Mar 14 Concrete Openings

MARCH 2014 THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF CSDA

Stacking the Deck Odds in Cutter’s Favor on Casino Project

CSDA WORKING TO REPEL PROPOSED SILICA RULE WIRE SAWING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE INNOVATIVE CORING MACHINE ON LIRR PROJECT W W W. C O N C R E T E O P E N I N G S . C O M

PRESIDENT’S PAGE

JUDITH O’DAY CSDA President

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his year, we have witnessed the passing of several members of a generation of creators, innovators, engineers and entrepreneurs that helped build the concrete cutting industry. Each of these losses causes me to reflect on what particular attributes, expertise and ethics these individuals brought with them to their respective roles. Their backgrounds and education varied, but common to these men and women was a willingness to try new things, patience to help co-workers grow, confidence and determination to achieve their goals and the ability to convey their vision to the people around them.

Some served as the public face of their companies, as president, CEO or the like, while others remained essentially behind the scenes, handling the day-to-day running of the business or providing the support system that helped make it all possible. They did not shy away from making tough decisions, doing the hard work of looking after the common good of their companies, employees and customers or sharing their expertise with others—even with their competitors. Whatever their official role, they certainly have set an example worth following, hopefully motivating us to fight the good fight and do the right thing in these changing times.

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The changes and challenges facing businesses today are not all new.

We have probably faced most of them before, in one form or another. What may be new to some of us is the number of challenges facing us at one time and the need to address them rapidly, while still meeting customers expectations and generating profitability for the company. Handling these challenges may require additional resources.

The CSDA provides access to an array of resources, not the least of which is the knowledge and experience of the membership. This individual and collective expertise is readily available at the Annual Convention and Tech Fair, in both structured and informal settings, as well as at the regional Board and committee meetings. Taking the time to participate in these CSDA activities gives you the opportunity to network with members of our industry who are coping with the same challenges and are learning from past generations.

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THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF CSDA

CSDA OFFICERS

CONCRETE CASES

President, Judith O’Day Terra Diamond Industrial joday@terradiamond.com Vice President, Kevin Baron Western Saw, Inc. kevinb@westernsaw.com Secretary/Treasurer, Mike Orzechowski DITEQ Corporation mikeo@diteq.com Past President, Jim Dvoratchek Hard Rock Concrete Cutters, Inc. jimd@hardrockconcretecutters.com Executive Director, Patrick O’Brien Concrete Sawing & Drilling Association pat@csda.org

CSDA BOARD OF DIRECTORS (Terms expiring in 2014)

Stacking the Deck

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Kevin Baron Western Saw, Inc. kevinb@westernsaw.com Tim Beckman Cutting Edge Services Corporation beckman@cuttingedgeservices.com Paul DeAndrea DeAndrea Coring & Sawing, Inc. paul@deandreacoring.com Steve Garrison Hilti, Inc. steve.garrison@hilti.com Donna Harris Concrete Renovation, Inc. donna.cri@sbcglobal.net

Fast Track to Success

18

Ron Rapper Husqvarna Construction Products ron.rapper@husqvarna.com

CSDA BOARD OF DIRECTORS (Terms expiring in 2015) Ty Conner Austin Enterprise tconner@austin-enterprise.com Mark DeSchepper Construction Solutions, LLC mdeschepper@construction-solutions.com

Odds in Cutter’s Favor on Casino Project

Coring Machine Provides Speed and Efficiency on Railroad Project

State of the Union

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CSDA Member Cuts Piers for New UT Student Center

Matthew Finnigan National Concrete Cutting, Inc. matthewf@nationalconcretecuttinginc.com Mike Greene Greene’s, Inc. mikeg@greenesinc.com Greg Lipscomb Diamond Products Limited glipscomb@diamondproducts.com Sid Kilgore Dixie Diamond Manufacturing skilgore@dixiediamond.com

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Elevated Status

42

Diamond Wire Cuts Motors Free for Upgrade

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CONCRETE OPENINGS MAGAZINE Official Magazine of the Concrete Sawing & Drilling Association Volume 23, Number 1 ISSN: 1093-6483 Concrete Openings magazine is published by O’Brien International, Inc., four times each calendar year in March, June, September and December. Editorial contributions are welcomed and advertisements are encouraged. Please contact the Concrete Sawing & Drilling Association 100 2nd Avenue South Suite 402N St. Petersburg, FL 33701 Tel: 727-577-5004 Fax: 727-577-5012 WWW.CSDA.ORG Magazines, newspapers and private individuals are welcome to reproduce, in whole or part, articles published herein provided that acknowledgements are made in the following manner: “Reprinted courtesy of the Concrete Sawing & Drilling Association, Concrete Openings magazine, Issue Date.”

