Investing in our nation’s infrastructure has the potential to go beyond creating jobs and repairing bridges, tunnels and roads. It can set us on a trajectory for a more sustainable way of life if we start to refashion how we think about public works. Maximizing taxpayer return on these critical investments demands a next generation of infrastructure that is capable of multitasking—working in harmony with, not against, natural systems. This approach should be embedded in communities, offering social, cultural and technical values that can wean us from our petroleum dependence and help us deal with climate changes. Implementing such multipurpose,
Responsible Employer Ordinances (REOs) are a very public response to the frustration of municipal officials over the problems created by a handful of contractors that cheat on prevailing wages, workers’ compensation insurance and unemployment insurance. These bad actors undermine the bidding process and reduce the number of potential bidders by discouraging reputable contractors that play by the rules. Nationwide, dozens of jurisdictions have adopted REOs, including 18 municipalities in Massachusetts alone. While the language of the ordinances vary, they all restate principles of existing state laws concerning workers’ compensation insurance, unemployment insurance and proper classification of workers to ensure tax
The worldwide economic downturn places greater demands on the design and construction industries as banks and other lending institutions require enhanced price definition and cost control. Financing will distribute to projects that provide the greatest value for the lowest associated risk. Consequently, little tolerance for waste and inefficiency can be expected in the foreseeable future. Photo: Courtesy of Puma Steel MCMANUS While productivity in non-farm industries has more than doubled in the U.S. since 1964, labor productivity in the construction industry has actually declined — despite tremendous technological advances. For the structural steel industry, one major culprit is the inefficiency
The $787-billion stimulus package provides for about $130 billion in federal, state and local government construction spending. The entire construction industry has been anxiously awaiting the pipeline of projects now hitting the streets. With the economic crisis having all but shut down commercial and residential construction, many in the construction industry, including contractors who have no prior experience in government construction, are now actively competing for a share of the stimulus pie. This change in market focus has immediate ramifications for the newcomers. Most important, transitioning contractors must quickly learn that success in the public sector requires education and adjustments
On April 16, 2009, President Barack Obama announced plans for a high-speed railway system in the U.S. saying it would create thousands of jobs and conserve energy. The system will "change the way we travel in America," said Obama and he identified $8 billion from the recently enacted economic stimulus package as a down payment on the rail system. The Administration's vision was further elaborated on in their April 2009 release of the "Vision of High Speed Rail in America" that begins to lay out a framework and process for the development of HSR. I believe that the President�s decision
Recently, Lean Construction has been celebrated as the new fad among construction-management gurus. In reality, it is not the leanness of the construction that matters but rather its agility and responsiveness to change. That is why the National Institute of Standards and Technology and ASTM International are working on draft productivity protocols that support a new process called Agile Construction. One of the most misunderstood concepts in the construction industry is the difference between profitability and cash flow. Due to the nature of accounting principles used to manage company profitability, most measurements of job progress really are measurements of production,
Short sea shipping (S3), the shipping of cargo or goods over relatively short distances or to nearby coastal ports, has many advantages over trucking and rail transport. In addition to reducing road congestion (its greatest benefit), waterborne transport often uses less fuel, costs less, produces less air pollution, is faster, and has greater space capacity as there are extensive shipping lanes. Despite its many selling points, S3 currently is hampered by a lack of adequate port infrastructure. Historically, rivers such as the Mississippi and Hudson were the primary means of cargo transport before the advent of the now-mature Interstate highway
LUPO We kill three people every day in the construction industry. It’s an alarming statistic, especially given the exhaustive training, rigorous risk-management policies and tough laws that penalize contractors for safety infractions, injuries and jobsite perils. But there is another way to reduce this deadly statistic: create personal safety records for individual workers as an incentive for them to assume responsibility for safety. Recently, an employee made a decision to disregard a company’s 6-ft 100% fall-protection policy and disconnected his lanyard to climb across some formwork that was being stripped. He fell 14 ft and severely injured his knee. This
We no longer do five-year plans. We don’t do one-year plans. We do five-day plans, says Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay. With the onslaught of new communication channels, the reality is you’re only going to get five minutes to get a statement together when a crisis hits. Every first-rate building professional knows the necessity of a good plan. Well-defined plans are a huge portion of any project, but the plan shouldn’t stop with the building. You will face a crisis at some point. How you handle it is up to you. The good news is that a little pre-planning
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