Concrete Pump Truck Set Up - Common Do's and Don'ts Joe Whiteman, director of safety services As concrete contractors, having a concrete pump truck on your jobsite may be as common as a house having a front door. As regular as that piece of equipment may be on the project, using it can easily become routine, and routine can lead to complacency. When complacency sets in ques...

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Jim Klinger, The Voice Newsletter September 2021 The ASCC Hotline has been in existence for about 50 years, taking calls on business, contracts/specifications and technical issues. The success of the Hotline is not about the person answering the calls, but the contractors that call in. As contractors call, more information is obtained about an issue or project, which collectively leads to a pin...

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Praise in Public, Coach in Private - It Works for Safety Too Joe Whiteman, director of safety services You have more than likely heard the phrase, “praise in public, coach in private." These are good words to live by when managing employees. However, determining a public or private approach to coaching is dependent upon when coaching is required, the employee, and the potentia...

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Jim Klinger, Concrete Construction Specialist, The Voice Newsletter July/August 2021 Call it coincidence. I had a chance to commiserate with an old construction colleague over this past holiday weekend. Both of us had set foot on our first concrete construction jobsite during the second week of July, 1979 at the same small, mid-rise apartment project  just outside Bethesda...

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ST. LOUIS, MO June 10 – Volunteers from the Decorative Concrete Council (DCC) and the Manufacturers’ Advisory Council (MAC) of the American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC) traveled to Detroit, MI March 11-12 to complete a community project for the Durfee Innovation Society. Paul Albanelli, Albanelli Cement Contractors, Livonia, MI was the project manager for the installation ...

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Employee Independent Action - What Is It? Joe Whiteman, director of safety services A great question was raised during last month’s Safety Roundtable on Root Cause Analysis. “What do you do after you have performed a root cause analysis and identified the cause was an employee knowing better, but simply choosing to cut a corner or do the wrong thing”? The follow up question w...

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Jim Klinger, Concrete Construction Specialist, The Voice Newsletter June 2021 About a month ago I purchased one of those so-called “Ebikes” from our local big-box store. This particular model features 14-inch wheels and fold-down handlebars. A rechargeable battery-powered motor can be used to supplement the traditional foot pedals. Gears, shock absorbers and a comfortable seat were ...

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Jim Klinger, Concrete Construction Specialist, The Voice Newsletter, May 2021 Here at your ASCC Technical Division, much of our work product is created in response to concrete construction substrate acceptance issues disclosed by members via hotline calls or prompted by Email Forum posts. Sometimes, for example, a concrete floor slab substrate has been deemed unacceptable by a follow-on...

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Be Prepared As Summer Months Approach - Complying With COVID-19 May Increase Chances of Heat Related Illness Joe Whiteman, director of safety services  5-2021 Listening to ASCC members share lessons and resources during the monthly COVID-19 roundtable, I am constantly amazed and reassured that we as an association and an industry have navigated the exposure and health related challenges w...

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