OnTraccr is Making Construction Technology Accessible to All

image courtesy of OnTraccr Technologies Inc.

The following article is sponsored by OnTraccr.Technologies Inc.

There’s no doubt that the construction industry has seen a large influx of new software hitting the market over the past few years. Many of those programs, however, mainly appeal to large contractors with an infrastructure built to support the addition of a cumbersome system, while most small to medium sized companies are left behind.

OnTraccr, a new productivity app for construction, is looking to make their software accessible to everyone, by making it as simple and easy to use as possible, while still giving your company the valuable data it needs to survive in our constantly changing industry.

Launched in February of 2021, OnTraccr is starting as a time-tracking app, but plans to expand to much more in the future.  Building its foundation in time tracking is a great place to start, because labor is responsible for a substantial percentage of a business’ costs.

Having a real-time, electronically based time tracking system is not only good for business owners and managers, it’s also good for the hourly workers.  Paper timecards take a lot of time to gather, sort through, and ultimately get people paid.  That can not only reduce the accuracy of paychecks, but it can also put you behind on tracking project costs.

The construction industry has been in a tough job market for years, and easy and accurate time cards and timely paychecks can be a huge factor in retaining the staff that your company has.

How OnTraccr Works

OnTraccr’s mission is to make technology accessible to everybody and their smartphone and web app design reflects that. The layout is clean, the buttons are large, and it avoids any unnecessary information that can lead to confusion.

Using OnTraccr as an Employee

Employees using the app to track their time are met with 4 clearly marked button options: clock in, clock out, take break, and switch (which allows the employee to change projects or job code). Doesn’t get much simpler than that.  The time is then traced in real-time and able to be monitored by the management staff.

image courtesy of OnTraccr Technologies Inc.

Geofences or GPS locations can be established to ensure employees are in the correct location when they clock in and out. Companies can also log time manually or set up a “shared tablet mode,” allowing employees to clock-in using a 4-digit PIN in a centralized location.

Workers can review their time sheets though the app, make any necessary adjustments, and submit for approval when ready, making it easy to ensure they are paid the correct amount for the time worked.

Using OnTraccr as a Manager

Since time cards are tracked in real-time, management staff can perform budget tracking and job costing functions whenever they want. There are a variety of reports built into OnTraccr that contain valuable data, including:

• Employee Payroll and Timesheets

• Budget Tracking

• Labor Productivity

• Productivity Forecast

• Project Timeline and Labor Curve

image courtesy of OnTraccr Technologies Inc.

Each report can be easily filtered by a variety of different categories, such as project, cost code, and approval status, allowing you to quickly find the data relevant to you. Report customizations can be saved for easy viewing later and exported to view, share, and analyze offline.

OnTraccr can even be integrated into QuickBooks or custom enterprise software, allowing payroll to be processed automatically when time cards are approved.

Future Developments

In addition to time tracking, OnTraccr plans to use their app as a means of team communication in the near future.  Since the team will already need access to the software to log and view their time, it’s a natural next step to increase the app’s functionality.  As an example, users will be able to create rooms based upon a specific topic, like RFI or safety conversations. These topic-based chats will keep everyone up to date, further connecting the field and office staff.

The company will also add billing and invoicing for time and material work and an integration into the popular project management software, Procore, as well.

Free Access

With its recent launch, the app is now available across the United States and Canada and the full version can be accessed for free, for life, for up to 4 team members. There’s no better way to find out if an app will work for your team than to see exactly how it works before committing to it.

Above and beyond the first 4 users, pricing is very straightforward at $9.99 per month per additional user.  For enterprises with a large number of users, you can contact their sales team for a cost estimate.

The app is available on both Android and Apple devices and the web app can be accessed through any internet browser.

source https://www.constructionjunkie.com/blog/2021/2/26/ontraccr-is-making-construction-technology-accessible-to-all

Crane Collapses on Jobsite in Syracuse, NY, No Injuries Reported

image via the Syracuse Fire Department

On Tuesday morning, February 23, the Syracuse Fire Department responded to a call about a collapsed crane on a construction site near the university.  Thankfully, no injuries were reported.