No alterations should be made in the text of any article.

PUBLISHER Patrick O’Brien ASSOCIATE EDITOR Russell Hitchen CONCRETE CASE CONTRIBUTORS Stu Fishman Phil Hawley Matt Hephner Terry Sanders Mark Simons EDITORIAL REVIEW COMMITTEE Skip Aston Rod Newton Pat Stepenski The information and recommendations in this magazine are provided for use by fully qualified, professional personnel.

The Concrete Sawing & Drilling Association and the publisher disclaim any responsibility as to their use by readers and shall not be liable for damages arising out of the use of the foregoing information.

All bylined articles published in this magazine represent solely the individual opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of the Concrete Sawing & Drilling Association.

C O N T E N T S 12 World of Concrete 2014

Celebrating 40 Years of Industry Excellence

14 Concrete Openings Awards

CSDA Contractors Honored at WOC Ceremony

26 The Business of Business Where is Your Business Now?

38 Safety Counts

CSDA Working to Repel OSHA’s Proposed Silica Rule

40 Tech Talk

Technology: Our Greatest Advantage and Biggest Challenge

48 Social Media Focus

How Many Times Per Week Should You Be Posting to Facebook and Twitter?

50 Polished Perspective

Are You in Control of Your Polishing Process?

54 Core Health

Implementing a Pre-Employment Physical Program

57 OSHA/CSDA Alliance Latest 58 Industry Bits 64 Certification 65 Membership 68 Calendar 72 Director’s Dialogue

50 Cover Photo: The Wind Creek Wetumpka hotel and casino, Wetumpka, Alabama

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Stacking the Deck

Photos courtesy of the Wind Creek Wetumpka.

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Operators used slab saws to cut through 30 inches of reinforced concrete.

Odds in Cutter’s Favor on Casino Project

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hen a general contractor needed someone to perform over 18,000 feet of concrete cutting on a high-stakes project, there was no time for gambling. A combination of knowledge, experience, reliable equipment and industrycertified operators meant this specialty contractor was a sure bet for success.

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Crowds lined up for the casino’s opening day in December 2013.

The project involved the cutting and removal of approximately onethird of an existing four-story reinforced concrete parking garage in Wetumpka, Alabama. The renovations would allow the garage to connect with a new luxury hotel and casino being constructed adjacent to it.

Wind Creek Wetumpka is a 20-story, deluxe hotel and casino that features 283 rooms, 85,000 feet of gaming space, five restaurants and a 16,000-gallon shark tank at the casino’s bar. It is one of three casinos owned by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians; Alabama’s only federally recognized tribe. Construction on the development began in May 2012 and took over 18 months to complete. It was during the construction phase of this project that the general contractor, Ard Contracting, Inc. of Birmingham, Alabama, chose CSDA member International Drilling & Sawing, Inc. (IDS) of Montgomery to do the concrete cutting work.

“We were chosen for the job because we met all of the specifications set by Ard Contracting and had the experience necessary to do the work,” said Terry Sanders, project manager for IDS. “Our operators were able to cut the heavily-reinforced structure accurately, with reduced dust and debris. In addition, our techniques produced less noise and vibrations than other methods, meaning the other two-thirds of the parking garage A total of 34 BART stations required some form of retrofit to protect deck remained passengers andfree staffofindamage.” the event of a major earthquake.

The team from IDS was tasked with cutting slab decks, beams, columns and four stairwells while core drilling pick holes on all four levels of the garage. These holes would allow the general contractor to remove cut sections by crane. Also, a number of post-tension cables had to be exposed and detensioned before cutting could begin. The company began work in early July 2013 and was provided with a six-week window to complete all tasks.

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Slab decks, beams and piers were removed so that the existing parking garage could link to a new hotel and casino building.

Wire saws were used to cut through support piers and beams.

