PACNY Conference New Faces, New Discussions

The 17th Annual Professional Abatement Contractors of New York (PACNY) Environmental Conference was a success.  Though this is not surprising given the lineup of speakers and great effort that was made by the conference organizers to bring it together.  We would suspect that the organizers might have been nervous about the event, since Mr. Christopher Alonge would not be a speaker on day two of the event.  If you had not heard, Mr. Alonge is no longer with New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) he is now with Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY).  Mr. Alonge was present at the event, and seemed to be enjoying himself.  However, Dr. Eileen Franco saved the day representing NYSDOL as the acting director for the Division of Safety & Health.  Dr. Franco discussed her unit, and updated us on the progress of the new ICR56, which in her words were "imminent".  She was entertaining and we hope she will take our suggestions regarding the asbestos control program and act on them.

Future Environment Design's New Tradeshow Display.

Like last year, one of the opening presentations was on PACNY's effort to change the notification fees.  The bill they are discussing is Assembly Bill A3675.  As we discussed last year, this bill would change the notification fee structure so demolition of residents impacted by a disaster would be a maximum of $200.  This change would help disaster affected areas and residential projects by allowing properly trained contractors to better compete with non-licensed or untrained contractors for the asbestos work.

The list of speakers included Brian Sampson from Unshackle Upstate; Joe Cantone from Colden Corporation; Paul Watson from Center for Toxicology & Environmental Health; Joe Hogan from Associated General Contractors of New York State; Dr. Dave Duford from CanAm Environmental Safety; Brent Kynoch from the Environmental Information Association; Dr. James Webber, formerly with NYS Department of Health; Marvin Stillman from the University of Rochester; and Mr. Chris Alund, from the NYSDOL Bureau of Public Work.  All the speakers were very good, however, two standout in our mind.  First Dr. Webber's presentation "Vermiculite: Looking for a Needle in a Leaf Pile" was awesome and had many speaking about it throughout the rest of the conference.  Pretty impressive considering after his presentation it was the cocktail hour in the exhibit hall.  Dr. Webber's presentation was our first official 3D presentation.  Towards the end of his presentation he passed out 3D glasses, and it was very impressive seeing vermiculite with Libby asbestos fibers in 3D.  The other presentation that stood out, was Mr. Stillman's regarding "Hazardous Waste at Project Sites".  Mr. Stillman's presentation included a lot of points that we were not aware of and will be included in future training classes regarding hazardous wastes.  During most of the presentations, we posted points we felt were important on Twitter.  Find those tweets at #FEDTCPACNY.

This year the Industry Roundtable Q&A was moderated by Steve Gheen, PE of Gheen Engineering, and included Darren Yehl of Cornerstone Training Institute, John Massa of Midlantic Environmental, and Angelo Garcia, III, of Future Environment Designs (me).  Questions this year were very interesting and brought out some distinctions in regions and how various types of asbestos work was being done.

The Exhibit Hall was a lot of fun, with the cocktail reception and the breaks spent meeting vendors, suppliers, and competitors (the friendly kind).  There were some new exhibitors and some new equipment at the show.  Fiberlock Technologies was exhibiting a new Advanced Peroxide Cleaner (APC) that removes mold & mildew stains on porous & non-porous materials, it seems to be an impressive product.  DiVal & Aramsco had dueling floor tile and mastic removal machines that sell or rent.  In addition, DiVal was showing a Dust Shroud for Reciprocating Saws from Dustless Technologies.  McLaughlin Vacuum Excavation Systems (Vermeer is the dealer network for this equipment) was another exhibitor with some impressive equipment.  Of course, United Rentals was there and we didn't win the toy truck, again!

Overall, the conference was a great time.  Turning Stone Resort & Casino does a great job with the food, drinks, & entertainment.  In the past few years, we've seen more representatives from Long Island based companies attending the PACNY conference.  We were glad to see George Maul of Insight Environmental, Paul Calzolano of Testing Mechanics, Paul Debiase of Dvirka & Bartilucci, Bart Gallagher of Enviroscience, & Travis Irving of H2M.  We look forward to seeing you next year and look forward to the Long Island contingent growing again next year. 

Related articles

• PACNY's 2013 Environmental Conference (futureenv.blogspot.com)
• NYSDOL Responds To Call To Waive Fees (futureenv.blogspot.com)

PACNY's 2013 Environmental Conference

Future Environment Designs is proud to be attending and exhibiting at the Professional Abatement Contractors of New York's (PACNY's) 17th Annual Environmental Conference.  The event is being held at the Turning Stone Casino & Resort on Thursday, February 28th & Friday, March 1, 2013.  This year we've updated our trade show booth and look forward to showing it off, assuming its ready in time.  We are also honored to have been selected to be on the industry panel again this year.  We look forward to meeting you in the exhibit hall or at one of the sessions.  For more information or to register for the event visit PACNY's website at http://www.pacny.org/conferences.asp.

