A trio of workers’ comp reform bills were passed by the State Senate last week. Three others may be voted on soon.

The bills that passed are:

• Senate Bill 5112 – Allows claims representatives for retro employers and groups to schedule independent medical examinations and vocational rehabilitation assessments, subject to certain conditions. Click here for vote tally.
• Substitute Senate Bill 5127 – Addresses the arbitrary 55-year-old age limitation on structured settlement availability. Original bill would have removed the age restriction on voluntary claims settlements but an amendment lowered the age restriction to 40 rather than eliminating it. Click here for the vote tally.
• Senate Bill 5128 – Also deals with structured settlements, the bill streamlines the program in keeping with the legislation that passed in 2011 with a strong bipartisan vote. Click here for the vote tally.

These bills must still be passed by the State House of Representatives. The three other workers’ comp bills are:

• Senate Bill 5124 – Streamlines the way time-loss benefits are calculated for injured workers by replacing the current formula, which varies based on the worker’s marital status and number of children to a standard two-thirds percent.
• Senate Bill 5126 – Addresses a recent Supreme Court ruling by reaffirming that the state and self-insured companies can reimburse their benefit costs when a third party outside of the employment relationship causes a workers’ injury on the job.
• Senate Bill 5125 – Redefines “occupational diseases” to be a condition that must arise out of the course of employment and be proximately caused by the distinctive conditions of that employment. The increased frequency of occupational diseases for the natural aging process is one that has been seen on many cases. This legislation would put back in place the original intent of what the law was designed to cover for Industrially related Occupational Diseases.

These bills will help stem a looming $110 million a year surcharge on employers. The reforms passed in 2011 slowed big rises in premiums but didn’t solve all of the problems plaguing the system. Unless lawmakers take the next step, employers are facing a $110 million surcharge for each of the next 10 years as L&I attempts to rebuild its depleted reserve fund. Building reserves is a good thing, but doing it with large surcharges will hinder job creation.

The following post is from Jason Kane:

Following a task through to completion is the common denominator of all successful people. The effort required to construct some of the great buildings of the world is best described as excruciating. The following is a list of the five tallest buildings completed and currently under construction:

Shanghai World Financial Center
This award winning structure has a distinctive trapezoid aperture. Designed by the American architectural firm Kohn Pedersen Fox, it is located in the Pudong district of Shanghai, China. Construction began August of 1997 and it reached is height of 1,614 feet on September 14, 2007. The office building has 101 floors and opened to the public August 28, 2008. The cost of construction was $1.20 billion.

Taipei 101
Located in Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan, this structure held the rank of world’s tallest from 2004 to 2010. It stands 1,670 feet tall and houses 101 floors. Construction began in January 1999. It reached its current height on October 17, 2003. It houses office space, restaurants, stores, a library, fitness center and meeting facilities. It opened to the public in December 2004 and cost $1.80 billion to build.

Makkah Royal Clock Tower Hotel
Like the name says, this combination hotel and residential building houses a four-faced clock atop the Faimont hotel. Located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, it stands 1,972 feet tall to the top of its spire. The highest of its 120 floors is 1,833 feet. Construction began in 2004 and it was completed in 2012.

Burj Khalifa
Located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, this building holds 17 records. It has remained the world’s tallest structure at 2,722 feet since its completion in 2010. It also houses the world’s fastest elevators, highest nightclub, highest restaurant and the most floors of any other building with 163. Construction started in January 2004. Floor area is estimated at 3,331,100 sq ft and it cost $1.5 billion.

Sky City
Construction is underway on a 220 floor building in the city of Changsha, China. It will be about 30 feet taller than Burj Khalifa. The plan is to complete the 2749-foot tower in 90 days. If completed as planned by the the end of March 2013, it will be an engineering accomplishment beyond all others. That is a rise rate of thirty feet per day. Broad Group Construction Company says they will finish the project at a cost of $1,500 per square meter compared to the $15,000 per square meter cost of Burj Khalifa by using prefab technology. Broad Group has quieted skeptics before by constructing a 30 story hotel in 15 days.

Jason Kane writes about construction sites and construction safety equipment like lanyards and ladder safety systems.

