Construction Informer

One aspect of Halloween revolves around costumes and there are some curious looking costumes related to construction. I have to admit they’re not very authentic, but maybe the industry needs to update its look.

For example here is a construction worker dress up costume for a kid.It includes a “soft vinyl hard hat” (that will definitely protect your little noggin), an easy-to-dress vest that has a lot of pockets wherein they stash a “plush” hammer (Hmmmm, wonder what you do with that), screwdriver and ruler “accessories, (whatever those are).

Of course nothing related to construction would be complete without a “Sexy Stud Finder.” This is a woman’s, adult costume and includes traffic cones for the pointed parts of her body, a “durable” jean-like miniskirt, hard hat and belt with the obligatory tape measure, giant hammer and screwdriver.

If you want to get a little more suggestive there’s the “Road Construction Pant Outfit,” again for women (they don’t seem to make construction costumes for men). The same page offers the “Road Construction Hot Shorts” and “Forplay Reform School Uniform.”

There seems to be a fascination with “Construction Worker Boots,” but I have to say they don’t look like the boots I’ve ever worn.

Last year Summer Hogan was about to close on what appears to be a fixer-upper so she decided her and her husband were going to be construction workers for Halloween. This is a picture of a model wearing the outfit she chose. I wonder how much constructing got done in that household?

However you dress up this year may you have the Halloween you’ve always desired.

In this interview with Heather Rhoades from The SearchGuru.com we explore some points about search engine optimization (SEO) and cover the importance for those in the construction business of having a web presence. You can sign up for The SearchGuru’s newsletter and regularly receive valuable information that will help you better manage your web efforts.

Click the link below to hear this five-and-a-half minute interview.

Web Site Optimization

Information Improvisation: For 1Y0-259 and 640-802, professionals often spend years, perfecting their scores on 70-284 and 642-825 because the aggregate of their scores and that of PMI-001 will determine their entrance into the program. Doing 1z0-042 or 642-892 is much more easier.

The Laborers’ Health and Safety Fund of North America has a hearing damage page at their site. You can click on various noise producers like normal conversation or jack hammer and see the decibels (dB) that are produced by that activity. It’s surprising to see that a spray painter actually peaks at a higher dB than a lawn mower.

But there’s much more here. They site things like the fluidity of construction activities, the outdoor effects on sound, and the movement of big noise producers (earth moving equipment) as particularly troublesome noise control issues for builders.

The surprising thing is that rather than issuing ear plugs and other hearing protective gear they insist control needs to be focused on engineering and administrative efforts first. The standard they say is for ear protection to be provided when dB exceed 85, or shouting becomes necessary in order to communicate. But that should be the last resort.

Here are some of the things they see as the best ways to reduce the danger of sound to workers’ hearing.

• Use quieter processes – boring is quieter than pile driving;
• Buy quieter equipment – noise levels go down as equipment gets newer and there are some noise cutting saw blades that can cut the noise levels in half;
• Modify older equipment with new mufflers and sound absorbing materials;
• Maintain equipment because when it is well maintained the noise levels can be reduced by up to 50 percent;
• Locate noisy equipment as far away as possible;
• Use temporary barriers to reduce noise.

According to the Workers’ Compensation Board of British Columbia, Canada, eight percent of all hearing loss claims are attributable to construction activities. And while other high risk industries like sawmills are seeing drops in hearing loss claims those in construction are not falling. Most telling is that the studies behind this report found hand tools and other machinery caused background noise levels to exceed 80 dBA which is high enough to exceed Canada’s occupationally acceptable noise limits.

The University of Washington did a five-year study on noise-induced hearing loss in the construction sector focused on noise-induced permanent threshold shift (NIPTS). The issue with NIPTS is that it progresses unnoticed until it starts to interfere with communication. This study nearly matched the Canadian study by finding that construction workers averaged 85 dBA noise exposure in 70 percent of the shifts using the NIOSH exposure standard. Using the less restrictive OSHA standards 30 percent of the shifts were exposed to the same levels. The research uncovered the fact that while the use of hearing protection could provide adequate noise reduction, workers only used it 20 percent of the time they were exposed to noise levels over 85 dBA.

