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Association & Industry News
NRMCA held its 2022 Annual Convention last month in San Antonio, TX, electing a new slate of officers for its 2022-2023 term and presenting a number of awards for outstanding industry service. Succeeding Abbott Lawrence as chairman of the Board of Directors is John Holliday of Holliday Rock Company, Upland, CA. Succeeding Mr. Holliday as vice chairman is Adam Manatt, Manatt’s Inc., Brooklyn, IA. Elected secretary/treasurer is Nathan McKean of BMC Enterprises, Inc., St. Louis. The convention featured an Awards Ceremony where NRMCA recognized individuals and companies for exemplary service to the ready mixed concrete industry. Please click here for the full news release which includes each award winner. For more information, contact Frank Cavaliere at fcavaliere@nrmca.org. NRMCA encourages today’s rising stars to apply for a unique opportunity that supports their growth in the ready mixed concrete industry. NRMCA’s Developing Industry’s Leaders (DIL) program is a distinctive, career-long plan of action where tomorrow’s leaders interact, both professionally and socially, with established executives, thereby gaining a national perspective about the industry. Candidates must be employed by an NRMCA Producer or Associate member, Bureau member or state affiliate association. The application period closes Friday, April 29. Please note that the DIL program is NOT a short-term perk. After the two-year formal program ends, DIL alumni are expected to make long-term commitments to move their team’s initiative(s) forward by joining and attending the appropriate NRMCA committee meetings twice each year as well as participate in annual DIL alumni events. They are also asked to mentor new DIL. Finally, they may attend NRMCA’s semi-annual Board meetings to observe senior-level executives deliberate and make both short- and long-term strategic decisions that impact the industry. If your company has a rising star who is ready to work on a national level and will be given the time to participate in the required activities over the length of his/her career, please submit his/her application no later than Friday, April 29. Click here to learn more and download the application form. For more information, contact Eileen Dickson at edickson@nrmca.org. The Slag Cement Association is holding what it calls Slag Cement School on May 11 - 12 in Farmington Hills, MI. The event will include educational presentations on slag cement use in concrete construction, available sustainable resources and other presentations on benefits of use. Association members will walk attendees through the use of its newly updated Life Cycle Assessment Calculator for Slag Cement and get a behind the scenes look at a local slag cement grinding plant on day two. Registration is $40 and includes coffee, doughnuts and a slag cement plant tour. Click here for the registration link and more information. Buildings
NRMCA recently testified on proposed code changes to the International Building Code (IBC) and International Residential Code (IRC) during the International Code Council (ICC) Committee Action Hearings. The hearings began on Sunday, March 27, in Rochester, NY, and concluded yesterday, Tuesday, April 5. NRMCA's Tien Peng and Shamim Rashid-Sumar participated in the hearings along with industry partners. They provided technical information on issues impacting the ready mixed concrete industry, including storm shelters, embodied carbon, 3-D printing, functional recovery for critical facilities, performance-based structural fire design and attachment of exterior finishes to ICF construction. Build With Strength is a coalition led by NRMCA that promotes standards advocacy to leverage policies promoting safety and resiliency and help place more concrete. For more information on codes and standards advocacy efforts, contact Tien Peng at tpeng@nrmca.org. The General Services Administration (GSA) has issued new standards for reducing the carbon footprint of the buildings and infrastructure projects it builds, including a new energy efficiency standard and Low Embodied Carbon Concrete Standards. These standards are in alignment with the Architecture 2030 Challenge which sets targets for reducing operational emissions of building projects and embodied carbon emissions of building products. NRMCA signed on to the challenge in 2012 and has since been working to measure progress toward meeting the challenge for products. Since establishing a benchmark for carbon emissions of concrete in 2014, NRMCA members have demonstrated a 21% reduction in embodied carbon emissions. The new concrete standard specifies maximum Global Warming Potential (GWP) for common specified compressive strengths. The targets are generally higher than the industry average benchmarks published by NRMCA. Producers must demonstrate compliance with the standard using product-specific Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) published in compliance with the North American PCR for Concrete. The concrete industry leads the way in environmental transparency with over 35,000 product-specific EPDs and was one of the first industries to publish an Industry-wide EPD and regional benchmarks. NRMCA is also an EPD Program Operator to help members publish product-specific EPDs. NRMCA consulted with GSA during the specification development process, including encouraging NRMCA members to respond to a GSA survey which indicates that over 80% of the concrete manufacturers reported are already