Ray Hefner, Executive Director The Voice Newsletter August 2023 At one time or another, we have all heard the statement, “work smarter not harder,” which is the mantra of the Millennials and something each practices every day. One of the many things I have learned during my career is to have an open mind and be willing to learn every step of the way. In other words, have an open min...

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Maizer Ouijdani, Vice President The Voice Newsletter August 2023 One of the most important steps of pre-planning and field efficiency is the development and use of shop drawings for our trade. Reflecting on my early days as a field engineer, I vividly recall manually scrutinizing construction documents along with shop drawings our team of detailers put together. Back then, the procedure was str...

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July 10, 2023 – The American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC), St. Louis, has published its first ALERT!, a new bulletin to apprise members of issues and developments in the concrete construction industry. The first ALERT! covers Portland-Limestone Cement Concrete. “ALERT! bulletins will be published as needed to provide timely notice of unusual, challenging, and sometimes comple...

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May 22, 2023 – The American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC) announced that Bruce Suprenant, P.E., PhD., FACI, and Bev Garnant, HACI, have been retained to develop and manage the association’s sustainability initiative. Suprenant and Garnant are ASCC’s former technical director and executive director respectively.

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Jason T.K. Anglin, SRMC director The Voice Newsletter May 2023 In recent years, one of the more complex challenges facing the construction industry is attracting new workers to the industry. As construction professionals, we also understand new workers pose a special hazard to both the project site and to themselves.  Inexperienced workers historically have higher rates of both incident...

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Jim Klinger, Concrete Construction Specialist The Voice Newsletter May 2023 Question:  We are building a post-tensioned (PT) concrete parking garage that features 3 levels below grade and 4 levels above street level. We bid the job to a General Contractor (GC) who in turn is working for a private developer. At bid time, the requirements for the quality of formwork and allowable deviations ...

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Mike Hernandez, Technical Director The Voice Newsletter May 2023 ASCC had a great Committee Week May 1st – 3rd in St. Louis both technically and socially. The Manufacturers Advisory Council discussed several issues including the need to bring new talent into the construction industry. We have an aging workforce and are losing people to retirement. Members encouraged one another to prov...

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Shawn Werner, SRMC director The Voice Newsletter April 2023 As the summer months approach, so does the threat of heat stress for our employees. It is important to start planning for warmer weather. Between the years of 2011-2019, BLS reported 344 heat related fatalities, an average of 38 workers a year. In April of 2022 OSHA launched a NEP (National Emphasis Program) for Heat Stress. This wa...

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Jim Klinger, Concrete Construction Specialist The Voice Newsletter April 2023 Full Disclosure: Every once in a while, we field ASCC Hotline calls that appear straightforward at first but quickly elevate into interesting exercises in onion-peeling. In this case, it takes a little bit of wordsmithing to arrive at truth's upper floor and save our ASCC Hotline callers from making a mistake or t...

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