It may seem like there is no end to the kinds of injuries we can do to ourselves while we work. So much of the reasons we do things unsafely comes down to money and profits. It takes too long to put on the right gear. Or, it costs too much to do it another way. Or, we won’t get the job if we have to build in too much expense for safety. In the end we will endlessly create human disabilities and escalating long-term health care costs if we don’t change the way we think and act about safety on our jobs.

If you want to get a glimpse of what web site professionals consider to be cutting edge in web site design look no further than the Web Marketing Association’s WebAward. Now in its 11^th year it names the best web sites in 96 industries to, “provide a benchmark by which all website development can be judged.” As you might guess the construction industry is well represented in these awards and looking over the winners can give you some ideas about not only new purposes for your site but also new presentation.

The judging is a very thorough process and among other things it looks at design, innovation, content, technology, interactivity, copy writing and ease of use.

I looked at a few of the winners. The MGA Roofing site took top honors in the construction category. I liked the little hammer hammering away in the upper right corner but because I was studying the page for a while I kind of wished it would have stopped after a few blows. That page totally encapsulated the entire business and made it very easy to quickly understand what the company does, how it does it and how to do business with it.

The second site I looked at was Inarco, a Canadian design/build firm (my description) that took one of the Construction Standard of Excellence awards. This was a very slick site with quick graphics and short text blocks. Again, it was very easy to quickly understand what the company was about, how it operated and how to do business with it.

The Homebuilding Standard of Excellence award went to EverGrain a composite decking company. This site really managed to convey the “feeling” the company wanted you to get about composite decking. And again, it was easy to understand and easy to figure out how to get linked up with a dealer. I had a little trouble with this one since I expected a homebuilder’s site, so seeing a vendor caught me off-guard. Maybe these categories need to be considered a bit more.

All-in-all it looked to me like the days of the long page that you scroll down through are passing and more and more focus is going into pictures/video and high quality text. I suspect there are many people in the business of construction who can’t afford a web designer or web design firm. I’m thinking of low volume contractors, cabinetmakers and specialty trades-people to name a few. They are serving a small, local clientèle and they use a simple approach to their web presences. Who is showcasing their efforts? After all, if what they are doing works for them, then it works. If you’d like to share the link to your small construction business website leave it in the comments section and maybe we can also encourage some recognition for the “It’s pretty darn good, even if I do say so myself,” websites.

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Designing and building “can” structures tops the list of things to do for architects, engineers, students and other construction professionals when they want to do some public good and test their skills. The sponsoring organization, Canstruction® is a foundation of the Society for Design Administration in Alpharetta, GA, which in turn is an affiliate of the American Institute of Architects. Participants design and then build large structures made completely from full cans of food. After the competitions are finished the food is donated to the local food banks.

This week Canstruction competitions are taking place in Jersey City NJ, Halifax NS, Long Island NY, New Orleans LA, and Minneapolis St Paul MN and the November list of events includes 11 cities. All told there will be more than 100 Canstruction competitions for the 2007-2008 cycle at the end of which a final judging selects the national winners. Last cycle’s winners included awards for jurors’ favorite, structural ingenuity, best use of labels, best meal, honorable mention and most cans.

The structure on the left below was the winner of the Structural Ingenuity Award and is entitled Möbius Strip. That name refers to a surface that has remarkable properties, including one-sidedness. It’s complex but if you are the curious type you can read all about it here. The structure was designed and built by Platt Byard Dovell White Architects and uses 3,500 cans. The photo comes from the Canstruction news release and was taken by Kevin Wick.

The second photo is an Honorable Mention Finalist and is called Passion To Feed and was built by Fluor Canada Ltd., UBC Engineering Students, Vancouver, Canada. They used 6,400 cans. The photo comes from the Canstruction news release and was taken by David Roels.