With over 612,000 bridges across the United States a large emphasis must be placed on maintaining and replacing them each year. We’ve been hearing the narrative surrounding “America’s failing infrastructure” for several years now, but there’s still a lot of progress to be made.
Read moreAverage Hourly Wage of Concrete Finishers, By State
Concrete finishers smooth and finish concrete surfaces like curbs, floors, and roads. Most are also responsible for cutting control and expansion joints as the concrete hardens. OSHA's new silica dust regulations have added an additional wrinkle to the concrete finishers job, as they are now required to greatly limit their exposure to silica containing dust.
Read moreAverage Hourly Wage of Crane Operators, By State
Cranes can be some of the most dangerous pieces of equipment on any construction jobsite. Not only do workers need to worry about working underneath loads being suspended by cranes, operators need to exercise extreme caution when working with heavy loads and extreme weather conditions. Cranes are also pivotal in efficiently building multi-story buildings, especially high rise and supertall buildings. The profession itself, at least for tower crane operators, can be fairly lonely though, as there's no buddy system up in the cab. The long commute up to the top also restricts the amount of time operators can take breaks.
Read moreHow Fearful of Robots Should Construction Workers Be?
Construction robotics has been a highly covered topic in the media for the past couple years. 3D concrete printing, brick laying robots, and self-driving track loaders are just a few of the technologies that have promised to disrupt construction sites across the world. But how exactly will these innovations affect the construction industry’s workforce?
Read moreAverage Hourly Wage of Floor Layers, By State
Floor layers are broken out into several different categories and this data pull specifically highlights "floor layers, except carpet, wood, and hard tiles." This category most likely encapsulates vinyl tile or linoleum installations, whether they be strips, blocks, or sheets.
Read moreOSHA Sets Penalty Increase Amount for 2018
When OSHA raised its citation penalty amounts for the first time since 1990 in 2016, it raised them 78% to catch up with inflation over that many years. It wasn’t just a one time increase, however, as the amended Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 no longer exempts OSHA from its requirements.
Read moreAverage Hourly Wage of Insulation Workers, By State
Insulation workers, specifically those that install floor, ceiling, and wall insulation typically learn their trade on the job. Whether installing more traditional fiberglass insulation or spray foam insulation, these types of workers almost exclusively work indoors. Although there are also mechanical insulation workers, their numbers are broken out separately, as they make an average of $10,000 per year more than floor, wall, and ceiling insulators.
Read more7 Stories From 2017 That Prove Construction Workers are Great People
Construction workers often get stereotyped for being gruff cat-callers, but truthfully, the industry is filled with men and women who are willing and able to step up to help in times of need. Each year, we scour the news to find stories of construction workers and companies going above and beyond to serve their communities. Below you'll find 7 great examples from last year.
Read moreThe 9 Coolest Construction Projects of 2017
Every year, we search all year long to find construction projects that push the limits on what can be done. Through the hard work of workers in each and every trade, new techniques and technologies are produced to allow us to achieve what was previously thought to be impossible.
Below are 9 examples of projects that pushed the boundaries and were under construction, completed, or announced in 2017. If you have a project that you think is really cool that you think we should include in our 2018 list, please contact us to let us know!
Read moreAverage Hourly Wage of Solar Panel Installers, By State
The solar photo-voltaic panel installation profession is one of the newest jobs on the construction site. It's also considered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to be one of the fastest growing professions across any industry. From 2016 to 2026, the BLS expects employment to rise 105 percent, when the average is only around 5 percent.
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