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
Now that the federal stimulus investment from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is well under way, it is time to begin sharply scrutinizing the return on the investment in terms of jobs created. That may be more difficult than it sounds because of the multifaceted approach under the law. It combines infrastructure investment and other direct federal spending with individual income-tax cuts, a two-year patch to the alternative minimum tax, investment incentives, aid to people directly hurt by the recession and state fiscal relief. A May 11 report by President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers sheds little light
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
The jury is still out on the success of the new safety program at the massive CityCenter project in Las Vegas, but at least people have stopped dying there. That is good news for general contractor Perini Building Co., project owner MGM Mirage and the industry as a whole. Safety is never easy, but when you have almost 10,000 workers on-site, it is essential to have and enforce a comprehensive safety plan. Behavioral-based safety (BBS) plans seem to work best in such environments, where thousands of workers and hundreds of subcontractors try to construct many project elements simultaneously. The basic
The fast-spreading swine-flu virus has a lot of people nervous. It is not pandemic and may never be, but forward-thinking firms are reviewing their policies, procedures and preparations for dealing with a situation that potentially could have a devastating impact on their businesses. The timing could not be worse, as many companies struggle with financial pressures from the global recession. The potential for a business impact brings into sharp focus business-continuity fundamentals that are useful in any emergency. The swine flu that started in Mexico and is spreading around the world is the second pandemic influenza scare in the last
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,
When ENR's Technology Senior Editor Tom Sawyer picks up his video camera, something interesting is bound to happen. Browsers on ENR.com will not be disappointed by what he captured at the recent conference in Las Vegas of FIATECH, a group that concentrates on technology solutions to construction problems, including interoperability. Sawyer wondered if technology would take a lower profile in the middle of a recession. That is not the case, from what we see here. Golden-i, a verbally controlled Bluetooth computer interface, wowed the crowd at the FIATECH meeting. See how the device works on ENR.com this week. How does
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
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