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Cutting began on the ground level of the parking garage. The 6-inchthick reinforced concrete slab deck was cut using a Core Cut 6560 ELT saw from Diamond Products and a FS6600 saw from Husqvarna Construction Products. The specified area was cut in sections measuring 20 feet by 6 feet, with each section taking one hour to complete. Operators then began setting up sawing equipment on the top level of the structure, where in addition to the slab, there were beams and stairwells to cut. The cutting team was now working four stories up, approximately 110 feet from ground level, so it was necessary for everyone to be tied off and provided with all Personal Protective Equipment needed to do the work safely.

Operators began by using a Core Cut CC110 saw from Diamond Products to plunge cut through reinforced concrete beams that were 30 inches thick. A Hydrostress wire saw was also used to pull cut through the 3-foot-by-3-foot cross section of the beams. IDS made 56 pull cuts through the beams of the garage, each taking 45 minutes to complete.

Once all beams were cut, operators turned their attention to the slab deck and used 20-foot by 6-foot measurements to cut sections free, just like on the ground floor slab. All slab sections were shored during cutting to prevent unplanned breaks.

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Slab decks were cut into 20-foot by 6-foot sections.

The stairwells were cut using 880 Pro Force chain saws from ICS and hydraulic hand saws from Diamond Products, taking four hours to complete. A Weka DK1601 handheld core drill was then used to make 2-inch-diamater pick holes in all cut sections before Ard Contracting arrived on site to remove each one with a 90-ton crane. With all other cut pieces removed, IDS began cutting a series of 2-foot by-2-foot columns using the wire saw. A total of 80 pull cuts were made, each completed in 60 minutes.

An important part of the cutting contractor’s work was the identification and de-tensioning of all post-tension cables before cutting. Failure to do this would have caused the cables to retract when cut, creating a major safety hazard for workers in the area. The cables were located on the side of the slab and covered by a small mortar patch. Each one had 25,000 PSI of pressure applied. IDS also had to be sure that all shoring was secure before and during cutting, so work would stop periodically to check the positioning of the shoring and make adjustments.

With all cables correctly identified and safely de-tensioned, the IDS team was able to concentrate on keeping operators and equipment safe while working at height. Some slab cuts ran to the edge of the concrete, so there was a concern that the saws would have gone too close to the edge and fallen off. To prevent this type of accident, the contractor set chains to

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The contractor was 110 feet above ground level while cutting the fourth story of the structure.

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BUY RADAR FROM A RADAR COMPANY And tools from a tool company “The StructureScan Mini is useful when scanning overhead, it’s lightweight and easy-to-use.”

- Chase Johnson, GPRS San Francisco “As a three-truck cutting and coring operation we knew from day one that we would select GSSI equipment when starting our GPR Company.

We visited others and tried others and to us there was just no comparison. From the welcoming we received on our first visit to the customer service we get today, GSSI is a true pleasure to work with.

We look forward to many years ahead and can’t wait to see what’s up next in the world of GPR.”

– Storie Quast, Owner of Taylor’s Structural Imaging, Kentucky

Geophysical Survey Systems, Inc. www.geophysical.com • sales@geophysical.com • 800.524.3011

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The general contractor removed approximately 40,000 tons of concrete, with a corresponding 18,000 feet of cutting.

` the saw that were attached to anchor points in the slab. This prevented the saw from reaching a tipping point if it got too close to the edge. Even more crucial was insuring that operators did not fall from height, so they each were fitted with a 50-foot retractable lanyard system.

Working safely and efficiently, the cutting team from IDS was able to complete all tasks within the time frame specified, even finishing the job four days ahead of schedule. Operators made 189 plunge cuts to a depth of 30 inches using slab saws, executed 130 wire saw pull cuts to remove columns and beams and core drilled 1,400 picking holes measuring 2 inches in diameter. The general contractor removed approximately 40,000 tons of concrete, with a corresponding 18,000 feet of cutting.

“I was very proud of how our employees handled this job,” said Tim Rudder, owner of IDS. “They worked 12-14 hour days in July and August under the hot Alabama sun to make sure the project got done on time and within budget. Terry Sanders, along with our project superintendent, Roy Nelson, and lead operator, Mark Taylor, deserve recognition for going above and beyond.”

