The new federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulation that requires crane operators to be certified and riggers, signalpersons, and inspectors to be qualified closes a weak link in the safety chain. But the rules still could be more stringent, especially when you consider the heights crane manufacturers

What’s so wrong with government regulating business? I’m not saying government should totally control an industry. But shouldn’t it set and enforce rules that help guide companies and limit the chance they’ll cause the public great harm? Though regulation is an unpopular topic in

On Friday, May 7, U.S. Dept. of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that the DOE will invest up to $62 million over five years to speed the commercialization and deployment of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems that the DOE says are capable of providing low-cost electrical power.  The funding will support 13

Hunzinger Leads by Example

After a month of accepting nominations from the states in its coverage area, Midwest Construction magazine has narrowed the field for 2010 Contractor of the Year to eight finalists. 

On April 8th, I had the privilege of attending Engineering News-Record's 45th annual noon luncheon and evening dinner honoring 25 top newsmakers selected by the magazine's editors. The newsmakers were each selected by ENR's editorial staff for making a contribution that will have long-lasting positive impact on the

President Obama's recent show of financial support for construction of two nuclear plants in Georgia is hopefully the beginning of a new era in which nuclear power will again expand its role in the electricity-generating methods of the U.S. Of course, we all need to look at using energy more efficiently, and recent

The battle of wills in Washington over stimulus funding has infected some state legislatures, as leaders from both sides of the political fence struggle over different ideologies.   The arguments are fundamentally the same. One side wants to inject large amounts of state money into construction, while the other

Manitowoc's Model 31000, the highest-capacity crawler crane the company has ever built, is now being assembled and tested at the company's factory in Manitowoc, Wis.