On Dec. 19, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published a final rule to revise existing language in the recordkeeping regulation to emphasize an employer’s responsibility to make and maintain accurate OSHA 300 Logs and all related incident reports. The new rule drastically expands on the existing regulatory language and in some cases added new provisions. While the newly published rule does make clear OSHA’s expectations involving the maintenance of injury and illness records, the true impetus for the rulemaking is to drastically expand the agency’s statute of limitation granted by the OSH Act. The OSH Act clearly states that “no citations may be issued after the expiration of six months following the occurrence of any violation.” However, this new rule will allow contractors to be cited for honest mistakes, or inaccuracies, related to recordkeeping dating back as far as five-and-a-half years. OSHA’s justification is that an omission of an injury or illness from the OSHA 300 Log constitutes an ongoing occurrence until corrected during the five-year retention period under the recordkeeping regulation.

All companies should have a plan of action for shutting down job sites for the holidays, along with an outside supervisor who is qualified to properly evaluate the site and make suggestions for improvements.

Marcia Kellogg There are just some clients that your business cannot afford to have - you know who they are: the ones who are highly commodity-based and have limited experience, whose projects result in little or no profit, and who are a drain on your firm and its resources. Instead of trying to find projects that suit the firm, client-based firms identify clients with whom they can develop and nurture a partnership over time. It’s a philosophy that is primarily interested in owning the client, not the project. Most importantly, the focus of a client-based business is maintaining the relationship at all costs. Firms that align their cultures with the business goals and objectives of their clients realize a vast improvement in performance, because they have a true belief and purpose in the project and the client with whom they are working, and this spirit resonates throughout everything they do.

Julie Huval, Beck Technology The acronym “BIM” is showing up more and more in our industry. Owners are requiring it on projects, countries are setting standards for it, and firms are touting expertise in it. But what is Building Information Modeling (BIM) and, as marketers and business developers, why should we care?

Learn More on AGC WebED Oct. 31 from 2-3:00 p.m. ET

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) this week delayed enforcement until Dec. 1, 2016, of the anti-retaliation provisions in its injury and illness reporting rule, which highlighted OSHA’s intention to enforce policies that could restrict mandatory post-incident alcohol and drug testing. Also this week, at AGC’s urging, more than 30 members of Congress called on OSHA to reconsider and withdraw this controversial and unsubstantiated position.

The 78% increase in the Occupational Health and Safety Administration's penalty structure is now in effect, as are new reporting and record-keeping rules. OSHA is working hard to get the word out and offer employers guidance, but contractors should stay on top of OSHA's efforts.

Although the general level of safety for construction workers has improved over the years, this isn't true for catastrophic and fatal events. The resultant exposure of employers to penalties suggests that underlying assumptions for the industry's safety pyramid are due for a reassessment, write attorney Lawrence Dany and loss prevention specialist Ray Master.

Mike Clancy, Cynthia Paul, FMI Corporation Contractors’ get work departments can be like a car with a bad alignment. While everyone is working hard to get where they want to go, some of the effort is being pulled toward the “ditch” of low hit rates, missed opportunities and undeveloped client relationships. All that is needed are a few key adjustments to win your fair share of work.

Intensifying its effort to dissuade the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) from interpreting its new recordkeeping regulations to restrict drug testing or safety incentive programs, AGC of America presses for a formal audience with the top OSHA official.