Ever want to play poker with a skid steer? Or, maybe you’d like to bash a pinata with a backhoe? How about using a telehandler to sling barrels at a giant stack of barrels?

I’m not making this up. The Discovery Channel on Sunday is launching a new reality series that pits three teams of equipment operators against each other in bizarre competitions that include the above and more.

The “Machines of Glory” series starts at 6 p.m. with a backhoe brawl where the teams will be pushing their skid steers to the limits in four challenges. At 7 p.m. crews will navigate a maze with the backhoes and launch projectiles from what’s billed as the world’s largest slingshot.

A third episode at 8 p.m. will have bulldozers flattening cars and excavators dropping bombs.

Twelve grand goes to the winning team.

Tune in or set your DVRs! Here’s a sample clip:

For more information, visit www.discovery.com.

Chinese company Broad Sustainable Building Corp. erects buildings on ridiculously short time frames: It built a low-rise office in nine days earlier this year and a 30-story hotel in 15 days last year.

How do you top that? You build the world’s tallest building in 90 days — duh.

In early 2013, Broad will start building Sky City in the city of Changsha in the Hunan province. At 2,749 feet tall, it will be nearly 33 feet taller than the Burj Khalifa, the current height champion.

Sky City is a fitting name: The building will have apartments for more than 30,000 people, schools, a hospital and more than a dozen helipads.

But, what will be sacrificed by using pre-fab components to construct the world’s tallest building in record time? In a word: style.

Sky City looks like a massive block built from Legos. In contrast, the Burj Khalifa resembles a giant stalagmite reaching for the stratosphere.

More interesting architecture can be found in some of China’s other skyscrapers: the 2,073-foot-tall Shanghai Tower (under construction), the 1,667-foot-tall Taipei 101 and the 1,476-foot-tall Nanjing Greenland Financial Complex.

Sky City

Burj Khalifa

Shanghai Tower

Taipei 101

Nanjing Greenland

In its quest to crack down on unlicensed contractors, the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries says it made surprise visits to 63 work sites in Chelan and Douglas counties this past weekend.

The result? Eleven contractors were cited for either lacking a state registration or for not being registered for the work they were doing. Each first-time offense carries a $1,000 fine.

“An unregistered contractor typically has no liability insurance, no bond, and pays no taxes or workers’ comp,” said Dean Simpson, manager of L&I’s construction compliance program, in a release. “That means they’re leaving consumers unprotected and are unfairly competing with reputable contractors who do great work and meet the requirements.”

Simpson said his program has stepped up staffing and focus, inspecting more than 10,000 jobsites in the last fiscal year — 56 percent more visits and 39 percent more violations uncovered than in the previous year.

Mark Straub, executive officer for the North Central Home Builders Association, said his group supports L&I’s crackdown.

“We continue to receive numerous calls from consumers who thought they were getting ‘a great deal,’ only to discover that they have little or no recourse when they’re ultimately left in a lurch by these bad actors,” Straub said in the release.

L&I has carried out surprise inspections at 257 work sites, issuing 41 citations, since the agency began sweeps in August. The agency also found a number of other violations relating to uncertified plumbers, underage workers and unpermitted work on manufactured homes.

“We want to show people we’re out there, even on the weekends,” Simpson said. “We want unregistered contractors to know we will find them and for honest contractors to know we’re not ignoring this problem.”

L&I’s contractor compliance program has 21 inspectors around the state that make random site visits and respond to tips. Contractors can register at www.ContractorRenew.Lni.wa.gov.

Skanska is in the midst of its eighth annual Safety Week, which it bills as the world’s largest workplace safety initiative. That means all of Skanska’s 53,000 employees around the world, including its 9,400 U.S. employees, are putting an extra focus on workplace safety and wellness. Subcontractors, suppliers and business partners are also included.

The program has thousands of activities held at Skanska jobsites and offices that educate employees on how to better avoid workplace risks and evade injuries. Examples are rescue techniques and fire training, flex routines, health and first-aid training, and ladder safety.
Speaking of ladder safety, Skanska is hosting a ladder safety presentation at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday at its UW Medical Center jobsite. Doug Wing from Little Giant Ladders will give a demonstration.