producing or supplying low embodied carbon material. Over 60% said they have developed a product-specific EPD and over 55% said that their low embodied carbon concrete costs about the same as conventional equivalents. Visit www.nrmca.org/sustainability for more detail or contact Katie Poss at kposs@nrmca.org. LEED has pilot credits available for resilience-related planning and design, reports NRMCA Senior Vice President, Structures and Codes, Scott Campbell. The basis for the credits is planning for resilience, design for enhanced resilience and passive survivability. Concrete can be an important part of meeting all three credits, enhancing the desirability of designing with concrete when attempting to achieve LEED certification. In the first of a two-part series, an overview of each of the credits, and their meaning in terms of achieving resilience, are discussed in an article by Dr. Campbell in Engineered Systems magazine. Part 2 of the series, detailing the design credit requirements, will appear in the April issue. The column is part of an ongoing series where Dr. Campbell lays out various aspects of security and resilience for a technical, but not specialist, audience and advances the concept of resilience as envisioned by NRMCA. Build With Strength is a coalition led by NRMCA that promotes concrete building systems through communications, project promotion, education and advocacy. To learn more, contact Scott Campbell at scampbell@nrmca.org or 502-552-5034. 
Government Affairs
Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) threw cold water on proposals to stop collecting the federal gas tax. Earlier this year, legislation was introduced to suspend collection of the federal gas tax for the remainder of 2022. This effort is spearheaded by vulnerable Democrats in both the House and Senate as Congress seeks to implement policies that will blunt the impacts of historically high inflation and rising gas prices. NRMCA and the construction industry oppose efforts to suspend the gas tax. The federal gas tax is the primary funding stream for the Highway Trust Fund, which funds state transportation and infrastructure projects. The legislative proposals would transfer funds from the general fund to cover the shortfall, expanding budget shortfalls and setting up a cliff at the end of the year at which Congress must decide whether or not to extend the gas tax holiday. NRMCA and our industry allies have conducted meetings with congressional offices and sent letters to the Hill opposing this proposal and will continue to advocate against this legislation. For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org. This week, the House considered the RESILIENT America Act, a bipartisan bill supported by NRMCA and the BuildStrong Coalition that promotes resilient construction by funding predisaster mitigation programs, stronger building codes and pilot programs at FEMA for resilience projects. NRMCA sent Congress a letter of support along with the BuildStrong Coalition and reported on this important piece of legislation in March at the Government Affairs Committee meeting. NRMCA applauds the House’s action. The RESILIENT America Act is sponsored by several ready mixed concrete champions, including House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-MO) and Reps. Dina Titus (D-NV) and Dan Webster (R-FL). Click here to read more about this legislation. For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org.
SEO
NRMCA’s Annual Safety Award acknowledges the significant contribution that safe work practices give to the growth and success of individual companies and the ready mixed concrete industry as a whole. The NRMCA Annual Safety Award is presented to an individual or company whose actions represent the very highest in the advancement of safety in the ready mixed concrete industry. The award program is generously sponsored by the Truck Mixer Manufacturers Bureau (TMMB). The deadline to submit nominations is Friday, June 24. The award may be presented to an individual whose single action or long-time commitment to safety and health in the ready mixed concrete industry exemplifies superior performance in the field of safety. Examples of the award winner could be a ready mixed concrete truck driver whose actions were lifesaving. Other examples could include plant managers, safety managers and company officials who have outstanding long-time dedication to safety and health in the ready mixed concrete industry. Other examples would be an individual’s involvement with community safety activities. This award may also recognize a corporation, coalition or organization that was unrelenting in its pursuit of safety. Nominees may have created and implemented a life-saving and or injury-preventing safety solution. Examples of the award winner could be a ready mixed concrete producer company, a ready mixed concrete state association or an industry related equipment or material supplier. Criteria for selection of the individual or company may include evidence of the following:
Nominations shall be made by submitting a detailed explanation for why the individual or company should be considered for the award. The explanation should focus on highlighting the criteria listed above. Submissions should include necessary supporting documents, a high-resolution electronic image of the nominee (if an individual) or a high resolution company logo, and any other relevant images. Entries must be e-mailed to gmullings@nrmca.org by Friday, June 24. Click here for more information and staff contact. 
