Register your entry now for the ABC Excellence in Construction Awards (EIC). The EIC awards competition recognizes projects that are the best of the best from merit shop contractors. Enter today to gain industry-wide recognition and get an advantage over competitors.

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) Aug. 27 signed into law S.B. 776, which is designed to curtail the ability of contractors to count contributions to merit shop labor-management cooperation committees (LMCCs) against their fringe benefit obligations only if those committees monitor and enforce the prevailing wage. Other activities will still be allowed. The legislation preserves that ability for contractors contributing to similar committees run by unions.

Adams Electric Company, Greensboro, N.C., a member of the ABC Carolinas Chapter, and Gilbane Building Company, Houston, a member of the ABC Greater Houston Chapter have been awarded Accredited Quality Contractor (AQC) status by ABC.  

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Sept. 4 became the second court to deny a request by the NLRB to review a decision to invalidate the NLRB’s August 2011 “Notification of Employee Rights” rule. Under the rule, employers would have been required to display a poster in their workplace that contained a biased and incomplete list of employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

ABC Business Partner, the American Institute of Architects (AIA), is now offering ABC members a free 30-day trial of AIA Contract Documents® software that includes full access to all AIA agreements and forms. Sign up by Friday, Sept. 20 to start the free trial.

Lauren Engineers & Constructors, Inc., Alpharetta, Ga., a member of the ABC Georgia Chapter; O-Neal Inc., Greenville, S.C., a member of the ABC Carolinas Chapter; and Price Industrial Electric, Inc., Hiawatha, Iowa., a member of the ABC Iowa Chapter, have been awarded Accredited Quality Contractor (AQC) status by ABC.  

ABC and members of the newly formed Construction Industry Safety Coalition, a group of national construction industry trade associations, expressed concern over a proposal from OSHA addressing crystalline silica exposure in the construction industry.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) Aug. 27 released two final rules that drastically alter federal contractors’ existing affirmative action and nondiscrimination obligations for individuals with disabilities and veterans. ABC was critical of the rules because they, “set infeasible compliance requirements for federal construction contractors, despite the agency’s inability to demonstrate that contractors fail to meet the previous requirements under federal law.”

On Aug. 23, OSHA unveiled its long-anticipated proposal to address crystalline silica exposure in the construction industry. As expected, the proposed rule drastically lowers the existing permissible exposure limit for respirable silica in the construction industry. 

According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics/Department of Labor Aug. 22 report, construction fatalities increased 5 percent in 2012, marking the first increase in six years. According to the report, there were 775 workplace deaths in the private construction industry in 2012 and 738 in 2011. That translates into a 2012 fatality rate of 9.5 per 100,000 workers, up from 9.1 in 2011