According to WIVB, the collapse was first reported around 9am and, once first responders arrived at the scene, they determined that there were no injuries and no buildings damaged. The crane landed within the confines of the site, as well, which will be the future home of a new building at the Upstate Medical University campus.

Earlier this morning Engine Company 1, Truck 5, Rescue 1, Rescue 3, and Car 3 were called to East Adams Street for a crane collapse. No injuries were reported, and no buildings were damaged. #syracusefire pic.twitter.com/7jM0eeW9xj

— Syracuse Fire Dept (@syracuseFD) February 23, 2021

The piece of equipment is partially obstructed in the photos and videos of the scene, but it appears to be a crawler crane.  At the time of the collapse, the crane was picking some steel off of a flatbed truck.

Syracuse Deputy Fire Chief explained to local reporters that there was no risk to any further tipping or causing any injuries, but the contractors will be making arrangements to get the crane removed from the site.

For more information, you can watch the news report from NewsChannel 9 WSYR Syracuse below:

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source https://www.constructionjunkie.com/blog/2021/2/24/crane-collapses-on-jobsite-in-syracuse-ny-no-injuries-reported

Finally, an Air-Conditioned Hard Hat is on the Horizon

image courtesy of Feher Research Inc.

It seems a little odd to be talking about air-conditioning when much of the United States hit some incredibly low temperatures in recent days, but a product that I learned about recently is just too exciting to ignore. Announced at CES 2021, a research company has unveiled an air-conditioned hard hat (ACHH) that can reduce the ambient temperature up to 22 degrees Fahrenheit!

Feher Research Inc. has taken a standard looking hard hat and turned it into the world’s first and only self-contained, portable air-conditioned headgear. This isn’t like a standard A/C unit with refrigerants running through copper lines, though; it uses the Peltier effect, the same thermoelectric technology used to cool the water coolers you might have in your office.

(It’s also similar to the technology used for the Sony t-shirt air conditioners I’ve mentioned before.)

This A/C Hard Hat isn’t backed by some Joe Schmo who just strapped a fan to the back of a hard hat, either.  The inventor of the product, Steve Feher, has been designing and patenting cooling products since the 1960s and created new technologies for cooling car seats that are used by Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Ferrari, Infiniti, Lexus, and GM. He’s also the creator of the Feher Helmet, the world’s first air-conditioned motorcycle helmet.

The Hard Hat can be powered in multiple ways, the most important being through a 3ah lithium ion battery. According to the current specs, this battery will provide 2 hours of run time.  If you work a more stationary job, the hard hat can also be plugged in for continuous run time.

Even with the added components, the ACHH is impressively light weighing in at 18.05 oz with the battery, only about 2-4 ounces more than a traditional hard hat.

image courtesy of Feher Research Inc.

As far as head protection goes, it will still need to pass ANSI standards in order to work on a jobsite.  The adjustable head band of the hard hat is removed to make room for the components of the cooling system, which is sized like a baseball cap for optimum cooling effect.  Feher believes there are benefits to the construction of the helmet innards though:

“…the ACHH is sized like a hat and covers the users head with a unique air flow structure for maximum head cooling, which also spreads any impact force over a larger scalp area than conventional hardhats that have straps with an adjustable head band” Feher explained, “The conventional straps don't cover the entire scalp, in order to allow the scalp to breathe, so any impact force is transferred to the users scalp with fewer square inches of area than the ACHH, which cover more area and provides sub-ambient air closely to the users head..”

Feher is offering licenses for his technology on an exclusive or non-exclusive basis and the tech will also be available for purchase. 

Is this something that you would be interested to use on your job site?

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source https://www.constructionjunkie.com/blog/2021/2/23/finally-an-air-conditioned-hard-hat-is-on-the-horizon

[VIDEO] Volvo Announces Mid-Size Electric Excavator, the EX03

image courtesy of Volvo CE

To help reduce jobsite noise, exhaust emissions, and reduce maintenance, many construction equipment manufacturers have been busy producing all electric versions of their diesel powered machines, such as the 220+ ton electric crawler cranes that Liebherr recently unveiled. Volvo Construction Equipment is the latest to announce an all-electric machine with the announcement of the midsized, wheeled excavator, called the EX03.