The Wind Creek Wetumpka hotel and casino opened in December 2013 as planned and drew a big crowd for opening day. Thanks to IDS playing its best hand, the general contractor was literally able to stack the concrete slab deck in its favor. Hotel and casino guests now have easy access between the parking garage and the main building, proving that using experienced CSDA members is no gamble.

COMPANY PROFILE A CSDA member since 1996, International Drilling & Sawing, Inc. has been in business for 20 years. The company is based in Montgomery, Alabama and has support locations in Birmingham and Pensacola, Florida. IDS employs 28 operators, has 18 trucks and offers the concrete cutting services of slab sawing, wall sawing, hand sawing, wire sawing, core drilling, selective demolition and GPR imaging. IDS is a CSDA Certified Operator company.

RESOURCES General Contractor: Ard Contracting, Inc. Sawing and Drilling Contractor: International Drilling & Sawing, Inc. Montgomery, Alabama Phone: 334-288-8322 Email: terry@idscuts.com Website: www.idscuts.com Methods Used: Slab Sawing, Wire Sawing, Hand Sawing, Core Drilling

REVIEW AND COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE AT: WWW.CONCRETEOPENINGS.COM/FORUM.CFM

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World of Concrete 2014

Celebrating 40 Years of Industry Excellence

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hen the first World of Concrete was held in Houston, Texas in 1975 with 103 exhibitors, many of those involved could not have foreseen that the show would grow exponentially and still be going strong 40 years later.

The following year, in 1976, the show moved to Las Vegas, Nevada and now the two are synonymous with each other. This year’s show drew over 48,000 concrete professionals to the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC), where over 1,250 exhibitors

met with attendees across more than 570,000 square feet of show space.

A long-standing supporter and 38-year cosponsor of World of Concrete, CSDA had its exhibit booth set up in the Central Hall of the LVCC and was joined by a good number of its membership. Manufacturer, distributor and affiliate members of the association filled almost 40 exhibit booth areas, indoors and out, while many contractor members walked the show and gave their time to promote CSDA at the association’s booth.

Products The range and focus of new products and innovations on display at World of Concrete 2014 really showed how the concrete cutting industry has changed— voluntarily or otherwise—over the past 40 years. Now, the onus is not only on exhibitors to supply tools, equipment and services that allow contractors to do jobs faster

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and to a larger scale, but also helps them do their jobs safer, “greener” and more efficiently than ever before.

One equipment manufacturer unveiled new diesel saw models that comply with Tier 4 Final/Stage III B emission regulations while others provide interim solutions for contractors. Some saws are now electronically controlled, and almost all new models on the market can accommodate diamond blades with the same diameters but with a higher output than previous models. The benefits of hi-cycle technology were once again showcased at World of Concrete, with several companies adding to their range of hi-cycle saw and core drill motors. Meanwhile, the

Sponsored Events

fields of concrete polishing and imaging with ground penetrating radar continue to grow and each industry had a strong presence at the show. For more information on these, and other products exhibited at World of Concrete 2014, read Industry Bits on page 58.

Training The addition of the World of Concrete Education Program has been another success for show organizers, and CSDA is pleased to have played a part in this success. Training continues to play a crucial role in the growth of the concrete cutting and polishing industry. Following a well-received first outing at the 2013 show, the CSDA Concrete Polishing class returned to the LVCC and almost doubled last year’s attendance, attracting 35 registrations for the two-day class. In addition, the CSDA Estimating and Wall Sawing 101 courses also experienced increases in numbers with 28 students combined.

Over the past four decades, World of Concrete has introduced a series of sponsored events and competitions during the show. To encourage architects and engineers to learn more about the many benefits of polished concrete surfaces, CSDA sponsored the Exploring Architectural Praxis: A Concrete Timeline exhibit. Located in the show’s Concrete Surfaces Decorative Pavilion, this special outdoor interactive exhibit focused on the functionality and aesthetics in concrete. An evergrowing presence at World of Concrete, concrete polishing continues to attract existing industry

contractors who want to get involved in this area. Andy Bowman, CSDA Polishing Committee Chair and lead polishing instructor, gave a presentation during the event and talked about some of the association’s polishing resources, including Standard CSDA-ST-115 Measuring Concrete Micro Surface Texture.

