The Rochester Chapter will be offering a course in building successful customer relations to all Local 86 signatory contractors. Registration forms will be send via email or fax shortly. Here’s what the course has to offer:
“Building great relationships with customers is critical to your company’s success. By improving customer relationship-building skills, your team can more effectively represent your company and help you reach your goals and objectives. Many owner’s ultimate decision to hire one contractor over another is based on the perceived synergy and working relationships among their team and yours. Learn how to develop an effective approach to customer relationships to ensure your team “wins.” This seminar is led by Bruce Wilkinson who is a Senior Consultant at Maxim Consulting Group responsible for leading the Management Consulting business segment.”

Safe and proud of it? Show us! Apply online to the NECA Safety Excellence and Zero Injury Award Program by Friday, March 2.

The NECA Safety Excellence and Zero Injury Award Program is open to all NECA-member companies. It attracts more participants every year as NECA contractors continue to raise the bar on safety performance. Safety-conscious contractors are justifiably proud of their achievements, and they know their winning status is a powerful marketing tool for gaining more customers. Safety Excellence and Zero Injury Awards are traditionally presented at NECA district or chapter meetings. Winners will also be recognized online at NECAnet and in appropriate NECA publications.

There are two types of awards presented through this program. One is the Zero-Injury Award recognizing those companies that worked through the entire year without experiencing any recordable incidents. NECA Safety Excellence Award winners are selected based on a comparison of safety data for their companies with pertinent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for similarly sized electrical contracting firms. All award recipients are well below the industry averages for lost-work incidents and total recordable incident rates.

It’s easy to enter NECA’s safety awards program. You only need to submit one entry form to be considered for both awards. The information you are required to submit about incident rates (recordable cases, lost workdays, non-fatal cases without lost workdays, and fatalities) should be readily obtainable from your OSHA Form 300A (Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) for 2011.

We also need to know the Experience Modification Rate (EMR) your insurer applies to your Workers Compensation policy and some information about any OSHA citations your company received in 2011 and your company’s operations and best practices. And, of course, we need to know how many manhours your company worked last year. The Safety Excellence Award Program considers four manhour categories: 0 to 50,000 manhours; 50,001 to 100,000 manhours; 100,001 to 150,000 manhours; an more than 150,001 manhours.

In order to exercise appropriate quality control and avoid inaccuracies associated with written forms, we can only consider online applications. However, you can download a copy of the application form (available under the link to “Related Documents” at the end of this article) to use for offline data gathering, if you’d like.

To enter the NECA Safety Excellence and Zero Injury Award Program, go to (or simply click on) this URL: http://esafetyline.net/NECAAward/

If you have any questions, please contact NECA Safety Director Jerry Rivera (301-215-4546; jerry.rivera@necanet.org).

Members of the ELECTRI Council have approved four research projects for funding in 2012, with a total budget of $180,000. The four projects were selected from more than 50 proposals submitted by researchers from around the country. The Foundation’s Program Committee selected seven for presentation to the full Council.

“The Council was very excited about several of the ideas that researchers brought to the table this year,” said ELECTRI Council Chairman Darrell Gossett, President of ERMCO, Indianapolis. “Many proposals focused on how the industry has shifted during the recession and how electrical contractors have changed their business operations to keep pace with new demands.”

ELECTRI International strives to fund research projects that offer the most timely and relevant information to the electrical construction industry. “Our work should answer questions and point out new directions for electrical contractors and their businesses,” said Foundation President Russ Alessi. The Foundation maintains close ties with the researchers throughout their investigations, ensuring their academic research findings will have real-world applications in the industry.

Research projects for 2012 include:

EC 2020 – Strategies for Electrical Contractor Business Development in the New Energy Economy: Electrical contracting has changed dramatically owing to shifting energy economics, emerging technologies and new business methods. The industry needs to adopt new business development techniques that incorporate these trends. Researchers: David R. Riley, Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University and Thomas E. Glavinich, D.E., P.E., University of Kansas

Effective Look-Ahead Scheduling for Electrical Contractors: Given the complex and uncertain nature of electrical field operations, job-planning should be focused on effective look-ahead scheduling that dynamically adjusts around constraints at a more detailed crew-level during construction. Researcher: Lingguang Song, Ph.D., University of Houston

Change Order Overhead Percentage Guidelines for Electrical and Low Voltage Subcontractors: Change orders for subcontractors have shifted recently to only allow for overhead or mark-up of 5-10 percent. This project will offer realistic guidelines about the actual costs of change orders for subcontractors to support their claims for fair overhead/mark-up percentages. Researcher: Matt Syal, PhD, LEED AP, Michigan State University

Promoting Careers in the Electrical Contracting Business Through Student Chapter Engagement and Research on Energy Efficient Projects: The goal of this project is to support NECA’s student chapter program to promote the students’ future engagement with the industry. This project will be developed in San Diego, where building codes and regulations have driven advancements in the electrical contracting industry and raised awareness of energy efficient projects. Researcher: Thais D. Alves, Ph.D., San Diego State University.