The first thing you may notice about the EX03 is the large video screen on the back of the machine, something that I don’t believe I’ve ever seen before. This screen can serve 3 different functions:

·         A real-time view of the front of the machine, so vehicles trailing behind can see what is up ahead.

·         A text-based screen to help alert workers what movements the machine is going to make

·         A safety communication live stream, which allows the operator to make eye contact with workers and the general public to reduce safety issue

image courtesy of Volvo CE

Like most of the other electric machines that have been announced previously, Volvo promises that this midsized, 14 metric ton excavator will have the same performance as a similarly sized diesel version. The X03 is currently in the concept stage, so Volvo does not have immediate plans to bring it to market, but it shows the possibilities that electronics on heavy machinery can allow for.

“This prototype is a significant step forward in the evolution of medium electric construction machines. As our first electric excavator concept in the mid-size range, we have been quick to build and expand on our existing electromobility technology. With the same power and force as a diesel machine of the same size, there has been no compromise on performance.”

Check out the short video below, from Volvo, to see the video screen in action:

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source https://www.constructionjunkie.com/blog/2021/2/22/video-volvo-announces-mid-size-electric-excavator-the-ex03

The Space to Build Podcast Highlights and Inspires Women in Construction

courtesy of Kathryn Hart // Space to Build

Podcasting opens the door to listen to and enjoy so many different perspectives from across industry and across the world. I’m absolutely thrilled by the continued growth of podcasting in the construction realm, because it allows us to listen to conversations that we normally wouldn’t have access to, many of which can be extremely important for shaping the future of our industry. One of the newer voices making her conversations heard is Kathryn Hart on her podcast, Space to Build.

Space to Build features one-on-one conversations with other women in the construction industry, who have varying levels of experience and come from many different backgrounds.  Each guest shares their story of how they got to where they are and the path they had to take to get there. Perhaps most importantly, each guest is making a positive impact as a woman in construction.

In an industry where female visibility on the jobsite and in leadership roles can be hard to come by, sharing these stories and normalizing women in construction can not only help open doors for more women to enter and stay in the industry, but also inspire a younger generation to even consider it for their future profession.

So while the podcast features women and their experiences in construction, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it should be isolated to only women listeners.  Men who truly want to know what the female experience is like in the industry could gain a lot from the conversations. The show is also highly relatable to new workers to the industry, as I have found many of the situations discussed to be similar to my own experiences as a relatively young project manager in the industry.

Kathryn herself is a recent college graduate and is currently a superintendent for a general contractor in the Washington DC area. Her desire to create Space to Build came as a result of an experience that she had in her first role after graduating:

“I felt isolated and burnt out not long after graduating. It took a blow up from my then superintendent to wake me up and decide I should take control of my career and find my people,” Kathryn told me, “I found a new company to work for, settled into a good routine, and finally decided it was time to start this community I had wanted for so long. My goal is to create a space that fosters community and professional/personal development for the women new to construction.”

Space to Build recently finished season 1, which consisted of 10 episodes.  Hart says that the episodes have made an impact on other women in the industry, by making them feel less isolated and more motivated. Guests have included project engineers, business owners, a National Masonry Champion, architects, and more. All women making an impact in construction.

Season 2 of Space to Build starts today, February 17, 2021, and Hart told me that she is “excited to dive into the value of building community and what confidence really looks like to women in our industry.”

For more information about the Space to Build podcast, visit spacetobuild.co.  You can also find the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, and Buzzsprout.

You can also check out episode 6 of the podcast, featuring Jennifer Todd, the Founder and President of LMS General Contractors, below:

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source https://www.constructionjunkie.com/blog/2021/2/9/the-space-to-build-podcast-highlights-and-inspires-women-in-construction

Meet Canvas, the Drywall Finishing Robot Offering Level 5 Quality

courtesy of Canvas

No matter the industry, robots are highly efficient at performing repetitive tasks.  We’ve seen that firsthand in the construction industry in recent years with the emergence of bricklaying, rebar-tying, and overhead drilling robots. These robots not only offer consistency, but help to reduce muscular-skeletal injuries caused by long term stress on muscles and joints. A newer robot hitting construction sites is Canvas, a semi-autonomous robot that promises to provide Level 5 finish on drywall.

