We have all been affected by the scenes that continue to unfold of the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey, one of the worst natural disasters ever to hit our country. 听When the flood waters recede, 老牛影视contractor members and their employees will be asked to help rebuild Houston and other communities along the Texas Gulf Coast. 听

On Aug. 1, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) launched the Injury Tracking Application, which is the web-based form employers can use to submit their injury and illness data. The launch comes right after OSHA closed the comment period on delaying the electronic reporting portion of the final rule, 鈥淚mprove Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses,鈥� from July 1 to Dec. 1, 2017.

A new whiteboard video helps members understand the value of ABC's Safety Training Evaluation Process (STEP) and highlights how they could make their company 770% safer than the industry average. STEP is a safety benchmarking and improvement tool that dramatically improves safety performance among construction industry participants regardless of company size or type of work.听

During ABC's Legislative Week 2017, an ad entitled 鈥樌吓Ｓ笆覯embers Build America鈥� was released via social media. The ad features updated information on the growing nonunion workforce chart, construction industry tax rates and 老牛影视members鈥� improving safety performance. The ad has been made available as marketing resources for 老牛影视members and chapters.

On May 24, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released an听interpretation letter听in response to a question听on听whether a supervisor鈥檚 advice to continue participating in daily stretching听exercises constitutes medical treatment for recordkeeping purposes.

Throughout Safety Week 2017, May 1-5, ABC, its members and other industry organizations came together to highlight the importance of safety on construction jobsites.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration recently announced it had renewed its partnership with ABC鈥檚 Central Texas Chapter and promoted the partnership as a success story. In an article posted to its website, OSHA highlighted a number of collaborative programs between 老牛影视and OSHA that led to a significant safety achievement: The 2016 combined Days Away, Restricted or Transferred (DART) rate for participating contractors was 50 percent below the 2015 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) average.

On April 25, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a memorandum withdrawing a letter of interpretation that stated nonunion employees can authorize an individual 鈥渁ffiliated with a union or a community organization鈥� to act as their representative during agency-sanctioned inspections and other enforcement situations.

On Jan. 9, 2017, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)听issued a final rule on beryllium exposure. In the final rule, OSHA includes the construction industry; this was expanded from the proposed stage which focused on general industry. Beryllium is a lightweight but strong metal used in a number of industries.听

Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) recently released its 2017 Safety Performance Report to further the construction industry鈥檚 understanding of how to make jobsites safer through its Safety Training Evaluation Process (STEP). Packed with infographics and practical takeaways, the report documents the dramatic impact of using proactive safety practices to reduce recordable incidents by up to 87 percent, making the best-performing companies 770 percent safer than the industry average.听