Maybe it’s a sign of the times, but I often am asked what I want to see come out of Washington, D.C. I have a simple answer to that question: Please do not make life any harder for me and my company. This is not whining. This is not a tone-deaf CEO asking for his life back. SIEGEL I love my job and my company and gladly put in every hour I work. However, whether well meaning or not, Washington impacts our lives and my company daily. This impact can be neutral, or it can make it harder or easier
In my mind, the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico—like other technological disasters, such as those involving the Three Mile Island nuclear powerplant and the space shuttle Challenger—represents a management failure, more so than an engineering failure. Anything implying that the engineering profession as a whole somehow bears the blame for these regrettable events puzzles me, including ENR’s editorial on the subject in its June 7, 2010, issue. To understand why, it is worth noting what some others have said about the nature of engineering practice and its place in our culture. Related Links: EDITORIAL: The Gulf Oil-Spill
Electric cars and trucks are the signature of the green movement, but they may also become a symbol of economic recovery for the construction industry. Even if the recently reported disappointments with electric cars are true, such as maximum distances between recharges of only 100 miles and top driving speeds of only 60 to 70 mph, imagine theneed for the infrastructure to support our electric cars and the stimulating effects of creating it. SHORT Imagine just one part of our interstate highway system: Interstate 80, from New York to San Francisco (via Omaha, my hometown), is about 2,900 miles. A
For many years, insurers have promoted the benefits of mediation as a means of resolving disputes between a design firm and its clients. We recently surveyed senior professionals at 250 design firms and found that no fewer than 40% of respondents who had used mediation to resolve a dispute considered the outcome unsuccessful. Is our confidence in mediation misplaced? Have we oversold its benefits? I don’t believe so. Having seen thousands of design professionals looking down the barrel of professional liability claims, I can attest that the vast majority of disputants who go to mediation ultimately achieve a settlement. The
The federal government is re-drawing floodplain maps under a deadline that should be pushed back to allow local governments time to evaluate and fix levees. The haste is undue, and the cost of going too fast could be high. Let me explain why. Photo: Andrea Booher/FEMA Nearly one-third of the nation is at risk for flooding, says the National Weather Service. More than 100,000 miles of levees crisscross our country, ranging from sophisticated systems of concrete floodwalls to simple piles of dirt and sand. Each year, millions of homeowners and businesses rely on this under-resourced daisy chain to protect against
All it takes is one: one off-color joke sent from a company e-mail account or one hotheaded e-mail transmitted without a thought about how it could later be used to devastate the company’s side of a legal case, even if the e-mail or its author is entirely unrelated to the subject of the litigation. In the ever-expanding world of electronic documents and communication, businesses need to take proactive steps to prevent the creation of damaging documents, and they have to be prepared in the event litigation does arise by implementing an e-data management system before litigation. Advanced information technology has
SANT Every year brings a sad anniversary to my family. Early one March morning in 1986, I received a call from my weeping mother saying that Sandra, my younger sister, had just been involved in a serious auto accident. We didn’t know if she would live through the night. I took the next flight to Boston and rushed to the hospital. I did not make it in time. My last goodbye was to my beautiful young sister’s cold and broken body. And 40,000 times each year, families make such heartbreaking farewells to other crash victims. The drunk driver who killed
ALLEN When Transportation Management Services, Sandy Spring, Md., was looking to do business in South Africa, company officials contacted the U.S. Embassy’s Commercial Service office in Johannesburg. We introduced the company to key South African transportation officials, who, in January 2007, were traveling tothe U.S. We then provided the company with customized support from overseas commercial officers and specialists. In the end, TMS signed a memorandum to provide $156,000 worth of services to a provincial government and then later agreed to $15 million in World Cup contracts. Sixteen years after holding its first general elections with universal adult suffrage, South
SCHLEIFER While the economy may be improving, I believe the recovery is fragile. Any trouble in the financial markets could be serious enough to force the whole process to begin again. Whatever happens, contractors should realize that while they can’t control the market, they can control their response, including making layoffs when needed. Prospering in cyclical markets and surviving a downturn in the construction industry starts with recognizing what will happen when the markets soften and backlog falls off. The same thing has happened without fail in every industry down cycle for the last 50 years. The potential for profit,
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