When set up on the jobsite, Canvas has the ability to spray drywall compound on walls and ceilings and provides a dust free sanding system. The human operator navigates the robot to the specific location on-site and sets the parameters of the work to be completed. After that, Canvas goes to work.

“We designed our process so that the robot does things that machines are good at, while our workers do things that people are good at. Robots are great at repetitive, high work; people are great at having the expertise of navigating and negotiating the broader job site, figuring out edge cases, and so on. Workers operate and basically direct the robot, which then automatically performs a lot of the finishing work,” Canvas co-founder and CTO Maria Telleria told me.

The robot not only provides consistency to the finish application, but the programming can be altered to speed up or slow down, depending on what the schedule allows. It also features an on-board dust collection system and sanding arm to reduce cleanup on-site.

Canvas is currently focused on large commercial and new construction projects in the San Francisco Bay Area.  The team has already worked on several high-profile projects, including the San Francisco International Airport Harvey Milk Terminal 1, the UCSF Wayne and Gladys Valley Center for Vision, and the global HQ at Chase Arena Towers.

The company is currently partnering with owners, developers, and general contractors to offer the bot’s services in a subcontractor role, as opposed to leasing or selling the robot outside of the company. The crews that Canvas employs to work with the machine are also union workers.

"We're excited that our partnership with Canvas has developed in the manner it has. It is creating meaningful Union career opportunities, helping introduce previously untapped communities to the trades, and making the work itself safer and reducing the strain on the body," said District Council 16 Business Manager, Robert Williams III, a third-generation Union painter, in a press release. "It's critical for skilled workers to have great resources in their tool kit, and we are excited to be on the leading-edge of technology in our industries by partnering with Canvas."

As with most emerging technologies, though, Canvas is starting small and has plans to branch out in the future. The company only officially announced its public launch in November of last year. The team of founders is made up of some pretty serious technology folks who came from previous roles at Boston Dynamics, MIT, and Stanford. Together, they’ve raised over $19 million from investors to make their current accomplishments possible.

In addition to eventually branching out geographically, the team at Canvas is also learning from their on-the-job experience to make their machine even better.  Currently, the bot is powered by a mix of outlet power and batteries, but they are already working on their next generation platform, which they expect to be completely cordless.

As for pricing, I was told Canvas provides Level 5 quality for the equivalent cost for Level 4 work.

There isn’t much video available of Canvas in action, but I did find a short clip of it sanding, via The Robot Report on YouTube, which you can watch below:

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source https://www.constructionjunkie.com/blog/2021/2/9/meet-canvas-the-drywall-finishing-robot-offering-level-5-quality

Autodesk Build is Available to All, Combines Capabilities of BIM 360 and PlanGrid

courtesy of Autodesk

At last year’s virtual Autodesk University, Autodesk announced a trio of new products: Build, Quantify, & BIM Collaborate.  Build, the platform that combines the features of PlanGrid and BIM 360, is officially available on a global scale as of today.

What is Autodesk Build?

Combining the strong documentation abilities of BIM 360 and the field accessibility of PlanGrid, Autodesk Build is being offered as a complete solution for construction project management, quality control, safety reporting, project cost, and closeout.  While Build does combine these two platforms, Autodesk does not have current plans to stop supporting either existing program or to force those users onto the new platform.

"Our teams need the right technology to achieve outstanding results,” says Barton Malow Holdings Senior VDC Manager Ted Jennings, in a press release. “By bringing together the best of BIM 360 and PlanGrid and adding even more project management firepower, Autodesk Build is both a simple and robust solution. Connecting our teams and data across projects allows us to supercharge our work with more streamlined document, safety and cost management, and deliver on our quality standards.”

Project Management

Teams have the ability to manage and access important information for any construction project, including RFIs, submittals, meeting minutes, and daily reports. Autodesk Docs is also included in the subscription, which is a common data environment (CDE) for the system, creating a single source of truth across all data collected on the project.

Users can also control documents, track versions of drawings, and manage approval capabilities on 2D sheets and 3D models.

