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Welcome to “If Walls Could Talk” where Walls & Ceilings magazine is out to discover just that.
Listen as W&C talks with influencers in the industry who are making an impact. We are helping educate and entertain the wall and ceiling industry as only W&C can do. What brought these people to the industry? What’s in store for the contractor? And “If Walls Could Talk,” what stories would they tell? Find out all of this and more on each episode.
In this episode of “If Walls Could Talk,” Jill Bloom speaks with W&C’s legal expert Trent Cotney regarding material volatility, which hasn’t disappeared from the hardships for contractors. In fact, contractors should anticipate material increases—in particular storage costs. It’s causing a glut in inventory. And storage prices have gone up.
According to Cotney, the industry has a lot of issues with shipping containers being full as contractors don’t know where to put it. It’s going to be a while for when the demand catches up with the supply.
Is it the manufacturers that are handling the biggest storage or is it also the contractors that have taken up the brunt of that?
“It’s across the board. The primary impact is in the shipping itself. Let’s say you're a contractor, the cost of that storage will go up significantly.”
Jill Bloom speaks with Legal Expert Trent Cotney on the process of OSHA issuing U or T visas in this episode of “If Walls Can Talk.”
These are visas for people that may have a certain history of objectionable activity, such as hate crimes or human trafficking. What OSHA is doing is that it has someone that is illegal that is working for a contractor and if one assists them, then one can get you one of these U or T visas. That is a big carrot out there, Cotney says.
The justification is that OSHA feels they can’t appropriately moderate this. The idea is that OSHA is adverse to safety violations.
What is the upside for the employee? “If you’re a migrant and instead of getting you deported, if you cooperate, you can stay in the country but you have to help. Despite the best efforts of the employers, at the end of the day, documentation is key,” Cotney says.
Contractors should have March 2 marked on their calendars since it’s the deadline for injury and illness reporting with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Known as Form 300A, contractors with more than 20 employees must file the summary with the government or face penalties.
“Stay current with the rules and make sure that you’re tracking the deadlines on osha.gov in terms of electronic record keeping,” urged W&C Legal Insights expert Trent Cotney in this brief “If Walls Could Talk” episode.
Cotney also breaks down the new penalty and fee schedule that OSHA recently adjusted to account for inflation, and some new guidance issued in terms of enforcement.
The ICAA’s Executive Director Michael Kwart joins Walls & Ceilings for this latest installement of “If Walls Could Talk.”
For years now, Kwart has assisted W&C in narrowing down a list of top insulation contractors for this annual feature (February issue). In this podcast, he outlines the attributes of what it means to be among the list of 25 contractors as a premier insulation contractor.
Also, Kwart gives listeners a sneak peek of this year’s annual event.
HILTI released 30 new products at the World of Concrete trade show last month, and there are even more to come. W&C met with Matt Jackson, Senior Director of Electric Tools and Accessories at HILTI, to discuss the new products.
One product Jackson is especially proud of is the new 22-volt battery, which works with any type of job. “We were able to deliver all the performance that you need on 22 volts,” Jackson said.
HILTI took another step forward into the digital age with the battery. The battery is able to collect data regarding what tool it was used with, what it was used for and more. “Every time the battery is taken off the tool or tools, it will communicate with the charger and it will be sent to the cloud,” Jackson said.
HILTI will be releasing more products in the coming months, including a high-speed charger that can charge batteries in 30 minutes.
In this “If Walls Could Talk” episode, Jill Bloom speaks with Tammy Clark of Tammy K. Clark Companies. She is an occupational and environmental health and safety professional, as well as an industrial hygienist. A big portion of her clients are in the construction industry. In today’s episode, the two speak about ladder safety and what that entails.
What are the most important things that people need to know about ladder safety? These are the top issues Tammy sees:
Improper ladder set up
Not having the side-rails of the ladder extending a minimum of three feet
Improper use of ladders, such as overreaching, using the wrong type of ladder, etc.
It’s worth it for your company to do a proper ladder safety training so employees know how to set up, work safely and more.
In this episode of If Walls Could Talk, Tom Harris reflects on the last year and what it meant for the SFP community.
In the polyurethane foam insulation industry, 2022 saw the impacts of the global pandemic. Everyone was impacted by supply chain issues, material availability issues and labor shortages. The demand remained high for spray foam and high efficiency insulations, but we struggled to deliver.
Perhaps the transition to new, low GWP blowing agents contributed as some spray foam resin manufacturers struggled to develop a marketable formulation—but the COVID combination of raw material delivery issues, supply chain issues and lack of installer labor certainly challenged the industry like we’ve never seen before.