With the nation�s legislative landscape dominated by health-care reform and relatively stable workers� compensation rates in 2010, Workers� Comp fell off the radar screen. Yet, a more careful review points to challenging times in the years ahead. Here are some factors to consider. 1. Declines in frequency of claims slowing. According to insurers, the long-term trend of declining claims frequency (claims filed per employer payroll) is flattening. This is significant because declining trends that started in 1991 have helped counter rising medical costs driven by the severity of claims and increased utilization. It’s too early to determine the reasons or
Lakewood�s AMA Construction recently completed a three-month renovation of the FirstBank Corporate Headquarters in Lakewood, Colo. The renovation took place on the first and second floors and included remodel work and the application of new finishes on interior portions of the building. AMA was also responsible for minor electrical and mechanical work, which included relocating light fixtures and amending switching. Photos: Courtesy of AMA Construction As with most bank remodels that AMA has completed, work took place on a building that was currently occupied, requiring crews to work around employees, making themselves “non-existent” or working odd hours such as nights
When the Utah Dept. of Transportation sent out an RFP for the $1.1-billion reconstruction of a portion of Interstate 15 south of Salt Lake City, it expected proposals that would include a fair amount of traffic-altering road closures. Photo: Courtesy of UDOT Photo: Courtesy of UDOT But Provo River Constructors, one of three design-build teams to respond, offered something completely different. The RFP assumed that the number of lanes in each direction would be reduced by at least one lane during the multiyear roadway and overpass reconstruction effort. Provo River Constructors— a design-build team that includes: Fluor of Irving, Texas;
National Trench Safety LLC, a Houston-based company specializing in the rental and sales of trench and traffic safety equipment as well as OSHA-compliant training classes, has opened a new branch in Salt Lake City. “We are very excited about our new Salt Lake City operation,” said Ron Chilton, president of NTS. “Salt Lake City is the largest metropolitan population area in the state of Utah and the city and state has experienced a strong level of sustained infrastructure growth over the last few years. Salt Lake City is also centrally located in the state, which allows us to cover a
Colorado’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased two-tenths of a percentage point to 8.6% in November, according to Donald J. Mares, executive director for the Colorado Dept. of Labor and Employment. “For the first time in three years, we’ve now had three consecutive months of wage and salary job growth,” Mares said. “While the unemployment rate is increasing at the same time we’re adding jobs, this seeming contradiction is easily explained by the number of people returning to the labor force this month.” The number of working Coloradans fell 2,400 over the month to 2,433,900, while the civilian labor force increased
Tens of millions of dollars in flood control projects and a new bridge put in place after record flooding in November 2005 were put to the test in late December as winter rains deluged the Southern Utah city of St. George and smaller surrounding towns in Washington County. Starting around Dec. 21, heavy rains began swelling the Santa Clara and Virgin rivers. Local and state officials and engineers who had overseen about $75-million worth of work on new dykes, rechanneling and the $6.2-million replacement of a major connector bridge watched closely to see if their efforts had paid off. “I
Article toolbar Longtime Las Vegas Architect Joel Bergman recalls when the leaded glass ceiling debuted inside the Tropicana over 30 years ago. “Nothing like that had been done before inside a casino. It changed the texture of design in Las Vegas,” he says. Photo courtesy Tropicana Las Vegas 1,658 rooms Every guest room and suite was redone, with new decor, furniture and color schemes. Bergman would know. He spent 16 years as Steve Wynn’s in-house architect, helping create The Mirage, Treasure Island and Golden Nugget, before founding Bergman Walls & Associates in 1994. The Tropicana’s $1 million, 4,000-sq-ft Art Nouveau-style
A team from the Omaha District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working with the Department of the Army and the Department of Public Works at Fort Carson to quietly turn the post into one of the �greenest places on earth.� Since 2007, more than 70 new buildings have been programmed for construction at Fort Carson. Currently, 12 of those projects have resulted in 26 buildings achieving the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification: 13 have achieved LEED Gold and another 13 are LEED Silver. Those 26 buildings make Fort Carson one of the highest-concentrated areas of LEED-certified
A new $4-billion megaresort will test Las Vegas� recession-racked tourist-based economy, but, perhaps more significantly, it concludes years of work for 3,220 tradesmen and construction staff responsible for the 2,995-room, 6.96-million-sq-ft Cosmopolitan Casino Resort at 3708 S. Las Vegas Blvd. Perini Building Co., a unit of Tutor Perini Corp., Sylmar, Calif., is the general contractor. Just 48 months ago, Nevada construction employed 150,000 people � a figure that since plummeted by 70%, reports Las Vegas-based business advisory firm Applied Analysis. Photo Courtesy Bill Hughes A new $4-billion megaresort will test Las Vegas� recession-racked tourist-based economy, but, perhaps more significantly, it
During a recent design meeting for a new construction office building, our team was surprised to realize that after reviewing the preliminary scorecard, we would be undergoing a difficult challenge to achieve a goal of LEED-Silver certification. With all the recent LEED Silver, Gold and even Platinum office buildings in the Denver area, this came as a bit of a shock to the team. Why was it so difficult to achieve LEED Silver on this project when a newly constructed building down the street of similar size and occupancy was certified LEED Gold? What the team did not realize is
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