

What are your favorite items on your desk?
A picture of my wife and family. Also, my estimating program; I still remember pencil and paper.

What do you consider your most rewarding experiences?
My marriage and children. Also, every time I shoot under 76 on a golf course.

What are your best and worst habits?
My best habit is being laid back. My worst is being laid back.

What are your biggest pet peeves?
Complainers and whiners.

What was your first job?
I was a paperboy. My first real job was as a Bethlehem Steel Shipyard steel worker.

What are the most challenging aspects of your job?
The myriad of government regulations (federal, state and local) associated with running a small business.

What is your favorite stress reliever?
Golf.

What is your favorite vacation?
Somewhere warm with a golf course and beach.

What do you consider a waste of time?
Useless government paperwork.

If you could invite any three people to dinner (dead or alive), whom would you invite and why?
Ronald Reagan—my favorite politician/orator, and Chevy Chase and Bill Murray—they make me laugh.

What is your roofing industry involvement?
I am president of the Mid Atlantic Roofing Contractors Association, and I'm on NRCA's board of directors.

People would be surprised to know …
I'm 50 percent American Indian.

OSHA requires employers to pay for PPE

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued its Employer Payment for Personal Protective Equipment; Final Rule—72:64341-64430, which states employers in the construction industry are required to pay for nearly all personal protective equipment (PPE) used by their employees when such equipment is necessary to protect employees from job-related injuries, illnesses or fatalities. OSHA concluded the rule will enhance compliance with existing PPE requirements and reduce misuse and nonuse of PPE, resulting in about 21,000 fewer occupational injuries per year.

The rule does not require employers to provide PPE where none previously was required and includes exceptions for ordinary safety-toe footwear, prescription safety eyewear and weather-related apparel.

The final rule, which is published at www.osha.gov, becomes effective Feb. 13 and must be implemented by employers by May 15.

Fewer small businesses offer health benefits

According to the 2007 National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans, a recent study conducted by Mercer LLC, a human resources consulting firm, fewer small businesses offered health insurance to their employees in 2007 than in 2006.

The study surveyed nearly 3,000 businesses employing between 10 and 200 employees and found that 61 percent of the employers surveyed offer health insurance. This is down from 63 percent in 2006.

Additionally, the survey indicates U.S. health benefit costs rose 6.1 percent to an average of $7,983 per employee in 2007.

The National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans will be published in late March. Copies of the report can be pre-ordered online at www.mercer.com/ushealthplansurvey.