ABC announced the winners of the 2017 National Safety Awards at ABC Convention 2018 in Long Beach, Calif. A total of 54 ABC member companies were recognized for their safety performance on March 21 during the 28th annual Excellence in Construction® Awards.

ACI Mechanical Inc., Ames, Iowa, has been named ABC’s 2017 Contractor of the Year, an award that recognizes companies for their corporate integrity, commitment to safety, professional development and expert craftsmanship. President Mike McCoy accepted the honor at the 28th annual Excellence in Construction® (EIC) Awards gala on March 21 during ABC Convention 2018 in Long Beach, Calif.

ABC released its 2018 Safety Performance Report to further the construction industry’s understanding of how to make jobsites safer through its Safety Performance Evaluation Process (STEP). Packed with infographics and practical takeaways, the report documents the dramatic impact of using proactive safety practices to reduce recordable incidents by up to 85 percent, making the best-performing companies 670 percent safer than the industry average.

ABC and the Board of Certified Safety Professionals signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on improving occupational safety and health at construction workplaces throughout the United States. The partnership is centered on developing effective prevention strategies and technologies as well as encouraging students and other professionals to choose occupational safety and health as a career and advance their competency in that field.

On March 13, a bipartisan group of ten U.S. Representatives visited the ABC Metro Washington Chapter’s CraftMasters Training Trust. House Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) and Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-Va.) led the delegation to the 10,000-square-foot facility in Beltsville, Md., and met with Chapter President Debbie Livingston, instructors and enrollees in the programs. 

The National Labor Relations Board has announced another extension for the public to submit comments to its request for information on the 2014 “ambush” election rule, also known as Representation-Case Procedures. The deadline for submitting information has been extended from March 19 to April 18, 2018. 

On March 6, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division announced the launch of the Payroll Independent Audit Determination (PAID) program, a nationwide pilot program to assist employers in expediting the resolution of inadvertent overtime and minimum wage violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its Year in Review 2017-2018, which details the agency’s progress on achieving three objectives laid out by Administrator Scott Pruitt during the first year of the Trump administration. The agency highlighted the launch of the Smart Sectors program, a partnership program between EPA and regulated sectors focused on achieving better environmental outcomes, of which ABC was a participant.

Overall construction input prices rose 0.7 percent in February, slightly lower than the rate set in January, according to an ABC analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data released. Compared to February 2017, prices are up 5.2 percent. Nonresidential construction materials prices are also up 0.4 percent on a monthly basis and 4.9 percent compared to the same time last year.

On March 7, 2018, ABC was part of a coalition that sent a letter to congressional appropriators asking them to include language in the omnibus spending bill that defunds the enforcement of the “prior authorization” requirement for trade association Political Action Committees.