TAUC Safety and Health Committee Convenes for the First Time

June 26 2007

WASHINGTON, DC (June 26, 2007) – The Association of Union Constructors (TAUC) — the largest multi-craft union contractor association in America — held its first Safety and Health Committee Meeting last week in Des Plaines, IL.

TAUC’s Safety and Health Committee is comprised of construction industry experts who work collaboratively to establish policies and procedures that will help minimize construction-related safety and health hazards. The Committee’s main areas of focus are evaluating the effectiveness of a variety of safety and health programs, making policy recommendations to TAUC’s Board of Directors, and promoting member awareness of new and upcoming federal regulations affecting the construction industry.

“TAUC’s Safety and Health Committee works to find the most practical and effective resources available for preventing work-related injury and illness. We then pass our recommendations on to the Executive Board for consideration,” says TAUC Safety and Health Committee, Bill Hering. “Once policy is adopted, the committee then works with TAUC staff to disseminate the information to our members to help them stay at the forefront of the workplace safety movement.”

When it comes to workplace safety, TAUC’s Safety and Health Committee feels that being at the forefront is the only place to be. “Our members represent TAUC on many national committees, including ANSI-A10, the IMPACT Safety and Health Roundtable, B-30 Committee, the National Safety Council (NSC) Utilities Division, the NSC Construction Division, the OSHA Drug Free Workplace Alliance, the OSHA Challenge Program, and the OSHA Compliance Officer Training (Subpart R) initiative. Our proactive involvement gives our Association, and union contractors in general, a voice at the federal level and an insider’s perspective on which direction the industry is moving,” said Todd Mustard, TAUC’s Staff Liaison to the Committee.

The Safety and Health Committee Meeting agenda also included:

• Adopting policy regarding a National Substance Abuse Program, Workers Compensation, Personal Protective Equipment, and Safety and Health Management Systems.
  
  
• Establishing subcommittees to generate a National Safety Index by Craft, a Safety and Health Reference Guide, and Safety and Health Award Programs.
  
  
• Appointing taskforces to create a Safety Orientation DVD/Video, designing the safety portion of the TAUC Contractor Qualification System, and identifying further TAUC products and services.

Tony Downey, TAUC’s Safety and Health Committee Vice-Chairman, feels the committee is off to a great start. “If we maintain this level of enthusiasm and keep pushing ourselves to achieve what we know a group like this can achieve, we?ll truly make a difference in how many of our brothers and sisters in construction make it home safely every night.”

Committee members are:

Chairman:   Bill Hering, S. M. Electric Co. Inc

Vice- Chairman: Tony Downey, Day & Zimmermann NPS, Inc.

Jim Arendas, Industrial Contractors & Builders Association

Nathan Burns, Enerfab Corporation

Mario Campos, Jr., Cherne Contracting Corp.

Wayne Creasap, Construction Employers Association

Bruce DeMarco, Norris Brothers Company, Inc.

Nick DiMartino, Aker Kvaerner Songer, Inc.

Mark Douglas, Ben Hur Construction Company

Jeffrey Hardison, Area Erectors, Inc.

Scott Houghteling, Midwest Steel, Inc.

Mark LaClair, Walbridge Aldinger Company

Chris Malloy, Aristeo Rigging and Erectors, LLC

Steve Miller, MC Industrial

Henry Mykich, American Bridge Company

Ron Nunez, Fluor Constructors International, Inc.

Craig Robinson, Babcock & Wilcox Construction Co. Inc.

Neal Nicholas Rose, Atlantic Plant Maintenance

Jim Stone, Alberici Constructors

About The Association of Union Constructor (TAUC):
TAUC is an association of 2,500 union contractors from across the Untied States, primarily engaged in steel erection, industrial maintenance and construction. The mission of TAUC is to act as an advocate in advancing and enhancing the value of the union construction industry through an educated and action driven membership that fosters the promotion of labor-management cooperation, workplace safety and health, and collaboration with construction users in order to help union contractors compete more effectively in the marketplace.