Flashings

FM creates lightweight insulating concrete program

The National Roof Deck Contractors Association (NRDCA) has established its FM Approved Lightweight Insulating Concrete Roof Deck Contractors Program with Factory Mutual (FM) Research's Approval Standard 4491, "Approval of Lightweight Insulating Concrete Roof Deck Contractors."

According to NRDCA, the standard's purpose is to improve FM Research-approved lightweight insulating concrete roof decks and the roof systems in which they are used. The program will use the standard to approve contractors who install lightweight insulating concrete roof decks. An approved contractor, or Designated Responsible Individual, must pass an FM Research written test; participate in NRDCA training; and prepare a quality-control manual, which will be inspected to determine whether a contractor can continue to be approved. For more information, contact Hubert Dudley, NRDCA's executive director, at (800) 217-7944 or visit www.nrdca.org.

FM Research has been developing a similar approval standard for roofing contractors; Professional Roofing will keep you updated about its progress. (The magazine has written about the topic in "From products to people," January 1999 issue, page 18, and "FM approval standard has been delayed," October 1999 issue, page 3.)

One step closer to border security

On May 8, the U.S. Congress passed a security bill requiring better tracking of immigrants, more border inspectors and tamperproof visas that are compatible with biometric identity scanners. President Bush has indicated he will sign the security bill.

The bill would require the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to establish an automated tracking system along all U.S. borders by October 2004. Preliminary plans include visas that will contain a foreigner's fingerprints, hand geometry and other biological information. Such visas will be scanned at U.S. borders by machines similar to automatic tellers. Plans also include a recommendation that cargo trucks be presealed and prescreened before approaching borders, allowing traffic to move more quickly.

Similar systems currently are in effect at some U.S. borders; little funding and manpower have prevented the systems from spreading. The most high-tech system gave 16,900 low-risk Mexican border-area residents transponder boxes, or Portpasses, to attach to their cars' windshields. As a resident approaches a border in designated lanes, a scanner reads the Portpass and sends a message to border inspectors' computers saying what car a resident should be driving and showing pictures of who has permission to enter the United States in the car. There currently is a six-month waiting list to receive such a device. Applicants undergo U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation background and fingerprint checks.

Critics say a more aggressive plan is difficult to establish at drug and human smuggling borders, such as Mexico's Tijuana border. So far, the Portpass program only has caught one woman trying to illegally enter the United States with 58 pounds (26 kg) of marijuana.

Workers' names and ID numbers are being checked

This year, the Social Security Administration will compare W-2 forms to its records and send an estimated 750,000 "no match" letters to employers whose workers' names and Social Security numbers do not correspond. Previously, the agency only sent letters to employers with errors in 10 percent or more of their employees' Social Security records.

The agency's goal is to correct possible mistakes in W-2 forms so employees will not lose Social Security benefits. It does not notify the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service of possible invalid identification numbers. The Social Security Administration says employers can be penalized if employees' names and ID numbers do not match its records. In addition, unmatched wage reports can cause additional processing costs for employers.

The letter will inform a business that at least one of its employees' names and Social Security numbers does not match the agency's records. It also will ask employers to determine whether employees' names and Social Security numbers are valid before filing future W-2 forms.

The agency established its Employee Verification Service (EVS) for employers to verify employees' names and Social Security numbers at no cost. Employers can call a toll-free telephone number to check up to five employees, submit a list to check up to 50 employees, or complete a registration form before submitting a paper list or data file to check 50 or more employees.

The agency reminds employers that its service is not a basis for laying off, suspending, firing or discriminating against employees on the list. EVS only should be used to verify currently or previously employed workers. For more information about EVS, visit www.ssa.gov/employer/ssnv.htm.