The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Health and Safety Administration has created a collection of events, training guides, videos and web pages to provide employers and employees with prevention and compliance assistance to prevent falls in the workplace.

OSHA’s Electronic Injury Reporting and Anti-Retaliation final rule requires certain establishments to electronically submit information from their OSHA Form 300A for calendar year 2018 by March 2. Information on how to electronically submit the OSHA Form 300A can be found on OSHA’s Injury Tracking Application website.

The AQC program recognizes and honors construction firms that document their commitment to excellence in five key areas of corporate responsibility: quality, safety, employee benefits, training and community relations. A company that meets these criteria and has earned Safety Training Evaluation Process (STEP) Gold, Platinum or Diamond status, is formally designated an “Accredited Quality Contractor.”

On Dec. 21, ABC submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration in support of its proposed rule to allow small and mid-sized businesses to band together and offer 401(k) plans to their employees through association retirement plans.

On Dec. 28, 2018, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the 2015 Browning-Ferris Industries v. National Labor Relations Board case, which greatly expanded joint employer liability under the National Labor Relations Act. The divided court upheld portions of the Obama-era standard for determining “joint employer” status and remanded the case back to the NLRB for further consideration.

JLG Industries Inc., an ABC strategic partner and a leading global manufacturer of aerial work platforms and telehandlers, kicked off its year-long 50th anniversary celebration on Jan. 9, marking a half-century since its founder spearheaded the access industry with the introduction of the world’s first boom lift.

On Dec. 22, 2018, at the end of the 115th Congress, President Trump signed The FIRST STEP Act, a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill that aims to reduce recidivism rates by improving educational opportunities for federal inmates and implementing modest sentencing reforms.

The federal government continues to operate under a partial shutdown affecting nine federal departments and a total of about 800,000 federal workers who have been furloughed or are working without pay. Several agencies and programs that serve the construction industry are not affected, including the Departments of Labor, Defense, Education, Energy and Veterans Affairs construction projects.

While construction industry leaders remained confident in the third quarter of 2018, optimism slipped relative to the second quarter, according to the latest Construction Confidence Index released by ABC. Approximately three in four construction firms expect that sales will continue to rise over the next six months and closer to one in 10 expect sales to decline over the next two quarters.

ABC reports that its Construction Backlog Indicator contracted to 9.04 months during the third quarter of 2018, down 8.4 percent from the second quarter and 4.3 percent lower than the same time last year. “Construction backlog reached its highest level ever during the second quarter,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu.