Survey closes August 12

On June 30, AGC along with more than 60 organizations took issue with OSHA’s proposed rule to expand the scope and revise the provisions of its “Improved Tracking of Workplace Injury and Illness” regulation. If finalized as proposed, the rule will require construction firms with 100 or more employees to electronically submit their OSHA Form 300 (log of work-related injuries and illnesses), OSHA Form 300A (summary of work-related injuries and illnesses), and OSHA Form 301 (injury and illness incident report) on an annual basis. For construction firms with 20 – 100 employees, the rule will require the annual submission of their OSHA Form 300A (summary of work-related injuries and illnesses).

We have all heard the expression death by a thousand cuts. Listen to the just-released AGC ConstructorCast and hear about a design-build construction project that had over 88,000 cuts. These cuts came in the form of owner comments on the contractor’s submittals that typically expressed an owner “preference” that was not necessarily a contractual requirement. Just trying to parse out the nature of the owner’s comments, the design-builder estimated it cost the company 49 person-years! Comments stating a preference were four times more likely than comments indicating something “non-compliant.” Some ENR top 75 firms have left the design-build market amidst this “midlife crisis” of risk.

The construction industry added 13,000 jobs in June as the number of jobseekers with construction experience plunged to a record low for the month according to an analysis of federal employment data released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said the industry would likely have added even more jobs in June had it not been for the shortage of available workers.

On June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a climate change related case that invoked the “major questions doctrine” to determine that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had overstepped its authority under the Clean Air Act Section 111 to force an energy generational shift away from coal (West Virginia v. EPA). In the aftermath of this ruling, policy experts have been discussing whether this prohibits EPA from taking regulatory action to address climate change and whether the major questions doctrine will be called into play more frequently. Another recent example of the Court applying the doctrine is when it halted enforcement of the COVID-19 vaccination and testing emergency temporary standard.

Follow-up on AGC Member Survey on Sustainability Practices

In a June 21 letter, AGC of America raised supply chain concerns stemming from a proposed rulemaking to impose Federal Implementation Plan requirements on twenty-six states as part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) “good neighbor” plan related to the 2015 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). EPA’s proposal would add emissions budgets and limits on certain energy and, for the first time, industrial sources—including certain kilns, boilers, furnaces, and mills. Although not directly impacted, AGC members could experience disruptions in availability or cost increases for energy or materials key to construction such as cement, iron and steel, glass, chemicals, and paper products.