NRMCA held its 2021 Annual Convention earlier this month, electing a new slate of officers for its 2021-2022 term of service and presenting a number of awards for outstanding industry service. Succeeding John Carew as chairman of the Board of Directors is Abbott Lawrence from Martin Marietta, Lakewood, CO. Succeeding Mr. Lawrence as vice chairman is John Holliday of Holliday Rock Company, Upland, CA. Elected secretary/treasurer is Adam Manatt, Manatt’s Inc., Brooklyn, IA.

The convention, which was held virtually, featured an Awards Ceremony where NRMCA recognized individuals and companies for exemplary service to the ready mixed concrete industry. Please click here to read the list of those honored and here for more background on the NRMCA awards program.

For more information on the convention, contact Jessica Walgenbach at jwalgenbach@nrmca.org. For more information on awards, contact Nicole Maher at nmaher@nrmca.org.

The latest edition of NRMCA's quarterly magazine, Concrete InFocus, is now available online. This Spring 2021 issue contains a host of informative articles, including a recap of 2020 by NRMCA President Mike Philipps, an introduction to the Association's newly-restructured Membership Department and submissions under the headings of Developing Industry Leaders, Engineering and Innovations in Pavement. The magazine's three regular columnists, Phil Kresge, Jon Hansen and Doug Ruhlin, also offer their insights.

For editorial and advertising inquiries, contact Frank Cavaliere at fcavaliere@nrmca.org. Want to be added to the print edition or e-mail distribution mailing lists? Contact Amanda Muller at amuller@nrmca.org.

What is ESG and why would it have a trend? To keep things simple, ESG is an acronym for Environmental, Social and Governance. What we typically refer to as sustainability, ESG is the terminology used in the investment and financial market sectors and is working its way into a company’s vernacular, reports NRMCA Vice President, Sustainability Initiatives, James Bogdan.

There has been an increase in ESG reporting because investors equate a higher quality of management in companies that engage, measure and disclose ESG practices and therefore have better performance than their respective marketplaces (note that studies indicate this, but it is still too early to confirm). ESG performance is not limited to publicly-traded companies as it has benefits for all companies regardless of size. S&P Global, a financial market intelligence company, recently released its 2021 ESG trends to consider. You can read the report here. A summary is below:

1. In response to demand and regulatory drivers, the quality and quantity of ESG data will continue improving. Many countries and supervisory authorities begin to require climate risk disclosures.
2. The new Biden Administration will reinvigorate ESG policies and climate urgency in the U.S., bringing a significant change in tone on addressing climate risk.
3. Threats to nature and biodiversity will take centerstage in ‘E’ discussions. The majority of company business models align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but less than one percent of business models align on growing threats to nature and biodiversity.
4. With a growing global urgency around climate, conversations about the energy transition will become increasingly nuanced. Countries representing around 70% of the world's economy will have committed to reaching net-zero emissions or carbon neutrality.
5. The nature of transition conversations will shift from climate mitigation to climate resilience. As the planet looks to “build back better,” we expect climate risk conversations to include more discussion about adaptation and climate resilience.
6. Investors will continue pressing companies on social issues, particularly around COVID-19, worker safety and diversity. With the pandemic, social unrest, income inequality and worker safety, the ESG conversation will evolve as investors, corporations and the public give more priority to social issues - the ‘S’ in ESG.
7. Social issues will gain traction in global policy discussions, too. S&P Global is also seeing social issues coming to the fore in policy worldwide.

As part of the Build With Strength campaign, NRMCA promotes Strength Through Transparency for member and industry competitiveness in the green building marketplace and the trends toward product and company transparency.

For more information, contact James Bogdan at jbogdan@nrmca.org or 412-420-4138.

Last Friday, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced a new national emphasis program (NEP) “focusing enforcement efforts on companies that put the largest number of workers at serious risk of contracting the coronavirus. The program also prioritizes employers that retaliate against workers for complaints about unsafe or unhealthy conditions, or for exercising other rights protected by federal law.” According to OSHA, targeted inspections of the industries and workplaces that fall under the NEP aim to “reduce or eliminate coronavirus exposure for workers in companies where risks are high, and to protect workers who raise concerns that their employer is failing to protect them from the risks of exposure.”

The ready mixed concrete industry could fall into the secondary industries category of the NEP. Therefore, there could be liabilities that producers should be sensitive to. The NEP-related inspections will mainly look to verify that employers are making the correct effort and taking the correct actions to protect workers from COVID-19 infection. The precautions OSHA will be looking for are those that fall in line with OSHA’s and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recent COVID-19 workplace guidance. If a ready mixed concrete producer receives a visit from OSHA related to the NEP, NRMCA recommends following the OSHA and CDC guidance as well as reviewing the various other resources found on NRMCA’s COVID-19 Resources webpage. The NEP, absent any changes or cancellation, will remain in effect for the next 12 months.