NRMCA’s Commitment to Environmental Excellence Awards competition offers producers national recognition for outstanding contributions to protecting the environment and maintaining sound management practice in their operations. The program salutes companies that have not only met, but surpassed governmental compliance measures and demonstrated a commitment to environmental excellence through plant and staff investment. NRMCA member companies producing ready mixed concrete from a fixed plant location in the U.S., its territories or Canada are eligible to enter. Awards will be determined upon individual plant merits. Winning entrants will be honored at the Awards Ceremony at NRMCA‘s ConcreteWorks this October in Aurora, CO. Winners will also be featured in a 2022 edition of NRMCA’s Concrete InFocus magazine and Concrete Products magazine. Entries and photos must be e-mailed to gmullings@nrmca.org by Friday, July 22. Click here for more information and to download the entry form. The staff contacts are Gary Mullings and Kevin Walgenbach. 
Business Advancement
The deadline for participating in the 2022 Performance Benchmarking Survey and the Compensation Survey has been extended until Friday, April 22. If your company has not yet completed and returned these surveys, please do so immediately - *This is the final extension for both surveys. The Financial Performance Improvement Group, which manages the surveys, intends to release the Performance Benchmarking Survey before the end of May and the Compensation Survey before the end of June. This will mark the earliest release of either survey. For more information on both surveys, including participation forms and instructions, please visit NRMCA’s Surveys and Benchmarking webpage. Engineering
The American Concrete Institute's convention was held in person after a 2-year absence from March 26 - 30 in Orlando, FL. The following is a summary of committee activity involving NRMCA Staff representation: 132 – Responsibilities in Concrete Construction – The committee completed a Technical Note (TN) on responsibilities associated with acceptance testing of concrete specific to care of test specimens at the jobsite with responsibilities for curing at the jobsite. The TN will be published this summer. A new guide to responsibilities in concrete repair and rehabilitation is going through the review process. The committee has begun the process of revising its guide to responsibilities in concrete construction, ACI 132R. The committee will sponsor a Hot Topic session at the next convention related to responsibilities for low carbon concrete. The committee received an update on the CTAC program managed by the Colorado Ready mixed Concrete Association that records observations of testing at the jobsite. Colin Lobo maintains representation on ACI 132. 201 – Durability – The committee is revising the guide to durable concrete (201.2R). The committee reviewed responses to ballots and approved four revised chapters during its meeting. Karthik Obla maintains representation in ACI 201. 216 – Fire Resistance and Fire Protection of Structures – The ACI 216 Committee continues to finalize the revised edition of ACI 216.1, Code Requirements for Determining Fire Resistance of Concrete and Masonry Construction Assemblies. This updated edition of the standard will include a new chapter on loads in fire addressing strength reduction factors, load factors and load combinations. Additionally, the committee is finalizing the new rational design guide on determining fire resistance. The document will provide guidelines for determining fire resistance through analytical methods in addition to the existing prescriptive methods. The technical committee has also developed a new chapter on post-fire assessment and repair in ACI 562, Code Requirements for Assessment, Repair, and Rehabilitation of Existing Concrete Structures. Shamim Rashid-Sumar maintains representation on ACI 216. 232 – Fly Ash – A Tech Note on harvested ash has been published. The committee discussed the development of a new document on the use of crushed bottom ash and harvested fly ash as supplementary cementitious material for concrete. There was an update on the various research projects addressing fly ash supply. Karthik Obla maintains representation on ACI 232. 301 – Specifications for Structural Concrete – The subcommittee responsible for Section 4 on Concrete Mixtures balloted a significant reorganization of the section to consolidate and categorize submittals that proposed other revisions. The section will be reballoted considering the comments and propose other revisions identified during the meeting. Subcommittee responsible for post tensioned systems in Section 9 will separate provisions for bonded and unbonded PT construction. The committee discussed revisions being proposed by subcommittees to other sections of the specification, including construction with expansive cements and defining types of concrete that would require thermal control plans based on section dimension or mixture composition. This will be an attempt to redefine “mass concrete” in the specification. The committee is working toward a revision to the ACI 301 specification to be published after 2025. Colin Lobo maintains representation on ACI 301. 