Hundreds of contractors from across the U.S. and Canada traveled to Buffalo for the Fabrication Conference (May 9 – 11, 2018). The conference, which focused on cutting-edge fabrication applications, included tours of three John W. Danforth Company fabrication facilities. “Hosting this national conference was an honor for us,” said Robert Beck, Danforth president and a member of the MCAA board of directors. “At Danforth, we have always aimed to stay at the leading edge of our industry, so we were excited to showcase our workforce and the work that we do.”

In addition to the facility tours at Danforth, members attending the conference discussed industry trends and best practices, met with product and service exhibitors, and networked with fellow contractors and suppliers.

“MCAA’s members were excited to see Danforth’s highly regarded facilities and observe what’s made them a company to emulate,” said Cynthia Buffington, MCAA senior executive director. “This was the largest turnout in the program’s 17-year history, no doubt thanks to the Danforth team and the company’s world-class fabrication facilities.”

Beck credits his team at Danforth, led by Mike Bement, Danforth’s director of shop operations, for working with MCAA representatives to plan an event that was insightful and educational for the participants, as well as enjoyable.

“People and companies made the choice to step away from the office or the field for a few days to come to Western New York. This was a chance for MCAA members to catch up with one another,” Bement said. “We looked forward to hosting our colleagues from across the country and Canada and giving them a great impression of Buffalo.”

MCAA first published its Guide to Silica Safety three years before OSHA promulgated its Respirable Crystalline Silica Standard. The association recently revised the guide to make it consistent with the OSHA rule.  The guide is an excellent resource for foremen and other supervisors who need to understand what’s required for worker protection from overexposure to respirable crystalline silica. It’s also an excellent training resource for mechanical construction workers. The revised guide is now available to members for free as a benefit of membership.

If you have questions about the guide or OSHA’s silica standard, please contact Pete Chaney at pchaney@mcaa.org or 301-990-2214.

Affected employers in all 26 OSHA state-plan-states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands are now required to comply with OSHA’s 2016 recordkeeping rule changes. The changes require all affected employers to electronically submit data on recordable injuries and illnesses to OSHA.

This decision is a reversal of OSHA’s November 2017 position, which stated that employers in California, Maryland, Minnesota, South Carolina, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, which haven’t adopted federal OSHA’s recordkeeping rule changes, are not required to submit their summary data.

Enforcement Dates

Injury/illness data from 2017 must be submitted by July 1, 2018.

Starting in 2019 and each year thereafter, the information from the preceding year must be submitted by March 2nd.

Learn More with these Resources

OSHA Electronic Submittal Information and Portal

MCAA Safety Bulletin

OSHA Final Rule

The MCAA member firms that participated in this year’s Safety Statistics and Awards Program are much safer than most mechanical construction firms in the industry. Compared to the industry’s incidence rate aggregates established by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), MCAA members performed substantially better than most.

The MCAA member safety benchmarking report for 2017 is now available.

Download

Safety Week, a celebration of safe work practices by national and global construction firms, takes place this week. While MCAA applauds the focus on safe work practices that this special week brings to all construction firms, safety is a top priority for MCAA and its members throughout each year.

MCAA and long-time safety partner CNA develop and produce world-class safety resources for members. The resources are readily available to you to help you celebrate safety week, and keep your workers safe throughout the year. And, they are free to MCAA/MSCA members as a benefit of membership.

For Construction Safety Week 2018, MCAA recommends that you emphasize the areas listed below to help neutralize the leading causes of injury in the mechanical construction and service industry.

• The Safe Manual Handling of Materials
• Ladder Safety
• Fall Prevention and Protection
• Protection from Struck-by Hazards
• Slip, Trip, and Fall Prevention

MCAA Safety Resources

CNA Construction Risk Control Resources