Skanska has developed some best practices for ladder safety:
• Always inspect the ladder prior to use.
• Choose the right ladder for the job based on if you are working at low, medium or high heights.
• Move slowly and deliberately while on a ladder. Over-reaching or leaning can lead to a loss of balance.
• Most importantly, always maintain three points of contact while ascending and descending a ladder. The user should keep either two hands and a foot or two feet and a hand on the ladder at all times.

Over the past six years, Skanska’s lost-time accident rate for employees has been reduced by 50 percent. By 2015, the company aims to eliminate three out of four lost-time accidents.

More information on Safety Week 2012 can be found at www.skanska.com/safetyweek. It runs until Sunday.

Today’s DJC includes a fine article by Sam Bennett regarding the construction industry’s concerns regarding a recent Department of Labor proposal that contractors who do federal work follow a new system for hiring disabled workers and veterans.  That article is here.

As a follow up, I want to make sure everyone is aware of Helmets to Hardhats, a national, web-based program that connects National Guard, Reserve and transitioning active-duty military members with quality career training and employment opportunities within the construction trades. The program, created a decade ago, is administered by the Center for Military Recruitment, Assessment and Veterans Employment, a non-profit 501(c)(3) joint labor-management committee.

Employers are required to participate in “proven apprenticeship training programs that are registered and approved by applicable federal and state authorities.” However, it is not limited to union training programs and employers.

The Construction Industry Training Council (CITC) of Washington, which is an approved H2H training program that AGC of Washington, ABC and others sponsor, runs an open-shop registered apprenticeship program with more than 400 apprentices in several craft programs.

According to its website, “H2H encourages all responsible employers who have construction-related career opportunities to apply for acceptance into our program.” Employers must meet certain criteria including: “access to a quality and federally-recognized registered apprentice program, a permanent system to ensure employment and training opportunities, formal curriculum and instructor training programs, related training and an on-the-job training program, an affirmative action program, and a positive record of caring for the welfare of workers as evidenced by health insurance, pension benefits and workers’ compensation coverage.”

Helmets to Hardhats was created because the industry knows that the nation’s veterans can serve as a good pool of potential construction craftworkers, but also understands that making the connections with the nation’s veterans as they leave service can be difficult.

On June 1 AGC reached a tentative agreement with the Carpenters Union.  With this agreement, negotiations with all five of the basic crafts have been completed. The Laborers, Teamsters, Operating Engineers and Cement Masons agreed to tentative agreements earlier last week.

Common elements in the agreements are:

• Agreements are for three years;
• The City of Seattle’s mandatory Sick Leave Ordinance has been specifically waived;
• Commuting tolls will be the employee’s responsibility;
• Wage and fringe packages agreed to were around the 2-3% per year range;
• Normal hours of worked were extended to 5:00 am to 6:00 pm.

For more info including wage and fringe packages in the first year of the tentative agreements, click here.

The agreements now will be presented to the union memberships for ratification.  This process will extend through June.  The effective date of new wage fringe rates will vary with each craft.

The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) rule on representation case procedures went into effect April 30, 2012. The NLRB rule, also known as the “quickie election” or “ambush election” rule, would expedite the union representation election cycle to as little as 14 days. It is bad for both employers and employees.

While the rule doesn’t require any immediate action by employers nor will the rule effect any cases filed prior to today, employers should still continue to develop internal procedures in the chance of an organizing campaign. The outcome of the rule will require swifter action by employers to educate employees during an organizing campaign.

AGC of America opposed the rule since its consideration because it effectively limits workers’ access to information and an adequate opportunity to consider information, about whether they want to be represented by the union seeking to represent them. The rule will have a particularly difficult application and detrimental impact on the construction industry due to the complexity of identifying the appropriate bargaining unit and of determining voter eligibility in the industry, and due to the decentralized nature of construction workplaces operated by the same employer.

AGC of America is a member of the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW) which has filed a lawsuit against the rule. The court is expected to issue a decision on the merits by May 15.

A congressional resolution that would have nullified the rule was defeated last week.

For more background on the rule and AGC’s concerns, click here. For more information on the rule from the NLRB, click here.