WASHINGTON, D.C. — OSHA announced today that the Severe Violators Enforcement Program directive is effective June 18th. The agency announced in April that it was implementing the program to focus on employers who continually disregard their legal obligations to protect their workers. OSHA’s SVEP focuses enforcement efforts on employers who willfully and repeatedly endanger workers by exposing them to serious hazards. The directive establishes procedures and enforcement actions for the severe violator program, including increased inspections, such as mandatory follow-up inspections of a workplace found in violation and inspections of other worksites of the same company where similar hazards or … Read more

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that stand-alone data centers and buildings that house large data centers can now earn the Energy Star label. To earn the label, data centers must be in the top 25 percent of their peers in energy efficiency according to EPA's energy performance scale. By improving efficiency, centers can save energy and money and help fight climate change. EPA uses a commonly accepted measure for energy efficiency, the Power Usage Effectiveness metric, to determine whether a data center qualifies for the Energy Star label. Before being awarded the Energy Star, … Read more

Index at its Lowest Level since Third Quarter of 2006; Upward Pricing Pressure on Materials Slows Rate of Decline NEW YORK — Turner Construction Company announced that the Second Quarter 2010 Turner Building Cost Index continues to show declining costs in the non-residential building construction market in the United States. The Turner Building Cost Index is forecasting a decrease in construction costs of 0.13% from the First Quarter 2010 and a decrease of 4.66% from the Second Quarter 2009. Since its peak at the end of 2008, construction costs have fallen by 13.16%. The Turner Building Cost Index value for … Read more

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has quietly incorporated new security features into the OSHA 10 and 30 hour wallet cards issued by trainers to students completing OSHA Outreach training courses. Since several states and many general contractors have made possession of an OSHA 10 hour or 30 hour card mandatory for workers on certain construction sites, there has been an explosion of cases where counterfeit cards were provided or sold to workers or their employers. To get an explanation of the changes made to the OSHA wallet cards, we turned to Curtis Chambers, Vice President … Read more