Finally, as has been mentioned before, OSHA had an obligation on March 15, 2021, as per President Biden, to decide whether an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) is needed to mandate COVID-19 workplace precautions and requirements across virtually all industries. As of right now, it is not currently known if or when OSHA will make an announcement, nor does it appear that this NEP is in lieu of an ETS. NRMCA will be sure to relay any new information on an ETS once it is known.

In addition to OSHA’s NEP, OSHA also announced an update to its previous guidance to OSHA inspectors and compliance officers about how to conduct workplace inspections during the pandemic. This Updated Interim Enforcement Response Plan will focus on those items common to the new NEP, OSHA and CDC guidance.

Please click here to review the updated enforcement plan, here to review OSHA’s NEP announcement and here to review the NEP. For more information, contact Kevin Walgenbach at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org.

To continue its fine work, the Workforce Development Committee seeks volunteers for its three task groups. They typically meet for an hour every couple of weeks. What’s in it for you? Participants gain a competitive advantage as informed members within our industry. How? You hear about important industry trends, new legislative rulings and advances in technology. Additionally, your dedication provides networking opportunities, professional development and personal satisfaction. Which one is for you?

• Partnerships focuses on developing external collaborators and business partnerships that support recruitment and retention. It looks at various avenues, including trade association and groups to support diversity hiring efforts, CDL and heavy equipment training, and tapping into recruiting military, veterans and prisoners in transition as frontline labor. Additionally, Partnerships supports NRMCA’s Government Affairs legislative and executive work as well as SEO’s regulatory work as it relates to workforce issues. Within their committee silos, they focus on industry-specific requirements as well as cross-industry, pro-business coalitions.

• Practices focuses on proven best HR practices and methods, including execution of day-to-day activities as they fit into the RMC industry. Critical goals include watching for HR trends as well as mitigating risk and expense. Their output is authoring a topic-specific check list. To date, they have completed two: an exit interview process and a separation process. They are also a terrific best HR practices resource and network opportunity for HR professionals new to the industry.

• Strategies provides the framework for key initiatives that work in our businesses. While the big umbrella encompasses recruitment and retention, at a more granular level it plays an advisory role toward NRMCA leadership development and training programs, and the annual mixer driver survey. Right now, it's looking at tools for frontline supervisors that support increased employee engagement and retention at the plant/operations level.

For more information, contact Eileen Dickson at edickson@nrmca.org.

The NRMCA Concrete Technologist Training and Certification Program was held online between February 19 and March 1 for 49 attendees. For this offering, course content was made available to registrants on the NRMCA training portal. Attendees accessed the content, recorded presentations and quizzes at their own pace and time. Three live sessions were scheduled for review. The certification results have been finalized and are being communicated to attendees.

The NRMCA Concrete Technologist Level 2 certification was earned by 30 people and Level 3 by 25. Alex Wenimont with Bard Materials achieved the highest score in the Level 2 exam and James Bush with LafargeHolcim was the highest on the Level 3 exam. Attendees are congratulated for going through the course and engaging in the learning process; NRMCA expects to resume inperson instruction for the next Short Course which will be offered in Maryland in November. Information, when finalized, will be posted on the NRMCA website and also publicized through E-NEWS.

For more information, contact Karen Bean at kbean@nrmca.org.

The National Concrete Consortium (NCC) Spring 2021 meetings are scheduled to meet virtually for about three hours daily from April 13 to 15. Topics include updates from states and FHWA, pavement design upgrades, pavement resilience, reclaimed or harvested fly ash efforts, use of portland limestone cement, fast setting patching materials, maintaining smoothness of concrete pavements, proposed changes to specifications for dowels, a guide for quality control for concrete paving and reducing shrinkage and restrained cracking, among other topics and discussion. NCC is supported by 34 state highway agencies.

Click here for more information.

*Please note that e-mail and direct links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's Web site.

March 19 – 26, Online Course *Sold Out
Plant Manager Certification Course
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 703-706-4852

March 22 – 26, Online Course *Sold Out
CCSP Module IV, Professional Sales Skills Workshop
Email: Mason Jean, 703-706-4852

May 4 – 7 , Smyrna, TN
CCSP Module I “Concrete 101”, Technical Product Knowledge
Sponsored by Tennessee Concrete Association
Email: Darla Sparkman, 615-360-7393

May 10 – 17, Online Course
NRMCA Safety Course
Email: Kevin Walgenbach, 703-706-4857

May 14 – 24, Online Course
Plant Manager Certification Course
Email: Mason Jean, 703-706-4852

June 15 – 17, Smyrna, TN
CCSP Module II, Customer Business Knowledge
Sponsored by Tennessee Concrete Association
Email: Darla Sparkman, 615-360-7393

November 9 – 11, Dallas
Effective RMC Supervisor Course
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 703-706-4852