Pittsburgh-based safety equipment manufacturer MSA has come up with a way to make hard hats greener — it uses sugar.

While it sounds like construction workers would be in for a sticky mess after that first rainstorm hits, that’s not the case. MSA developed the hats in Brazil using high-density polyethylene sourced from sugarcane.

“By developing a hard hat sourced from sugar, we have reduced the overall carbon footprint that’s associated with the entire life-cycle of this particular product, from start to finish,” said Eric Beck, MSA’s global director of strategic marketing, in a release.

The “green” polyethylene is made from sugarcane ethanol, which results in a smaller carbon footprint because, for each ton of the material produced, up to 2.5 pounds of carbon dioxide are captured from the atmosphere. Conversely, Beck said one ton of polyethylene sourced from petrochemicals emits more than 2 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

The final kicker is that green polyethylene is 100 percent recyclable.

MSA claims the hats are the first industrial safety product produced from nearly 100 percent renewable resources. I wonder if the U.S. Green Building Council has LEED points for that.

For more information, check out www.MSAsafety.com.

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.

Harbor Freight Tools has recalled its DrillMaster model No. 96526 cordless drills due to overheating.

The recall affects about 108,000 units imported from China by Camarillo, Calif.-based Harbor Freight Tools. If the black trigger switch on the 19.2-volt drills overheats it can pose a fire and burn hazard to users. There has been one minor injury reported.

The drills sold for $27-$30 at Harbor Freight stores nationwide and online between April 2008 and May 2012. Models with a gray trigger are not included in the recall.

Drill owners should remove the battery, stop using the tool and contact the company for a free replacement. Here’s where to do that: toll-free at (800) 444-3353 (8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday); by email at recalls@harborfreight.com; or online at www.harborfreight.com.

Washington State Department of Transportation maintenance workers will be in the pits this Sunday when they perform an annual cleanup ritual deep inside Seattle’s Montlake Bridge.
Leaves and garbage collect in the bridge pits where the counterweights sit, threatening to jam-up operations. Crews will be using a vactor truck to suck up the debris.
The left lanes in both directions will be closed from 6 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. for the work.

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.

Handling water and wastewater is becoming more and more important in our everyday lives. Just take a look at the DJC’s Environmental Outlook special section and you will see several articles on the subject.
First up, read about how Ecology is revising Sediment Management Standards to clarify what is needed to clean up contaminated sediment sites and to make the cleanup process more effective. Then read about the 200 West Pump and Treat System at Hanford that is scrubbing contaminated groundwater while saving more than 70 percent in energy costs over its life.
Not all water management is about getting stormwater out of the ground. Arnie Sugar from HWA GeoSciences writes about the benefits of increased infiltration of stormwater using low-impact development methods.
Then there’s wastewater. Tom Paul of Mortenson Construction covers how wastewater plants can be tapped as a renewable energy source.
If all this water talk has your head swimming, you can read about proposed rules that would allow some larger projects to bypass the SEPA process.

Thanks to all who participated in the special section!

Contractor Ken Coleman has learned that old dogs can be taught new tricks. The owner of Compass Construction writes about what has changed over the past 25 years in mixed-use construction in the DJC’s special section covering urban development.
While you’re reading about Ken’s adventures, make sure to check out the numerous articles on the local apartment market that has heated up in the past few years.

Enjoy!

The Chinese are at it again — this time building a pre-fabricated office in nine days.

The kicker here is that it was eight days behind schedule. That’s right, they wanted to build it in one day!

Broad Sustainable Building Corp. wanted to erect the five-story building in 24 hours to show that the system can be used for high-rises, saving money and, or course, time.

Broad Sustainable Building has built higher buildings in short time-frames, one profiled on this blog (30-story hotel in 24 days). Watch below as a swam of construction workers dressed in blue jumpsuits guide the pieces into place in quick fashion.