Study: Number of NYC Construction Industry Workers Falls in 2011 | ENR: Engineering News Record | McGraw-Hill Construction

Study: Number of NYC Construction Industry Workers Falls in 2011 | ENR: Engineering News Record | McGraw-Hill Construction
Interesting study showing the number of construction industry workers fell from 2009. However, more interesting is the fact that 55% of construction workers are doing without health insurance. That is up from 53% from 2009. Another interesting statistic is that Black non-Hispanics were up 2% from 2009; and Asian workers were up 12% from 2009.  Though these statistics indicate what most of us already knew, that the economy is significantly hurting the construction industry.  We hope the New Year will bring new projects into construction industry.

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Indoor Air Quality Television Posts Foreclosed Property Video

Indoor Air Quality television (IAQTV) on you tube just posted an excellent informational video on "Foreclosed Properties & Indoor Environmental Risks".  This video provides a basic informational warning on the potential indoor environmental risks in buying a foreclosed property.

Many of these dangers are well-known to those of us in the indoor environmental consulting industry.  Future Environment Designs strongly recommends before the purchasing of a foreclosed property (one that has been unoccupied for a long period of time), that the buyer hire a Council-certified Indoor Environmental Consultant (CIEC) to perform an indoor environmental assessment  to ensure these dangers are not present or can be easily eliminated.  The CIEC will be able to help you determine what would be necessary to eliminate these hazards and help develop cost estimates to be used in negotiating a purchase price of the foreclosed property.  If we can help give us a call.

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New OSHA Website For Winter Storms

Just before the holidays, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published a new website regarding Winter Storms.  Even though the northeast got snow on halloween, so far this year it has been tame regarding winter storms.  Last winter was a different story, which is probably the reason OSHA has published this informational site to assist employers in proteecting workers from the anticipated hazards associated with winter storm response and recovery operations that workers are likely to conduct.

The site provides information in preparing for a winter storm, response and recovery, and additional resources.  Preparation includes such things as listening to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather radio or going to the NOAA Watch website for information on the storm, winterizing your car, preparing and carrying an emergency kit.  Response and recovery includes information regarding the different hazards workers may face, such as driving/vehicle accidents, carbon monoxide poisoning, hypothermia and frostbite, exhaustion, dehydration, back injuries and heart attack, slips and falls, electrocution, burns, being struck by falling objects, roof collapse, and lacerations or amputations.
The site is a very good source of information for preventing the hazards discussed above.  In particular the winterizing your car part is very helpful in getting yourself ready for the winter storms that are only a matter of time before they get here.

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FED Wishes Everyone A Happy New Year!

Future Environment Designs would like to wish everyone a Happy, Prosperous, and Healthy New Year.  Future Environment Designs hopes your 2012 will be better than 2011 and hope that the New Year will bring all of us peace, a better economy, safety, and health.  Happpy New Year!

Times Square December 2011

We Wish You A Merry & Jolly Holidays!

Future Environment Designs wishes all our followers, readers, and those of you who have attended our classes this past year a Merry and Jolly Christmas.  We thank all of you for your support and we hope to see you again in the New Year.  Thank you again, for your support.

What Happened with NYS ELAP Ceiling Tile Analysis?

On April 8, 2011, New York State Department of Health's Environmental Laboratory Approval Program (ELAP) issued an FAQ regarding asbestos sample analysis.  In this FAQ, ELAP informed us that ceiling tiles with cellulose need to be analyzed using the procedures in Items 198.6/198.4.  This meant analysis using gravimetric reduction and inconclusive results requiring transmission electron microscopy analysis (TEM).  In addition, the NYS Education Department (SED) in their newsletter #107 (July 2011) recommended that if schools have not tested their ceiling tiles in accordance with the current protocols, they should do so either as part of an existing or planned capital improvement or as an independent analysis prior to disturbance.

Well its been over six months since this new procedure/protocol was announced, and next month it will be six months since the SED clarification.  We would like to hear if this procedure has led to any new findings/concerns or are ceiling tiles still coming back primarily not containing asbestos?  Please let us know what you are experiencing regarding this issue?  So, far our experience is that most ceiling tiles are coming back not containing asbestos.  What is your experience?

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Read The Preamble, To Better Understand The Standards

The OSHA Training Blog a couple of months ago had an interesting post discussing how to better understand OSHA standards.  The post was titled "Want to Really Understand an OSHA Standard? Read the Preamble!".  This post discussed the importance of the preamble to the regulatory process.  Most importantly, the importance of the preamble in discussing want went into creating the standard.  For understanding the standard the section that will provide the most information is titled "Summary and Explanation of the Standard".  So, next time you want more information on a standard, a good place to start is the preamble.

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