April 2015

On Feb. 6, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) formally rejected the state of Arizona’s standard for fall protection used in residential construction. OSHA needs to employ a scientific method more sophisticated than mere comparison of fall-protection height thresholds to determine the effect of state and federal fall-protection regulations. Ignoring results-based indicators that truly reflect the presence or absence of a safe and healthful place of employment does little to advance worker safety.

Most companies are going about their Latino recruiting efforts the wrong way. They are recruiting through the friends and family network, and from a structural and leadership standpoint, this approach creates some serious challenges. Be strategic in your hiring, and assess people before hiring them. You then can put people into leadership development from the beginning, and they will understand they have a future within the organization.

The Magdalena Grand Beach and Golf Resort in Tobago, West Indies, is a former hotel that suffered damage from the effects of a highly aggressive marine environment. As a result, in 2009, the hotel required substantial rehabilitative work. Lifetime Roofing Ltd., Arima, Trinidad, was contracted by the Tobago government to take on the massive project. For its ingenuity, Lifetime Roofing was selected as a 2014 Gold Circle Awards finalist in the Innovative Solutions: Reroofing category.

The NRCA Roofing Manual: Membrane Roof Systems—2015 was released in March and updates and replaces The NRCA Roofing Manual: Membrane Roof Systems—2011.

As a result of environmental concerns and regulations regarding solvent-based single-ply adhesives, the use of water-based and low-volatile organic compound solvent-based adhesives is becoming much more popular in the low-slope roofing market. Research conducted by Johns Manville, Denver, has found when temperatures and dew points converge, drying times of water-based adhesives significantly are extended. When this happens, performance issues in the field tend to increase.