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Buildings
NRMCA, through its Build With Strength and Pave Ahead initiatives, is seeking nominations for the 2024 Concrete Innovations Awards. The award program recognizes outstanding achievement in concrete design and construction. Innovative projects are awarded for outstanding performance while lowering environmental impacts, including embodied and operational carbon footprint. Buildings and infrastructure projects substantially designed and built using concrete in the United States in the last five years are eligible. Projects must demonstrate improved performance and sustainability. An NRMCA member company must have been involved in supplying products or services to the project. Areas of excellence include advanced quality control, innovative cements, supplementary cementitious materials, admixtures, aggregates, recycling methods, carbon capture and sequestration technologies, measurement tools or innovative designs that improve performance and sustainability. Nominations should be sent via www.concreteinnovations.com; the deadline is January 31, 2024. For more information, contact Lionel Lemay at llemay@nrmca.org or 847-922-7995. Implementing low carbon technologies is not without challenges. For cement and concrete producers along with concrete contractors, it means installing new equipment, testing new concrete mixtures and learning new ways to manufacture, place and finish concrete. This session will explore how policy, investment in new technologies and innovation will help the concrete industry meet its carbon neutrality goals.
Concrete Innovations Session 17 is scheduled for Wednesday, November 15, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern time. Click here to register. Visit www.concreteinnovations.com for upcoming sessions. For more information, contact Lionel Lemay at llemay@nrmca.org or 847-922-7995.
Over the weekend of October 20 - 21, NRMCA Senior Director, Building Innovations, Frank Mruk participated in the Construction Specification Institute’s Northeast Region Board retreat held in Hartford, CT. In attendance were Northeast Chapter CSI presidents and Northeast Region Board officers: front row left to right - Dave Newman (Hartford), Martin Helly (NER treasurer), Rebecca Campbell (Vermont), Joe Lodbell (New Jersey) and Todd Buck (New Hampshire/Maine). Back row were, left to right - Jim Grucella (Buffalo/Western New York), Ken Gehringer (Long Island), Steve Van Dyke (Worcester), Jay Stoffher (Connecticut), Ken Lambert (NER president), NRMCA’s Frank Mruk (Rhode Island), Kevin Phillips (Syracuse), Alan Turner (Rochester) and Len Anastasi (Boston). Andrea Dinice (Metro NYC/NER vice president) also participated virtually. Photo Credit: Terri Bracken (NER CSI marketing manager). Founded in 1948, CSI is a national not-for-profit association of more than 6,000 members dedicated to improving the communication of construction information through continuous development and transformation of specification standards and formats, education and certification of professionals. CSI members work tirelessly to effectively communicate the designers’ vision, the material producers’ solutions and the constructors’ techniques to create outstanding facilities that meet facility owners’ objectives. The Build With Strength program is a leader in supporting architects and specifiers at the cutting edge of industry best practice. For more information, contact Frank Mruk at fmruk@nrmca.org. 
Build With Strength along with the Washington Aggregates and Concrete Association and ACI's Washington State chapter earlier this month hosted a Pathways to Low Carbon Concrete symposium at the Washington Athletic Club in downtown Seattle. NRMCA Senior Director, Building Innovations, Patrick Matsche said the event drew over 150 of the region’s top influencers, users and producers of ready mixed concrete. Billed as Market Questions – Market Answers, the symposium focused on real world projects with GWP (global warming potential) targets, both previously completed and scheduled for completion. Multiple panelists from the AEC community and the local ready mixed concrete industry provided insights into best practices and lessons learned. The keynote address was delivered by Kelsey Rose, senior manager, Hines Interests on the The Market Demand for Decarbonizing Concrete.
Build With Strength Director, Building Innovations, Justin McCain attended the Texas Aggregates & Concrete Association’s (TACA) Environmental, Sustainability & Safety Seminar held earlier this month in Irving. It included ready mix producers, industry experts and suppliers from throughout the state; the event was put on by TACA's Environmental/Sustainability Committee and Safety/Transportation Committee; the agenda included presentations highlighting pertinent topics regarding the ready mix industry’s environmental, sustainability and safety regulations and issues. Much of the seminar's focus was on low carbon concrete and Environmental Product Declarations (EPD’s), McCain said. NRMCA spoke with ready mix producers and offered assistance regarding EPD’s, all while emphasizing what the industry is doing to promote concrete as the building material of choice throughout Texas. For more information, contact Justin McCain at jmccain@nrmca.org.
SEO
On Tuesday, NRMCA Safety, Environment and Operations (SEO) Department staff was on hand for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) announcement of its preliminary Top 10 Violations for FY 2023, across both construction and general industry. The rollout of the latest data took place at the National Safety Council (NSC) Congress & Expo in New Orleans. OSHA annually releases the new information at the NSC event. OSHA’s FY 2023 Top Ten Violations were:
OSHA’s FY 2023 Top 10 contains the same violations as in the last 10 years, but in different order. OSHA advises that employers use the list as a guide to identify and mitigate workplace hazards. OSHA’s Top 10 list and more information, when released publicly, can also be found here. For more information, contact Kevin Walgenbach at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org. 
Calendar
Please note that e-mail and direct registration links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's website. November 7 - 9, Charlotte, NC *Sold Out November 7 - 9, Online Course November 14 - 16, Dallas *Sold Out November 15, Free Online Webinar November 28 - 30, Orlando, FL *Sold Out November 29, Indianapolis December 11 - 18, Online Course December 12 - 15, Orlando, FL *Sold Out December 12 - 14, Denver December 12, Charlotte, NC *Limited Seating December 13, Online Course 2024 February 5 - 9, Oklahoma City February 13 - 15, Denver February 27 - 29, Orlando, FL March 18 - 21, Tampa, FL March 26 - 28, Denver October 10 - 14, Aurora, CO 
Engineering
NRMCA is offering its information-packed course, Handling Concrete Specifications, Low Strength Problems, and Mixture Submittals, intended for concrete producers, contractors, engineers and testing labs, online from November 7 - 9. The course will feature a group discussion session on November 9. This one-day course will discuss the latest changes to the code and specification requirements (ACI 318, 301, ASTM C94) governing ready mixed concrete. This course will address many topics, including:
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