We are also happy to announce that on Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at Turning Stone Casino we will be holding an Asbestos Project Designer Refresher course together with Cornerstone Training Institute.  Hopefully, that will work with people's schedule and we look forward to seeing you at that event, too.

OSHA 300A Posting Required On Feb.1

Hopefully, you remembered to post your Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 300A form on February 1, 2013.  As required by OSHA, the 300A form is the summary of the OSHA 300 form which is the log of injuries and illnesses your company had over the past year.  If your looking for the forms follow this link: http://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/new-osha300form1-1-04.pdf.  The form is required to be posted from February 1 to April 30, 2013.  If you have 10 or fewer employees this regulation does not apply to your business.


Proper Scaffold Construction in Ithaca, NY

 The following is posted on the OSHA website:

What is recordable under OSHA's Recordkeeping Regulation?

• Covered employers must record all work-related fatalities.
• Covered employers must record all work-related injuries and illnesses that result in days away from work, restricted work or transfer to another job, loss of consciousness or medical treatment beyond first aid (see OSHA's definition of first aid below).
• In addition, employers must record significant work-related injuries or illnesses diagnoses by a physician or other licensed health care professional, even if it does not result in death, days away from work, restricted work or job transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness.
• Injuries include cases such as, but not limited to, a cut, fracture, sprain, or amputation.
• Illnesses include both acute and chronic illnesses, such as, but not limited to, a skin disease (i.e. contact dermatitis), respiratory disorder (i.e. occupational asthma, pneumoconiosis), or poisoning (i.e. lead poisoning, solvent intoxication).
• OSHA's definition of work-related injuries, illnesses and fatalities are those in which an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the condition. In addition, if an event or exposure in the work environment significantly aggravated a pre-existing injury or illness, this is also considered work-related.
• For further questions or clarifications, take advantage of the additional resources on this page (under "In Focus") or call 1-800-321-OSHA (6742).

4,609 workers died on the job in 2011 (as per OSHA website).

Related articles

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• OSHA Log Form 300A Posting Due February 1, 2011 (futureenv.blogspot.com)
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Future Environment Designs Has Published Its 2013 Future Focus Newsletter

Future Environment Designs has published our 2013 newsletter "Future Focus".  As usual the current newsletter will be part of our manuals and handed out in our classes.  If you don't want to wait until you take a class with us, you can find our newsletter at our website at: http://futureenvironmentdesigns.com/newsletter.html. 



Chrysotile Asbestos display at Thetford Mines Mineralogical & Mining Mueseum

In our current newsletter, the lead article is about "Asbestos In Current Building Materials".  We discuss how material safety data sheets (MSDS) and the new safety data sheets (SDS) cannot be used to determine if current building materials contain asbestos, especially when discussing foreign building materials.  We hope this newsletter acts as a warning to asbestos inspectors, facility directors, building managers, architects/engineers, and building owners, etc. in determining whether current and new building materials have asbestos.

Related articles

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• Ceiling asbestos time bombs feared (radionz.co.nz)
• Tsunami leaves Japan with toxic asbestos legacy (abc.net.au)

NYSDOL Responds To Call To Waive Fees

Several months ago, we called on Governor Mario Cuomo and the New York State Department of Labor to waive asbestos notification fees in response to the burden these fees created in response to Super Storm Sandy.  We received a response to our call.  Needless to say the response was not positive.  Visit our website at http://futureenvironmentdesigns.com/news.html to see the response letter. 


Sandy downed tree took out car

We are disappointed with the response and we feel Governor Cuomo and the NYSDOL, both should recognize the damage being done by this negative response.  Asbestos removals are going on without notification and without licensed contractors and trained workers.  In addition, only Suffolk County is determining if their are any asbestos problems, along with mold and lead (as reported in Newsday).  While Nassau County is ignoring the asbestos issue.  Its very sad to see the same issues that occurred during previous storms/hurricanes continue to be issues.

Related articles

• Sandy Relief - Eliminate Asbestos Notification Fees (futureenv.blogspot.com)
• FEMA Jobs to Help with Sandy Cleanup (harlemworldmag.com)
• Suffolk waives some fees for those rebuilding post-Sandy (newsday.com)
• Senators call for Sandy tax relief (newsday.com)
• Mold a Key Hurdle in Rebuilding After Sandy (newsday.com)
• New York Congressman Introduces Asbestos-related Bill (mesothelioma.com)
• NY Mesothelioma Lawyer Urges Hurricane Sandy Cleanup Crews to be Cautious about Asbestos Exposure as Relief Package Nears Completion (prweb.com)

What Out-of-State Employers with Employees Working in New York State Need to Know.