Collaboration

Projects can be managed wherever you have access, whether it’s a desktop, laptop, or mobile device.  For field collaboration, Build includes the new PlanGrid Build app, which is based on the stand-alone and industry favorite, PlanGrid. Within the app, users can create and manage punchlists, quality, issues, training, observations, and inspections.

PlanGrid Build also includes compatibility with 3D models.

Cost Management

Build allows users to manage budgets from start to finish, beginning with the creation and contract administration, to change orders, cost forecasts, and payment applications, all in a real-time view format.

Insights

To help mitigate risk on projects, Build also includes Insights, which is an artificial intelligence that helps interpret and export project data, alerting you of potential problems on the project.

More Information

For more information about build, you can check out a demo on their website or sign up for a free 30-day trial.

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source https://www.constructionjunkie.com/blog/2021/2/9/autodesk-build-is-available-to-all-combines-capabilities-of-bim-360-and-plangrid

[VIDEO] Creating a Brick out of Mushrooms

via YouTube // Verge Science

Cement and concrete have been under the microscope for a number of years due to the amount of carbon created in the manufacturing process. There are many scientists throughout the world that are looking to crack the code on a new form of concrete-like material that has all of the benefits that concrete possesses.  It’s a tall task, that’s why concrete has been used for hundreds of years. The latest example of scientific innovation comes from mushrooms.

Thanks to a video and an article from The Verge, we have an inside look at the process that was developed to make a brick made of mushrooms.  By taking a small sample of a cracked cap polypore, a mushroom that you may know better by its Latin name – say it with me – Phellinus robiniae. The fungi grows on a black locust tree and is a hard mushroom, a property which would lead them to better success in the lab.

After finding one of these cracked cap polypores, the team cut off a small sample, placed even smaller samples into separate petri dishes, and waited for it to grow mycelium.  Mycelium is kind of like the mushroom’s root system, which are small interwoven fibers that help with strength.  Growing those fibers are the researcher’s path to creating the final brick.

Once the mycelium grown and become viable, it’s cut out of the petri dish and placed in a small jar of grains to grow for a week.  After that, the mixture is moved into a larger container full of sawdust pellets and soybean hulls for another week. That final mixture is then placed in a brick mold to continue to strengthen for one more week. Lastly, the brick is baked for a few hours on low heat to stop the mushrooms from growing.

The total process to make one brick took over 4 weeks and the commercial viability of mushroom bricks is still in its infancy, but it is an interesting experiment to show how nature and building materials could eventually become intertwined…………like the mycelium – hold your applause.

Below is the video from The Verge, which shows the whole process of making and testing the brick.  It also features one of my new favorite humans, William Padilla-Brown, who loves funghi more than you’ve ever loved anything. If you do nothing else in this world, find someone that looks at you the way William looks at a mushroom.

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source https://www.constructionjunkie.com/blog/2021/2/4/video-creating-a-brick-out-of-mushrooms

[VIDEOS] Spot Robot Dog Adds Self Charging, Remote Operation, and Arm

via Boston Dynamics

Spot, the famous robot dog from Boston Dynamics, has been officially for sale to the public for less than a year, but the company has already announced major upgrades for the growing platform. Yesterday, February 2nd, Boston Dynamics held a launch event for 3 new Spot products: Enterprise, Scout, and the Spot Arm.

During the 25 minute event, which you can watch in its entirety on Boston Dynamic’s Youtube page, the company announced that they have sold over 400 of the $74,500 robot. Since its launch, the platform has also added partnerships with other technology providers, many of whom are in the construction sector. As I mentioned in my December 2020 update on Spot, it’s truly one of the only pieces of hardware in construction with so many 3rd party developers looking to collaborate with it.

“Since first launching Spot, we have worked closely with our customers to identify how the robot could best support their mission critical applications,” said Robert Playter, CEO of Boston Dynamics, in a press release. “Our customers want reliable data collection in remote, hazardous, and dynamic worksites. We developed the new Spot products with these needs in mind, and with the goal of making it easy to regularly and remotely perform critical inspections, improving safety and operations.”

