Flashings

Rebuilding Together® and Lowe's® seek Tradesperson of the Year™

Rebuilding Together and Lowe's have partnered for their annual contest to find the Rebuilding Together Tradesperson of the Year.

The winner will be someone who gives back to the community; adds value to his or her skilled trade industry; and reflects the values of integrity, community, service and volunteerism.

The grand prize winner will receive a trip for two to Super Bowl XLVIII in East Rutherford, N.J., in 2014 and $500 spending cash. Five finalists will receive prizes and products from the campaign's sponsors. The grand prize winner and finalists will be interviewed by Mark and Theresa Clement on their MyFixItUpLife® radio talk show.

The campaign will begin June 21 at Rebuilding Together's Building a Healthy Neighborhood 2013 event in Columbus, Ohio. Nominations can be submitted online at www.rttradespersonoftheyear.com beginning June 21; the final date to submit nominations is Sept. 1. Finalists will be announced Sept. 11, and the winner will be announced at Hanley Wood's Remodeling Show and DeckExpo, which will be held Oct. 16-18 in Chicago.

ConsensusDocs™ releases agreement

ConsensusDocs has released ConsensusDocs 247 Owner & Consultant Agreement, which provides an industry standard contract for an owner who wants to retain a consultant for a construction project. The agreement was created to provide a contractual base for a variety of consulting arrangements, including interior design, inspection, industrial hygiene, retrofits, procurement and others.

The agreement takes a project-first approach and is said to promote collaboration, communication and integration. It also contains standard contract provisions and provides flexibility for unique services provided by a consultant.

Union calls for repeal of ACA

The United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers recently called for the “repeal or complete reform” of the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA), which is scheduled to become fully effective Jan. 1, 2014. This is notable because the union, along with virtually all of organized labor, strongly supported passage of the law when it was approved by Congress in 2010. The United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers is the first labor union to call for repeal or complete reform of the law.

In an April 16 press release, union President Kinsey M. Robinson said: “Our concerns over certain provisions in the ACA have not been addressed, or in some instances, totally ignored. In the rush to achieve its passage, many of the Act's provisions were not fully conceived; resulting in unintended consequences that are inconsistent with the promise that those who were satisfied with their employer sponsored coverage could keep it. These provisions jeopardize our multi-employer health plans, have the potential to cause a loss of work for our members, create an unfair bidding advantage for those contractors who do not provide health coverage to their workers, and in the worst case, may cause our members and their families to lose benefits they currently enjoy as participants in multi-employer health plans.”

NRCA opposed the ACA during its consideration and passage by Congress because of concerns the law will harm employers and workers, particularly those in small and midsized businesses, by driving up the cost of health insurance rather than providing effective reforms of our health care system. NRCA has supported legislation to repeal the law since its enactment.

Robinson's full statement is available at www.unionroofers.com/political/issue.aspx.

OSHA publishes 2014 budget

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has published its 2014 budget request in which it says fewer employers will be inspected for safety violations during fiscal year 2014 to allow federal compliance officers to spend more hours focusing on complicated, time-consuming investigations.

According to the budget request, OSHA plans to conduct an estimated 39,250 inspections, a decrease of 1,711 from fiscal year 2012, reflecting the implementation of OSHA's new weighted inspection system. Of the 39,250 total inspections OSHA plans to conduct, 31,400 are safety inspections and 7,850 are health inspections.

With the weighted inspection system, OSHA intends to explore adjustments to its enforcement approach and develop a system to rate inspections based on complexity. By rating an inspection's complexity, it should provide an incentive for OSHA compliance officers and area offices to focus time and effort on more complex inspections that will have a greater effect on workplace safety and health. OSHA plans to direct inspections to high-hazard operations, including refineries and chemical plants; emerging chemical and health issues; and workplace violence—operations that require more time and complexity than the average OSHA inspection.

More information, including the full budget proposal, is available at www.dol.gov/dol/budget.