318 – Building Code for Structural Concrete – ACI Subcommittee A on concrete materials is progressing on several code change proposals. Approved items at this meeting include provisions to prevent corrosion of aluminum embedments and to permit two 4 by 8 in. specimens for a strength test (instead of 3). Other change proposals in progress include addressing criteria for field cured specimens for post tensioning and formwork, including additional curing requirements for hot and cold weather concreting to include an option to terminate curing based on age or in-place strength; removing the limits on SCMs for concrete exposed to deicer scaling; revising chloride exposure class to include air-borne chlorides for structures close to the ocean; the acceptance process for density of lightweight concrete and addressing sampling at the point of placement at the option of the designer to include a performance requirement based on ASTM C1202 instead of a limit on w/cm and several other changes. Subcommittee N on Sustainability balloted a new appendix on sustainability at the main committee; it received several comments that will be resolved to ballot revised content. The appendix is not mandatory but can be used by the designer if there is a sustainability goal on a project. The appendix includes structural system sustainability, concrete materials for reduced environmental impact, and system resilience. ACI 318 is working toward publishing the revised Code in 2025. Colin Lobo maintains representation on Subcommittees A and N and on the main 318 Committee. 325 – Concrete Pavements – The committee currently has four documents under development or revision. The committee is rewriting ACI 325.12R-02 (Reapproved 2014): Guide for Design of Jointed Concrete Pavements for Streets and Local Roads led by Brian Killingsworth. Revisions to this document have been completed and balloted negatives are being resolved. The committee is developing ACI 325.YR Report on Precast Concrete Pavements - State of the Practice which is based upon work completed by Tayabji for the FHWA. Work is also underway to update ACI 325.ZR: Design and Construction of Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavements. This work will continue over the next year. ACI 325.13R-06: Concrete Overlays for Pavement Rehabilitation has also been updated and will be balloted this summer. Killingsworth will ensure that considerations for streets and local roads will be included in all documents. Brian Killingsworth maintains representation on ACI 325 on concrete pavements. 329 – Performance Criteria for Ready Mixed Concrete – ACI 329 is working on developing a guide to writing a performance specification. The committee completed a ballot adding to a chapter that briefly describes various test methods and requirements for concrete. It will reballot Section 1 of the specification based on comments from a previous ballot and complete the chapter on test method descriptions before the next meeting. Karthik Obla and Colin Lobo maintain representation on ACI 329. 330 – Parking Lots – The ACI 330 Committee is awaiting TAC comments on the ACI specification document-330.1. The committee will likely hold a virtual meeting prior to the fall meeting to address TAC comments. The ACI PCR-330.2 Industrial Guide is the next document in need of a revision. Initial discussion began on items that were identified as topics requiring discussion and revisions. The committee is submitting to host mini-session presentations at the Fall meeting. Amanda Hult maintains representation in ACI 330. 332 – Residential Concrete – Extensive discussion occurred surrounding the fate of PCA 100, Prescriptive Design of Exterior Concrete Walls for One- and Two-Family Dwellings, in both the long and short term. The above grade wall subcommittee intends to eventually bring the PCA 100 content into the ACI standards and guidelines. There is support for NRMCA taking on PCA 100 in the short to medium term. Mike Weber will replace Jamie Farny as chair of 332. Scott Campbell maintains membership on ACI 332. 522 – Pervious Concrete – The ACI 522 Committee addressed the remaining TAC comments on the 522R document. Volunteers were solicited for the next student competition in the fall, which is for pervious concrete. The committee is submitting to host mini-session presentations at the fall meeting. Amanda Hult maintains representation in ACI 522. 