This recent product launch delivers on many of the promises made when Spot was originally announced and adds additional functionality.  Let’s get into the details:

Spot Enterprise

Spot Enterprise is a newer robot, which looks much like the original Spot Explorer, but equipped with extra capabilities allowing it to perform longer tasks, like inspections, and allows more much more autonomy. Enterprise also equips Spot to self-dock itself onto a charging port, which can also be connected to the internet for full uploading of gathered data.

Enterprise also includes several other upgrades, such as extended WiFi support, additional flexibility on its payload ports for other accessories, and an expanded range for autonomous “missions.” These upgrades will enable the robot to be better used in remote and dangerous environments, reducing time needed to travel to job sites and mitigating the risk of sending humans into direct contact with hazards.

While the pricing for the original Spot Explorer is known, Spot Enterprise is likely to be more tailored to each individual customer and will require those interested to contact their sales department. Check out the video below for some more details:

Spot Scout

In conjunction with Spot Enterprise, Boston Dynamics also announced Spot Scout, which is a software that enables remote operation of the Spot robot. Users can control Spot from anywhere using Scout, employing the various sensors and cameras to control its movements and gather data. Spot can also be equipped with a microphone to listen for unwanted sounds and a thermal imager for quick diagnostics, both of which can be viewed remotely through Scout.

Spot Arm

While we already knew the arm attachment was coming, the product launch gave us a much better look at the capabilities of it – and I have to admit, it’s more impressive than I imagined. If you’ve followed along with Spot since the beginning, you know they’ve been teasing the fact that Spot could open up doors and this release will allow that to happen, thanks to not only the arm hardware itself, but what I can only assume is 4,000,000 lines of code in the software.

The attachment isn’t just a gripper, it is also equipped with sensors and cameras to allow more precise movements, such as for opening or closing a valve or switch. The arm can be controlled by the on-site tablet or through an API to use the function remotely.

To further illustrate the arms full range of motion, the clever engineers at Boston Dynamics set up a jump roping demonstration with 3 of the robots.  You can see that demonstrations and the Spot Arm performing many other tasks in the video below:

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source https://www.constructionjunkie.com/blog/2021/2/3/videos-spot-robot-dog-adds-self-charging-remote-operation-and-arm

[VIDEO] Need to Get Some Heavy Equipment Up a Mountain? Try a Cable Car System

via YouTube // lcscablecranes

Remote jobsites with difficult terrain pose some substantial logistical challenges when it comes to getting equipment and materials on site.  I’ve seen several different methods used in the past, such as heavy equipment carrying blimps, cargo planes, helicopters, and the Fat Truck, but I recently came across a new method: a cable car.

Much like a ski lift, these cable car systems run up a hill side, but instead of hauling up a couple of humans with some snowboards, these monsters are hauling materials and even heavy equipment to some of the world’s toughest jobsites.

Technically called a “heavy duty cable crane system,” LSC Cable Cranes has shared a couple of videos on Youtube recently, showing off their systems on a hydro power plant projects in the mountainsides of Austria.

In order to install the towers that the hold the cable system, the team had to use mobile cranes for the more easily accessible areas and helicopters for the tougher areas. The cables on this specific project have a diameter of 2.36 inches (60mm) with a tension on the top and bottom stations of 110 tons each (I’m assuming that’s metric tons, but it’s unclear).

The system is powered by two electro-hydraulic power units at the top base station, each having 400 kW power output. With a full load, the cables can pull materials and equipment at a speed of nearly 9mph and 13.4mph with a partial load.

To see how the system is constructed, check out the fist video.  The second video shows the cable crane system in action on another mountainside project in Austria. Both videos are by LCS Cable Cranes.

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source https://www.constructionjunkie.com/blog/2021/2/2/video-need-to-get-some-heavy-equipment-up-a-mountain-try-a-cable-car-system

The 7 Biggest Construction Safety Stories of 2020

2020 was a challenging year in many respects, but none greater than from a safety standpoint. The coronavirus pandemic placed the notion of “people over profits” under the microscope, while also balancing the needs of their employees to continue to make an income under difficult circumstances. While the pandemic was a large part of the construction safety conversation last year, there were several other developments to take note of for your projects in the future.