We received a recent newsletter from Dan Borgna at the Dale Group.  The newsletter discussed the Workers Compensation/Disability requirements for out-of-state contractors.  We found it very interesting with permission from Mr. Borgna of the Dale Group (Thank you for allowing us to reprint it) here is the newsletter post:  

 

If you have no office location in New York, but have employees on site in NY, this article is important to your business.

WORKERS COMPENSATION INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS

New York State workers' compensation insurance covers employees for work-related accidents, injuries or illness.   
As part of the 2007 Workers' Compensation Reform Legislation, all out-of-state employers with at least one employee working in New York State will be required to carry a full statutory New York State workers' compensation insurance policy. The workers' compensation insurance policy must be effective no later than the first day you have employees working in NY State.  

Misconception - "I have all states coverage listed in section 3.c of my home state workers compensation policy".
Reality- As part of the reform, having "all states" in section 3.c is no longer valid. "NY" must be specifically listed in section 3.a of the workers compensation declarations page or endorsement. 
Penalties - Failure to maintain this coverage can result in the following: 

1.     Failure to carry Workers' Compensation Insurance for more than 5 employees within a twelve month period is a class E felony and is punishable by a fine not less than $5,000 nor more than $50,000.

2.     For 5 or less employees within a twelve month period, it is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not less than $1,000 nor more than $5,000.

3.     Subsequent convictions within a 5 year period shall constitute a class D felony and fines not less than $10,000 nor more than $50,000.

4.     Any employer who fails to maintain a workers' compensation policy when it is required or owes a fine or assessment to the Board may be issued a stop-work order, meaning the business must shut down all activity until the order is lifted.

5.     A penalty in the sum of $2,000 for each ten-day period of non-compliance or a sum not in excess of two times the cost of compensation for the period of such failure may be imposed 

DISABILITY BENEFITS INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS

NY State statutory disability benefits (DB) insurance coverage is totally different from and is not included in NYS workers' compensation insurance coverage. Statutory NY State disability benefits insurance covers employees for off-the-job accident, injury or illness.
If you have one or more employees for 30 days in a calendar year, you are required to obtain NYS disability benefits insurance coverage. Such insurance must be effective no later than four weeks after the 30th day you have employees.  

Penalties under the Disability Benefits Law 

1.     Failure to carry Disability Benefits Insurance is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $500 or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, with increased monetary penalties for second and third or subsequent violations, and

2.     Where an employee of a non-insured employer is disabled due to an off-the-job injury or illness, the noninsured employer will be responsible for payment of the amount of benefits to which the employee is entitled or for payment of 1% of his/her payroll for the period of non-compliance, whichever is greater. And

3.     Where an employer fails to carry Disability Benefits Insurance, the Chair will impose a penalty not in excess of ½ of 1% of the employer's weekly payroll for the period of non-compliance and a further amount not in excess of $500 

Employees traveling through the State not stopping for deliveries, pick-ups, or other work are not deemed to have worked a day here. An employer that has reason to know that it will meet these criteria in the current year, even if it has not done so in the prior year, must obtain the required coverage.

For a complete description of the Form and Regulation, please visit the following link at the New York State Workers Compensation Board.

http://www.wcb.ny.gov/content/main/forms/oc923.pdf 

If you are concerned that your company may not be compliant, please contact Dan Borgna at Dale Group (973)437-9664 or danb@dalegroup.com who will be happy to discuss the matter with you.

Related articles

• Does your business need workers' compensation insurance? (hiscoxusa.com)
• Workers Compensation back-and-forth (timesunion.com)
• Evidence exists of productivity benefits of OHS but no one is using it (safetyatworkblog.com)

Happy New Year - 2013

Future Environment Designs would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year!  May it be a healthy, safe, and prosperous one, for all of us.  It is usually a tradition for companies and people to make resolutions for the new year.  At Future Environment Designs we resolve to honor our clients who have supported us for what will be 25 years in business in 2013.  To start meeting that resolution, we proudly announce our referral program.



Happy 2013 - May it be Healthy, Prosperous, & Safe!

Future Environment Design's Referral Program - we set this up to honor those clients who have referred training and indoor air quality/OSHA compliance consulting work to us.  Any client who refers training and/or indoor air quality/OSHA compliance consulting work to us will receive a 5% discount on their training/indoor air quality/OSHA compliance consulting work.  This would be in addition to any other discounts given.  So a client who has attended training with us before would be discounted 15% for loyalty and 5% for referring work to us, for a total discount of 20% off.  Future Environment Designs relies on word-of-mouth to maintain our level of revenue.  We feel this is a way to reward our clients who typically refer work to us and spread the word about our company.
Happy New Year!

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