Masonry Magazine March 2004 Page. 68
MCAA News
Passage of 'American Dream Downpayment Act' Applauded
The nation's home builders applauded passage of the "American Dream Downpayment Act" into law.
The additional $200 million in funds from this program will provide additional assistance for lower income individuals and first time homebuyers to overcome the greatest barrier to home ownership, the down payment. Additionally, the act will assist to improve the quality of rental housing, through the continued authorization of the Revitalization of Severely Distressed Public Housing (HOPE VI) program through 2006.
"For many low-income minority families the dream of owning a home is often deferred because they cannot afford the down payment and other upfront closing costs," states Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones. "This program will help as many as 40,000 low-income families realize the American dream of owning a home."
The "American Dream Downpayment Act" will be administered under HUD's HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME). Since its inception, the HOME Program has played a vital role in addressing the shortages of affordable rental housing and homeownership in communities nationwide.
OSHA Reports Increase in Number of Inspections, Citations
OSHA continues to increase the number of inspections it conducts annually. In FY2003, OSHA conducted 39,817 total inspections a 5.9% increase over the previous year. Over the period from FY1999 to FY2003, the number of inspections increased 15.4% overall.
A significant increase in programmed inspection activity contributed to the growth seen in FY2003, as programmed inspections were up 9.2% over FY2002 inspections. Programmed inspections focus on high-hazard industries, which have the highest lost-time injury rates. Unprogrammed inspections also showed an increase of 1.8% over the previous fiscal year.
In fiscal year 2003, OSHA found 83,539 violations of its standards, regulations, or the OHS Act's general duty clause in the nation's workplaces. This is an increase of 7.6% over FY2002 and a 10.2% increase over the last five years. Serious violations were up 11.2% in FY2003 over FY2002, while the number of willful violations increased 22.1% over the same time period.
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Study Reveals that Customer Trust is Top Priority
When choosing a construction firm, customers say that trust and integrity are more influential than the price of the bid, according to a newly released Intuit Construction Business Solutions study. The study found these qualities to be especially important with residential customers, 43% of whom cited trust as the number one reason they selected a particular construction firm.
Conducted by independent research firm Decipher, the study surveyed more than 500 customers of commercial and residential construction firms. The results were announced at the International Builders' Show.
Personality and professionalism also count. More than 80% of respondents cited these characteristics as important factors in selecting a firm. These qualities, along with trade skill sets, contribute to a contractor's reputation and can mean the difference between success and failure when dealing with customers. When asked how they had heard about the firms they hired, more than 75% of respondents from each group favored word-of-mouth over telephone directory and Web research.
"The message for contractors is clear: Company integrity is as critical to the success of a construction business as the cost of the job and the quality of the finished product," said Carol Novello, president of Intuit Construction Business Solutions.
Customer Trust continued on page 56
OSHA In The News
Lautenberg Calls OSHAs Record an 'Astounding Failure'
United States Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) fired off a strongly worded letter and promised legislation to force the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to do its job and hold employers accountable when their employees are injured or killed as a result of their willful negligence.
After reading a published report in December 22, 2003, edition of the New York Times regarding unchecked workplace deaths by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Lautenberg was astonished at the extremely low rate of prosecutions by the agency, even after officials at OSHA have described the cases as "horror stories" and "intolerable outrages."
According to the article, during the last two decades, over 1,200 cases were investigated where this agency concluded the deaths were caused by "willful" safety violations of the employer. However, in over 90% of those cases, OSHA did not seek prosecution.
"This is an astounding record of failure by the one federal agency charged with ensuring workplace safety. OSHA gross negligence to perform its most basic duties of holding companies accountable for their failure to protect their employees, in my opinion, rises to a level where a top-down review of agency policies is required," wrote Lautenberg to OSHA Administrator John Henshaw.
Lautenberg promised a quick legislative response when Congress returned in January that will require OSHA to provide within 60 days of the end of each month, a review of the number of death and injuries reported and any and all actions taken by OSHA to punish those companies which have placed these employees in danger.
54 Masonry
March 2004
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