Below are the 7 biggest construction safety stories of 2020:

1. The Effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic

As mentioned above, there’s no way around the impact that this ongoing pandemic has had on the construction industry, from delayed and canceled projects, to increased safety precautions helping to slow the spread of the virus and keep our workforce safer.

The AGC published results from a survey of over 2,000 construction firms, which asked how their company had been affected and also how they reacted. A large number of the respondents said that they had increased the use of technology, a response that I heard many times from construction technology companies last year. Companies were not only adding new technology to allow for more off-site collaboration, but also increasing their usage of existing technology.

To stay up-to-date on all ongoing coronavirus related stories pertaining to the construction industry, you can follow my coronavirus landing page by clicking or tapping here.

2. Trench Collapses

Before the virus hit the US, the construction industry needed some tough love regarding the amount of trench related injuries and deaths it continued to have. There’s just simply no justification for either getting into or sending someone into an unprotected trench, no matter how quick the job might be.

At the beginning of March, there had already been at least 8 construction workers killed in trench collapses, which prompted me to publish my “Simple Guide for Not Getting Someone Killed in a Trench Collapse.”

3. More Companies are Developing Exoskeletons for Contractors

Muscular-skeletal injuries are a serious hazard in the construction industry, as all of that bending, kneeling, lifting, and twisting can have major long term health effects on your knees, back, and other joints. Exoskeletons are an emerging technology that hopes to reduce of that stress on the body to keep construction workers healthier and happier for longer on the jobsite.

While exoskeletons have been around for years, 2020 saw many new developments, including new offerings from several different makers. Ekso Bionics released a new lighter weight exoskeleton called the EVO, Hilti announced their first foray into the technology, Fraco announced an exoskeleton specifically for masons at World of Concrete 2020, and RB3D developed a suit specifically for asphalt raking. 

You can read about all of those new exoskeletons by clicking or tapping here.

4. OSHA Regulatory Changes

The 2020 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions is released by the federal government on a yearly basis, highlighting the steps that agencies plan to take in the months ahead. As part of that, OSHA announced 24 items they planned to amend, add, or remove, with 8 of those specifically affecting the construction industry.

You can read about all of those changes by clicking or tapping here,  which affected cranes and derricks, crystalline silica exposure, welding in confined spaces, drug testing, PPE, and several other topics.

5. OSHA’s Stance on Headphones on the Construction Site

The topic of music on a construction site will generate mixed reactions depending on who you talk to.  Some sites allow it and others don’t, for a variety of reasons.  Recently, there have been a few emerging headphone brands that limit the playback volume and also provide external noise reduction.  In a recent “Standard Interpretation” letter, OSHA has clarified its stance on this technology.

To find out what they think, read the whole article by clicking or tapping here.

6. Mobile Fall Protection Anchorage Point

Not only are falls the most common cause of workplace fatalities in construction, but fall protection is continually the most common OSHA violation.  One of the excuses for lack of fall protection that I hear the most is the lack of a proper spot for an anchorage point.  Finding anchorage points can definitely be a struggle in certain circumstances, which is why I was intrigued when I found the Malta Dynamics Mobile Grabber last year.

The Malta Dynamics X Series Mobile Grabber is a mobile fall protection device that provides an overhead anchorage point for those exact situations. The system is road-towable, has a relatively quick setup time, and can even be moved by a forklift for indoor use.

To find out more about it, check out the full article by clicking or tapping here.

7.  Construction Owner Charged with Perjury After Giving “False Information” to OSHA

Having an OSHA investigation on your jobsite that results in fines is bad enough, but don’t be tempted to compound the issue by misleading OSHA investigators. That can leave you in a legal bind personally.

You may not realize that an OSHA investigation carried out in a state under the Federal OSHA plan is considered a federal investigation and misleading investigators can result in a perjury charge if proven untrue.

The owner of a residential home construction company found that out the hard way after he plead guilty to lying under oath during an investigation and was sentenced to two years of probation and a $5,500 fine.

For more information, check out our full article by clicking or tapping here.  

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source https://www.constructionjunkie.com/blog/2021/1/31/the-7-biggest-construction-safety-stories-of-2020