February 2018 – Page 2 – Construction POC

Construction & Building Site Accidents

Posted on February 11, 2018 by blogger

Summary: An informative article about Construction and Building Site Accidents and Safety at the workplace

Safety on work sites is essential, not only for the sound health of employees, but also for the smooth working of the company. It is the duty of the employer to take care of the safety and health issues of its employees that may hamper them at their work place. Legally speaking, it is also necessary on the part of the employer to report incidents or accidents at the workplace and also pay the employee a contractual or a legal sick pay in case the employee is entitled for the same or if they need some time off from work because of some accident at the workplace. Working in office is still quite a safer option, but for those who are employed in construction firms, the risk for construction and building site accidents are even more.

Work-related diseases, accidents and incidents should all be reported by the employer to the Incident Contact Centre of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Death, disease, injuries and incidents, both major and minor, if it hampers the normal working of employees is entitled to be reported for sure. A risk assessment program should be conducted by the employer so as to see what precautions and changes are required in order to ensure safety on work sites for both visitors and employees. It is also a good idea for the employers to maintain an accident book that records all accident and injuries suffered by employees at the workplace for providing the claims for the benefit of employees. This also can help the employer track down the main cause of major accidents and reduce their possibility in future by taking various preventive measures for them.

There are personal injury compensation claims that can be asked for construction and building site accidents in case the employee succeeds in providing enough evidences to prove the cause of the accident to be the negligence of the employer. These claims helps an employee get a monetary compensation for the source of income if lost by them in future due to the accident at the workplace, expenses for the treatment of injuries and other such monetary issues that relate to the accident.

Hence, safety on work sites is the right of employees and the employer is entitled to provide it, so as to avoid unnecessary accidents and compensation claims by employees in future. Therefore, it is important for everyone to be aware of all such rights so as to stand for it at the time of need.

About the Author:

Ian Hass is owner of Excalibur Solicitors, an experienced UK law firm specialising in all forms of Compensation. Excalibur Solicitors handles claims for Accident Types including Whiplash Injury, Construction and Building Site Accidents and Accidents at Work compensation claims.

Construction Takeoffs From Pdf Drawings

Posted on February 9, 2018 by blogger

Todays construction estimator does the majority of their estimates by measuring directly from PDF drawings. Blueprint measuring used to be primarily from paper plans and was measured typically by hand or by using a GTCO digitizer. When plans switched to a digital or PDF format, companys like Tally Systems, Inc. transitioned to PDF plan takeoff using the mouse on the estimators computer. Construction estimating software comes in a shapes and sizes but the simplicity seems to be the growing trend in the construction software industry. Dominated by Microsoft Excel, products like QuickMeasure OnScreen help construction estimators measure directly from PDF plans and eliminate the need to print PDF blueprints to paper. The advantage of doing takeoffs from PDF plans with software like QuickMeasure OnScreen is the ability to zoom in on the drawing to see small detail and improve the accuracy of the measurement. With the majority of construction estimators relying on Excel as the primary piece of software to build estimating templates, a program that feeds takeoffs into an estimators existing spreadsheet has become key.

With the emergence of online plan rooms and emergence of general contractors who distribute their plan by linking subcontractors to plans stored on their servers, the ability to download and begin measuring from a PDF image instantly becomes more important. Since the estimator no longer is working from paper blueprints, the ability of software to calibrate using a known dimension from the PDF drawing is crucial to generating an accurate takeoff. Companies like Tally Systems have integrated high accuracy takeoffs with simplicity to give the estimator full PDF plan takeoff capabilities while working within Excel the estimator has designed in-house rather than purchase a construction estimating software package that was designed the way someone else estimates.

The other advantage of using PDF plans for blueprint takeoff is that it eliminates the expense of printing plans to paper. This saves not only on wasting paper but the wasted time of driving all over town picking up blueprints. The ability to measure on the screen of the computer is really an exciting technology and will be the standard for construction blueprint takeoff for some time. Those who think that paper blueprints will make a comeback are hoping for something that will not happen. PDF blueprints and other digital plan formats will continue to dominate and those who dont migrate to digital plan takeoff software like QuickMeasure OnScreen will find themselves wasting time and money doing takeoffs manually.

Where is construction estimating and blueprint takeoff going from here? BIM takeoff is on the horizon where the architect will design a building that contains a list of the material quantities but until that technology becomes more commonplace, PDF plan takeoff software will be a staple for every estimator.