560 – ICF Buildings – A technical mini-session titled Fire Testing of ICF Walls was presented during the committee meeting by Shamim Rashid-Sumar. The committee’s guide document update of example problems has been finalized and submitted for publication. An update was presented on the two-story limitation of ICF walls and it was confirmed this provision has been removed from ACI 318. The revision will be effective in the 2024 edition of the standard. An additional update was provided on the status of PCA 100. Craig McKee takes over as chair of 560 from Robert Sculthorpe who served as chair for several years. Scott Campbell and Shamim Rashid-Sumar maintain representation on ACI 560. Concrete Research Council (CRC) – The Research Council of the ACI Foundation solicited research proposals for consideration. Research proposals should support the activity of ACI committees and should indicate support from affected committees. For this cycle, funding was available to support 10 proposals. Of the 20 proposals received, the process of selection recommended funding six proposals in the materials area and four in the structures area. The funded projects will be announced soon. Each proposal receives funding of $50,000 from CRC. Colin Lobo maintains representation on ACI CRC. Other: Charles Nmai with Master Builders Solutions was elected as president of ACI for a one-year term. Several individual awards were presented at this convention. Of note, honorary membership, one of the highest ACI recognitions, was awarded to Bev Garnant, executive director of the American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC). ACI announced the launch of a Center for Excellence for Carbon Neutral Concrete to be headed up by Andrea Schokker; details will be announced soon at www.neuconcrete.org. The Spring 2022 newsletter of the National Concrete Consortium has the following items: • Moving Advancements into Practice (MAP) Brief titled Mechanistic-Empirical Design Methods for Concrete Pavement Solutions is now available from the NC² Resource Library. Mechanistic-empirical (ME) - unlike solely empirical - pavement design methods use site-specific road structure, materials, climate and traffic inputs to significantly increase both the reliability of pavement performance predictions and cost-effectiveness of the final pavement design. This brief provides an overview of the main capabilities, inputs, outputs and limitations of key ME design methods and tools for various concrete pavement solutions. • Evaluation of Long-Term Impacts of Early Opening of Concrete Pavements - This research at the MnROAD facility evaluated over four years the performance of concrete pavement subjected to early loading. Ride quality in terms of the international roughness index (IRI), load transfer efficiency (LTE) and petrographic analyses were performed. A mechanistic-based early opening damage analysis and web-based tool were developed to identify the optimum timing for opening to traffic. • Determining the Optimal Traffic Opening Timing through an In Situ NDT Method for Concrete Early-Age Properties Monitoring - The goal of this Indiana DOT/Purdue University research project was to develop a reliable in situ and nondestructive testing (NDT) method using piezoelectric sensors with electromechanical impedance to determine the early-age properties of concrete for opening to traffic. Potential benefits include determining optimal opening time, cost and time savings, and increased job safety. • Macrotexture Assessment of Florida Pavements - University of North Florida researchers evaluated a new type of line laser system capable of producing a nearly continuous three-dimensional (3D) texture profile along the roadway surface. The researchers tested this new line laser system toward the goal of characterizing the surface of both rigid and flexible pavements at the network level. • Evaluation of Chemical Solutions to Concrete Durability Problems - This Texas study focused on the evaluation of alternative materials (other than fly ash) to mitigate alkali-silica reaction (ASR), delayed ettringite formation (DEF) and the corrosion of reinforcing steel. Tests included heat of hydration, strength, electrical resistivity, corrosion potential, chloride diffusivity, sorptivity and expansion testing. Links to each of the above reports and the NCC newsletter itself can be accessed here. 
Calendar
Please note that e-mail and direct links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's Web site. April 12, Free Online Webinar April 19 - 21, Smyrna, TN April 19 - 21, Online Course April 26, Free Online Webinar May 3 - 6, Milwaukee May 10, Free Online Webinar May 24, Free Online Webinar September 29 - October 3, Aurora, CO November 8 - 10, Louisville, KY November 15 - 17, Phoenix December 13 - 16, Kansas City, MO |
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NRMCA’s Think First monthly safety initiatives feature different industry-specific safety items relevant to seasons, current topics or industry concerns. The initiatives are meant to be shared, used as a training tool, printed, posted or distributed; all of which are encouraged. This month’s issue pictured here is titled Pre-/Post-Trip Inspections: Check It, Don’t Wreck It.