You’re busy. While that’s good for your company’s bottom line, your foremen and superintendents may be struggling to better man crews and may be facing burnout themselves. The Field Leaders Conference will help them recharge, step back and gain perspective from their peers and industry leaders. Bonus: they will learn the skills they need to put them – and your company – on the road to greater success. Visit the event website to learn more and register your team today!

OSHA recently released a memorandum to its regional administrators to clear up confusion about its 2016 recordkeeping rule changes concerning employer safety incentive programs and post-incident drug testing. The bottom line is that employers are still permitted to implement safety incentive programs and require post-incident drug testing, provided that the actions are taken to promote workplace safety and health and not to penalize employees for reporting work-related injuries or illnesses. The memorandum suggests that consistently enforcing legitimate work rules, whether or not an injury or illness is reported, would be one way for employers to show that their companies are promoting workplace safety and health. The memorandum also states that drug testing to evaluate the root causes of workplace incidents is permissible, but affected employers should drug test every employee whose conduct could have contributed to the incident.

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If you haven’t registered your team for the Field Leaders Conference, why wait? The conference will enhance your team’s skills and put them – and your company – on the road to greater success. Bring your team and join us November 7-9, 2018 in San Francisco, CA for this year’s final Field Leaders Conference. Your team members will leave infused with a new energy for the year ahead!

Take it from Rick Gopffarth, Vice President of Dynamic Systems, Inc. (DSI), who said, “Getting back to fundamentals and understanding that mechanical contracting is a ‘people’ business are the key takeaways” that he and the 10 DSI superintendents who attended the Houston Field Leaders Conference garnered.

His team also spoke highly of the program.

Eric White, DSI Piping Superintendent and a self-professed “kind of person who would rather have someone ‘get out of the way’ so I can do it myself,” found he needed to change his mindset and learn how to build a team, delegate and trust his crew to follow through. Inspired by Kevin Dougherty’s presentation, he has a new personal goal: getting his people to work with him, not for him.

First-time superintendent Luke Long found the session on the impact on profitability the most eye-opening. He learned that it’s his responsibility to dig into the job, review the specs and details and make certain everything is correct before turning the project over to his foremen. He appreciated the opportunity to attend the conference. He added that, building the skills of millennials like him, who want to work when they’re engaged in the project and involved in making decisions, is crucial to the future growth of the company.

MCAA is pleased to announce the Milwaukee Tool Mechanical Industry Safety Professional of the Year award. The award will be presented annually to a mechanical industry safety and health professional who has led their company to achieving an exceptionally high degree of safety excellence.

To nominate someone from your company, or from another company to become the Milwaukee Tool Mechanical Industry Safety Professional of the Year,  complete the Nomination Form and e-mail it to Pete Chaney by COB on November 26, 2018.

This year’s winner will be announced at MCAA’s 2019 Safety Directors’ Conference on January 24, 2019 in Lake Buena Vista, FL. The award will be presented at the Awards of Excellence Breakfast at MCAA’s 2019 Convention in Scottsdale, AZ on March 6, 2019. Nominees must be employees of MCAA/MSCA member firms.

Many construction owners, general contractors, and construction managers require affected companies to establish written excavation safety programs that minimize risk to their employees and ensure compliance with OSHA’s excavation safety standard. MCAA’s Model Excavation Safety Program can be quickly and easily tailored to create your program. It makes development and implementation of such a program as easy and cost-effective as possible.

In addition to this model program, MCAA offers excavation safety training materials to simplify worker training.

If you have any questions about this or any other safety resources, or about other occupational safety and health issues, please contact Pete Chaney.

OSHA recently updated its National Emphasis Program (NEP) to prevent trenching and excavation collapses. The program was updated due to a recent spike in fatalities from trenching/excavation collapses. The updated NEP will increase education and enforcement. And, each OSHA area office  will develop its own trenching and excavation safety outreach program for affected employers in their areas.

MCAA has several trenching and excavation safety resources that are available to members for free as a benefit of membership.  And, OSHA provides compliance assistance resources for affected employers. These resources include

MCAA:

Worker Safety Training Video

MCAA Pocket Guide

MCAA Training Documentation Sheet

20-Question Multiple Choice Test

Test Answer Key

Model Program

OSHA:

OSHA Compliance Assistance Resources

Register right away to participate in MCAA’s 16th Annual Safety Directors’ Conference. This conference is the mechanical industry’s single best safety and health educational and networking opportunity. It will be presented in Lake Buena Vista, FL (Orlando) January 22-24, 2019.

Attendees of this conference are predominantly occupational safety and health professionals from member firms and local affiliates, safety instructors from United Association locals, MCA local executives, and employees of member firms and local affiliates whose responsibilities include occupational safety and health.

The conference has grown in popularity and attendance each year since it’s inception. MCAA anticipates record attendance for the 16th consecutive year.

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