Most 2012 research reports will be published in mid-2013. Complete proposals and status updates of ongoing research can be found at www.electri.org. Research reports can be purchased online at www.necanet.org/store.

About ELECTRI: ELECTRI International – The Foundation for Electrical Construction, Inc. is the primary research arm of the electrical construction industry. Foundation research helps to improve the productivity, professionalism, and competitiveness of electrical contractors. For more information, visit www.electri.org.

A special thanks to all of you who were able to attend the Happy Hour yesterday! We had a great turnout and even had some great suggestions for future events! Hope to see you all again soon!

NECA Members!!! Here is a webinar for you! Don’t miss this exciting opportunity!
In the current administration, OSHA has significantly overhauled its penalty system, eliminating some standard reductions and has set minimum penalties for specific violations. OSHA has also launched the SVEP program (Severe Violators Enforcement Program,) which has corporate-wide implications for companies in general industry and construction. There are also several Emphasis Programs with the potential to affect electrical contractors. To gain a better understanding of these new programs NECA will host an educational webinar on Tuesday, Jan. 24, at 1:30PM EST.

The webinar will be presented by Adele Abrams, Esq., CMSP, an attorney and safety professional who represents employers in OSHA litigation. Abrams presentation will provide contractors with a better understanding of OSHA’s new programs and initiatives, and demonstrate how they can legally protect themselves.

DATE: Tuesday, January 24 at 1:30PM EST
COST TO ATTEND: Members: $20 / Non-Members: $40
REGISTER NOW: http://goo.gl/HRJ4S

(Please NOTE: you will need your NECA member ID and Password for registration – also, please read your confirmation instructions carefully, there are two parts you must complete to ensure you receive the correct event links and sign-on information.)

More about the Speaker: Adele L. Abrams, Esq., CMSP
Adele L. Abrams is an attorney and trained mediator who is president of the Law Office of Adele L. Abrams P.C. in Beltsville, MD, a seven-attorney firm focusing on safety, health and employment law nationwide. Adele also provides consultation, safety audits and training services to OSHA and MSHA regulated companies.
She is a member of the Maryland, DC and PA Bars, the U.S. District Courts of Maryland and DC, the U.S. Court of Appeals, DC Circuit 3rd Circuit, and 4th Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. She is a graduate of the George Washington University’s National Law Center, and earned her B.S. in Journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park.
She is an active member of the American Society of Safety Engineers’ construction, mining and consulting practice specialties. In 2000 and 2008, she received the Safety Professional of Year (SPY) award and she received the 2011 SPY award from the ASSE National Capital Chapter. She is co-author of the textbook, Construction Safety Engineering and Management. She is also the chair of the National Safety Council’s Committee on Standards, Regulatory and Legal Affairs. She is also chairman of the National Safety Council’s Committee on Standards, Regulations, and Legal Affairs.
For more information, Adele can be contacted at safetylawyer@aol.com, or visit her website: www.safety-law.com.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012: 7 PM to 8:30PM at the Penfield Town Hall, 3100 Atlantic Avenue, Penfield NY

This event is Presented by Renew Penfield! You can learn about NYSERDA’s Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program and schedule your home energy assessment; Low-interest financing to make your energy efficiency improvement; and RG&E’s incentive programs to help you save on your utility bill. Bring your RG&E account number or your past 12 months of utility bills.

Make sure to register ahead of time by calling 1-866-495-2959 or you may register online at RenewPenfield.org

“When the chief executive officer for Chesterfield-based Brinkmann Constructors went searching for an iPad application for his company, he was floored by the cost – $70,000 or more.

So Robert G. “Bob” Brinkmann decided last spring to develop his own job-site app.

The result is what his company calls the Construction Superintendent-Journeyman app, and it is being offered to other small- to medium-sized construction businesses at a cost of about $300.”

For additional information, copy and paste this link into your browser:

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/construction-firm-touts-low-cost-ipad-app/article_bc04d24a-e6e0-5e71-a537-ad8bb041d381.html

Congratulations to all of the Mentors who have committed to volunteering their time and expertise to help make the Electrical Industry here in the Rochester New York area even better! Our kickoff event last night was a great success and we’d like to thank you for being part of this new and exciting program!

The recent development of this new coalition has sparked the attention of the media. Here are a few links to keep you up to speed:

http://rochester.ynn.com/content/top_stories/567310/new-coalition-constructed-to-bring-funding-to-rochester/

http://www.rbj.net/print_article.asp?aID=189749

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20111216/NEWS01/112160354/Group-lobby-project-funds

UNICON is an independent labor-management organization that advocates for public and private capitol investment for the Rochester community. Our primary focus is economic development. We work to increase opportunities for local contractors and their employees, securing local jobs for local people. We promote careers in construction through innovative programs, creating a future workforce that has the skills, training and abilities to offer the highest quality of craftsmanship.

Keeping jobs in the Rochester community is important to us. Capitol construction not only boosts our regions construction industry, but it also stimulates business development all around these facilities, creating an asset that improves the quality of life for the region’s residents.