Report of the MCAA Safety Committee

Words: Zach Ackley

Safety Newsletter

The Committee continues to help produce the safety newsletter. These newsletters are short quick newsletters sent to member firms. The purpose is really to re-focus contractors on the importance of safety and give another resource to safety folks in our member firms.

Safety Forum

The Committee is in need of volunteers to assist with the Safety Forums. They don’t take a lot of time, just a quick 15-minute presentation on a safety topic and then the programs lead into other safety related topics. The more volunteers we have, the more forums we can do.

Safety Awards

The MCAA gave our annual safety awards to member companies at our Midyear Meeting in Austin, Texas. Top safety performers were presented with awards at our Midyear Board Meeting. We seem to be getting more entries every year. We would like to thank Federated Insurance for the continued support of the Safety Awards program through their sponsorship.

Networking

The committee has been busy addressing individual requests and inquiries. Whether it be citation advice, implementing a safety program or any other item related to safety, the committee is positioned to help other safety representatives and often spends hours on the phone assisting each other. This is often an overlooked service of the committee, but one of it’s more important one’s.

Silica

The committee continues to work on this issue. The committee is committed to making sure the implemented silica rule is the best available for our industry and that we give masons the tools to be prepared for compliance with the new rule. We will continue to work to update our program and provide feedback to the Department of Labor on important changes we feel are needed.

Onboarding Videos

The committee is near completion with the onboarding videos. The PPE videos have been posted in the members only section and at the time of the report development, silica and HAZ COM were being finalized. We expect them to all be up and available before the end of January.

Forklift Training Materials

The committee is working on something very new and exciting and we expect to have the project complete in late Spring of 2019. We are redeveloping part 1 into a VR session for training. More details on the program will be coming very soon. We expect this portion of the training to also be able to be modified to allow for a career day opportunity and to allow kids the opportunity to actually drive a forklift (through VR) at their career days.
GEN NXT: Mason Paolini
May 2026

This month, the MCAA got to talk with Mason Paolini, a mason who has a clear passion and talent for the trade he has such high praise for. Read about Mason’s story and why he sees a future in this industry. Mason Paolini’s career began with a simple desi

Marvelous Masonry: Tianjin Zhongshuge Library
May 2026

It is not unusual today for masonry to be treated as a surface decision rather than a structural one. Too often, brick enters a project late in the process, trimmed back by budgets or reduced to a veneer once the “real” building work is finished. The Tian

Fechino Files: Concrete Pavers around a Pool
May 2026

Many folks over the years have placed concrete pavers around their pool as a nice form of decorative pool deck. Early in the 2000’s, I took a class held by the Interlocking Concrete Paver Institute, then known as the ICPI. At the time I attended the class

Chairman's Message: Staying the Course
May 2026

Spring is one of my favorite times of year. There’s energy in the air. Jobs are picking up. Crews are hitting their rhythm. Schedules are filling up. You can feel momentum building again. And every year around this time, I find myself thinking about con