Joe Whiteman, director of safety services, The Voice Newsletter March 2022 Asbestos was commonly used for insulating buildings and homes against cold weather and noise. Due to its heat and fire-resistant characteristics, it was also a popular fireproofing material in the early 1900s. Asbestos is the fibrous form of crocidolite, amosite, chrysotile, anthophyllite, tremolite or a mixture containi...

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Jim Klinger, concrete construction specialist, The Voice Newsletter March 2022 Full disclosure: Over the past year, the intrepid ASCC Technical Division research staff has been assigned to cover a wide range of stories that directly affect the ASCC membership at large. In some cases, the background sources for these articles did not come from the concrete construction business per se. For examp...

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March 7 - The American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC), St. Louis, MO announces a new Safety Training Assessment & Recognition Program (S.T.A.R.). The program is a product of ASCC’s Safety & Risk Management Council (SRMC), the mission of which is to make ASCC concrete contractors the safest in the industry.

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Joe Whiteman, director of safety services The Voice Newsletter February 2022 Introduction The ASCC Safety Training Assessment and Recognition program (S.T.A.R.) is a benchmarking and continual improvement tool for concrete contractors to assess their safety program, identify a path for improving performance and culture, and promote “buy-in” within all levels of their company. Mem...

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Jim Klinger, concrete construction specialist The Voice Newsletter February 2022 Full disclosure: The human central nervous system is a totally natural product that looks like it could be peeled right out of one’s dearly departed corpse and laminated onto a great big sheet of plywood (just run an image search for “real nervous system” and see what appears). The system is desig...

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January 24 – Chris Klemaske, Sundek National Accounts, Grand Prairie, TX, has been elected first vice president of the American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC), St. Louis, MO for 2022.

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Joe Whiteman, director of safety services The Voice Newsletter January 2022 The respiratory protection standard directs employers on establishing and maintaining a respiratory protection program. The standard sets out the requirements for administration, procedures, training, fit testing, medical evaluation, selection, use, maintenance, cleaning, storage, and repair. We should look at this as t...

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Jim Klinger, concrete construction specialist The Voice Newsletter January 2022 Imagine, if you will, the following scenario.  You are scheduled to start installing rebar and PT for an elevated concrete slab tomorrow.  The plywood deck has been swept clean, and the MEP crew has moved out of your way.  You get a call from your stud rail (also known as PSR, or punching shear resist...

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Jim Klinger, concrete construction specialist The Voice Newsletter January 2022 Full disclosure:  To oversimplify enormously, philosopher Blaise Pascal approached the issue of whether or not there was a deity by saying that, if we took a leap of faith and assumed there was, and we were wrong, then we would lose nothing but a few hours of wasted prayer and adoration.  If we were right,...

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Joe Whiteman, director of safety services The Voice Newsletter December 2021 As we adjust to the cold, whether that be rain, snow or, in here in the Southwest, a little forecasted shade, the holidays are not far behind. Typically this month I write about holiday safety and focus on safe driving, proper ladder use while hanging Christmas lights and general safety concerns synonymous with the hol...

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