Construction Environmental Policy

Posted on February 5, 2018 by blogger

One of the largest growing industries in construction today is colloquially known as “green building.” This type of building is heavily focused on environmentally sustainable and environmentally friendly building and construction practices. More and more people are becoming concerned with the environment and their impact on it, and they are requiring companies and corporations to make changes regarding how they interact with the environment. As a result, many companies have begun to develop their own Construction Environmental Policy in the hopes that they can be part of this new phenomenon.

A company’s Construction Environmental Policy can be as detailed or as general as the company wishes. Some of these companies establish these policies because they have to, not because they have any real intention of following through with the standards set forth in the policies. However, some companies do try and follow green standards as much as possible. Generally, companies that set forth very detailed plans are the ones that follow them the most carefully.

Most companies that do not market themselves as green building companies do not use “green” materials when they are doing their construction. These companies will have a Construction Environmental Policy that focuses more on the process of construction, and eliminating waste and cutting back on pollutants during the construction process. This is a noble and important goal, but individuals and governments should push these companies harder to use renewable and planet-friendly resources wherever and whenever they can during construction.

In addition, all of these companies and institutions should state in their Construction Environmental Policy that they follow all governmental legislation regarding environmental standards. If these companies ignore governmental legislation regarding environmental standards, they are doing everyone a disservice. If the company cannot follow environmental laws, there is no reason to believe that they are not cutting corners elsewhere. A company that cannot be trusted to uphold the law may be lax on safety standards as well.

It is important to push companies to do the right thing regarding their environmental policies. It can be expensive for a company to be environmentally friendly, so it is necessary to make it an attractive option. Individuals can make environmentally unfriendly companies feel the pressure by choosing to vote with their money: pick companies whose policies are in line with good environmental practices. This is an excellent way to do your part in saving the environment and making the world a better place for the next generation.

Opportunities For Construction Worker Jobs

Posted on February 1, 2018 by blogger

Construction employees or laborers are the staple employees on any building job of any size. Typical laborers are employed on either a permanent or temporary basis according to the job, size of the company, and industrial conditions under which the project lives. Chances for construction employees are found on any type of job for individuals who are in usually good health and physical condition. Lots of the jobs need virtually no coaching while others require substantial know-how.

The sort of building employee roles that are typically present are cleaning job sites, preparing and moving equipment, loading and unloading supplies and equipment, and other low skill kinds of work. Less often they’re found in specialty areas like framing, concrete work, basic carpentry, landscaping, and painting. Often times you’ll notice construction laborers directing traffic, digging ditches and fitting plumbing pipes. .

This kind of job is often terribly physically demanding, with workers working at great levels, working with hazardous materials, around serious noises, and heavy machinery. Consequently, the statistics rate of non deadly injuries in building work is reasonably high. Legitimate construction firms provide all safety equipment and considerations necessary as needed by state and federal law. This may include security harnesses for working on unbalanced areas at height, hearing protection, respirators, knee pads and other sort of apparatus to minimize injury. The most common work schedule for a construction worker nationwide is a forty hour week, though in smaller companies, workers might be required to be more variable. Most standard workers learn their duties on the job.

For folks entering construction labor with no definite niche skill to mind , it needs only the power to read, write, add and subtract for standard job performance. Larger companies may require a highschool diploma or equivalent for standard employment, while smaller sized firms selecting employees temporarily or as workers often have no official minimum needs. For those wanting to learn a specific trade within the field, courses in mathematics, mechanical drawing, blueprint recognition and others are attainable at both the high school and school level. Many bigger construction firms provide on the job coaching, and in depth apprenticeship programs that run between two and 4 years can be gotten in some areas. In actual fact if an employee can get with a tiny company only hiring a few employees, this is often the best place to learn particular trades on the job, and get the most well-rounded training.

In 2008 construction worker jobs numbered over one million in the U.S. Of those around 20% were self employed working at once for clients of contracting with firms for single projects. Work chances for construction laborers like with any trade, are rather more countless for those with express abilities in a spot trade. Median hourly salary for construction workers nationwide is 13.50. And while the prospects for construction workers in 2008 was projected to grow rather noticeably, the banking crisis seriously reduced those expectancies.

If you’re considering getting yourself into the building industry to become A general building contractor or pondering construction superintendent jobs, Check out http://www.constructionsuperintendentjobs.org for all the info to get you going in the right path.