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Article
2007 November
- Making sure your vehicle is in good operating condition is one of the best defenses when driving in winter weather.
- Put together a basic cold-weather emergency kit for each vehicle in your fleet.
Article
2007 Sept/Oct
- Brand your company as "The Solution" for all of your customers’ needs.
- If you offer wall panels, engineered wood products, steel trusses, and turnkey labor, or engineering design services in addition to wood trusses, be sure to market them.
- Work with the design and specifier community to help streamline the front end of the construction process and value-engineer structures.
Article
2007 Sept/Oct
- The IRC 2006 references BCSI 1-03 in two locations—R502.11.2 and R802.10.3.
- In 2006, BCSI 1-03 was revised and retitled Building Component Safety Information; Guide to Good Practice for Handling, Installing, Restraining & Bracing of Metal Plate Connected Wood Trusses.
- Although BCSI 1-03 is referenced in IRC 2006, you should use the most recent version of the booklet—BCSI.
Article
2007 Sept/Oct
- OSHA’s Top Ten list is a great place to start for reviewing safety issues at your facility.
- Three of the 2006 Top Ten (one, three and nine) fall under OSHA’s Safety and Health Regulations for Construction (Part 1926) and don’t apply to component manufacturing.
- The remaining seven violations relate to standards that are important to comply with as a component manufacturer.
Article
2007 August
- OSHA defines a powered industrial track (PIT) as any mobile, power-propelled truck used to carry, push, pull, lift, stack or tier materials that can be ridden or controlled by a walking operator.
- OSHA requires you to implement a PIT vehicle training program and verify that each operator has been properly trained and evaluated.
Article
2007 August
- Remember safety when you consider material handling in your operation.
- Creating a safety committee is a great way to inspire a culture of safety and discuss areas of the plant to examine.
Article
2007 August
- When a truss member is damaged, the anticipated flow of loads through the truss is disrupted, and that load must be resisted by another member(s).
Article
2007 June/July
- High school and college students can be a valuable resource during the summer months.
- Their inexperience can also bring a unique set of safety risks.
- Create a safe environment for your summer help with a few simple adjustments.
Article
2007 June/July
- Component manufacturers need to be wary of builders demanding deep discounts not agreed upon in contracts already in place.
- Although you may feel like giving up trying to understand insurance requirements, it is possible to learn about them.
- If you aren’t aware of what your insurance coverage actually provides, you are exposing yourself to tremendous and avoidable risk.
Article
2007 June/July
- Wood-framed buildings over three stories above grade should be designed under the IBC.
- These buildings fall outside the prescriptive/conventional construction provisions of the IRC and IBC and must be designed using engineering principles.
Article
2007 May
- To fully understand how loads interact with each other, they must be tested as a system instead of as an individual element.
- WHD is here to stay, building momentum and bringing the structural integrity of buildings to a whole new level.
Article
2007 May
- A new provision was introduced to the wood truss section (i.e., R810.2) of the 2006 edition of the IRC that permits the use of roof snow load computed using 0.7pg.
- Engineered design, through ASCE 7, is required in instances where the limitations on which the IRC is based are exceeded.
- ASCE 7 snow load design provisions require the evaluation of other conditions that may produce load surcharges in addition to the balanced uniform loads of pf or ps.
Article
2007 April
- Being involved with industry organizations at the local, state and national level is beneficial.
- Without WTCA and the component manufacturers that volunteer their time, manufacturers would be on their own to develop training programs.
Article
2007 April
- The required bearing length provided on the Truss Design Drawing is based on the lumber used in the truss.
- The bearing area for the wood wall or beam may need to be increased to prevent crushing of these members.
- Table 1 includes the maximum allowable reaction load that selected species of lumber used as wall plates can resist without excessive crushing.
Article
2007 April
- Plant workers at Schuck Component Systems play an incentive game called Safety Bingo.
- The safety pot starts at $100, and an additional $100 is added for each accident-free workday.
- The first person to get BINGO wins the entire pot.
- Safety Bingo has helped to drop Schuck’s reportable injury rate by one-third.
Article
2007 March
- Take preventative measures to safeguard your employees and protect your property from fire, like installing fire-resistant materials.
- A good fire alarm system is crucial for timely evacuation and accelerating firefighter response time.
- Good housekeeping practices, clearly marked exits and periodic fire drills will ensure an orderly evacuation.
Article
2007 March
- Empower your team by establishing good communication.
- Consider forming a senior management team to set goals, implement initiatives and delegate tasks.
- Establishing a safety committee is a great way to begin the path toward empowering a team.
- Retain good employees by offering benefits, especially health insurance.
Article
2007 Jan/Feb
- Fire safety can be broken down into the main topics of causes and prevention.
- Truss plants often contain one or more ignition sources.
- Keep spark resistant jackets handy to prevent incidents where flammable chemicals and welding sparks may exist.
Article
2007 August
- OSHA machine guarding standards are meant to prevent the 18,000 injuries U.S. workers suffer while operating machinery.
- Six machine guarding requirements are defined by OSHA.
- Scott Arquilla’s story demonstrates that OSHA may make an exception if it is determined that a certain guard presents a hazard.
Article
2007 May
- It is common for close to 80 percent of a plant’s workforce to be Spanish-speaking in our industry.
- You don’t have to be bilingual to communicate effectively with your employees.
- Knowing a few key terms and phrases will help you keep your workers safe.
Article
2007 Jan/Feb
- Structural building components are essential for a show like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
- With such a tight schedule, structural building components are the single most critical material in helping reach the show’s deadlines.
- The most important thing you can do throughout all four stages of production is to be flexible.
- Be onsite for the framing the whole day to help with any questions or conflicts should they arise.
Article
2006 November
- In the building components industry, buyers’ key areas of focus are inventory, defective product claims, employees, and compliance with laws applicable to employees, environmental compliance and intellectual property.
- Expect the buyer’s first draft of the purchase agreement to be very buyer oriented.
- When advising the seller, full and early disclosure is encouraged.
- Heavy focus and spending too much time on the indemnification can send the wrong signal to the buyer.
Article
2006 November
- A building boom, steady influx of new building materials, and a shortage of skilled workers to properly install them are factors that have collided.
- Between 1955 and 2005, manufacturing, construction and mining jobs fell 25 percent.
- Nearly one in five construction workers were born outside the U.S. and it’s estimated that immigrants make up over 25 percent of the construction workforce in CA, NV, TX, DC, AZ, NY, FL and NJ.
- The U.S.
Article
2006 Sept/Oct
- WTCA’s first meeting minutes have been uncovered and offer a glimpse back in time to the beginnings of the association.
- Sid Ketchum of PDJ Components recalls the separation of WTCA and TPI being a big and risky move, but that people were excited for the change.
- WTCA’s membership has stood out since the beginning as people who are doing it for the greater good.
- Potential members joined WTCA because they observed how it was for the benefit of the whole industry, not just individuals.