CSDA/OSHA Alliance As part of its ongoing Alliance partnership with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), CSDA shared its booth space with the Administration for the eighth consecutive year. The aim of the Alliance is to raise awareness of work-related hazards and encourage the implementation of safety procedures and programs. Since its inception, the CSDA/OSHA Alliance has created 10 documents to enhance worker safety in the industry. All documents, including some Spanish translations, can be downloaded for free via www.csda.org. Click on the OSHA Alliance option under Safety.

The 41st World of Concrete will be held February 3-6, 2015 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It is hoped the show will continue to serve as a great resource for the concrete cutting, polishing and imaging

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industry. It remains the industry event for companies to showcase their most innovative products and services. As always, free attendee registration will be available through CSDA later in the year. Look for details in our September issue.

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CSDA Contractors Honored at WOC Ceremony

World of Concrete 2014 was the perfect

venue to showcase some of the most innovative and successful projects completed by CSDA members in the past year.

The association hosted the first Concrete Openings Awards Ceremony at the Las Vegas trade show. World of Concrete attendees and members of the industry press joined the winning contractors at the ceremony to celebrate their achievements.

The Concrete Openings Awards Program showcases the best job stories covered in CSDA’s official magazine each year and recognizes the contractors who did the work. Sixteen job stories were split into four categories and put before a panel of judges.

The panel scored each job based on its pre-planning, use of

innovation, degree of difficulty and quality requirements.

The project with the highest score in each category was declared the winner.

“World of Concrete brings together the best the concrete industry has to offer, so it is a fitting place for an awards ceremony that highlights the ‘cream of the crop’ of cutting, polishing and imaging jobs,” says CSDA Executive Director Patrick O’Brien. “Our members are specialists in their field who recommend the best techniques and equipment for a particular job and perform the work. The innovation and problem-solving skills displayed by these Concrete Openings Award winners are deserving of recognition at an international event like World of Concrete.”

And the winners are...

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Joe Bland of ABC Cutting Contractors—South Florida (center), with Tim Beckman (left) and Joe Shebesta (right) of Cutting Edge Services Corp.

Company Name: ABC Concrete Cutting, Inc.–South Florida (Pompano Beach)

Cutting Edge Services Corporation (Batavia, Ohio) Category: Industrial Renovation The two CSDA contractors involved in this project entered into a joint venture to help remove a damaged shipping pier in the Bahamas. The structure had sunk several feet below the surface after being hit by a large tanker before being damaged further by a hurricane. The pier owners were losing millions of dollars while it was out of commission, so they needed a solution fast. Combing their expertise, the contractors helped the owners to remove the damaged sections quickly and efficiently using underwater wire sawing techniques. Diamond wire was set up to cut parts of the steel structure 30 feet below the surface.

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Mark DeSchepper of Construction Solutions

Company Name: Constructions Solutions, LLC (Paola, Kansas) Category: Infrastructure Renovation The Army Corps of Engineers needed to assess the deterioration, corrosion and delamination of a 1,000-foot-long concrete bridge that runs over the Tuttle Creek Dam in Manhattan, Kansas. A specialist CSDA contractor was hired to scan the entire bridge with Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) equipment. The data collected formed the basis of the Corps’ bridge repair contract documentation.

Construction Solutions moved back and forth 13 times across the length of the bridge at 2-foot intervals, covering 13,000 feet. The data collected by the GPR equipment created a map of the entire bridge, highlighting areas where the concrete was in poor condition. The contractor then used a core drill rig to cut and remove concrete core samples and verify the GPR data collected was correct.

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Tim Miller of Miller’s Pro-Cut

Matt Gehman of MMG Industrial

Company Name: Miller’s Pro-Cut (Grandview, Missouri) Category: Roads, Bridges & Airports

Company Name: MMG Industrial (Buffalo, New York) Category: Building Construction

When a railway company discovered a major problem with a 15,000-foot-long stretch of recently poured concrete footing in Edgerton, Kansas, Miller’s Pro-Cut was called in to remove the top 12 inches and allow the footing to be repaired. The footing ran parallel to the rail tracks and was to be used for rail car cranes, so the clock was ticking to make the necessary repairs and keep the project on track.

The contractor fabricated a custom frame that straddled the footing and had two wall saws attached to the sides. This allowed an operator to cut each side of the footing simultaneously without having to stop and adjust wall saw tracks. A concrete slab saw was then used to split the footing into 15-foot sections before an excavator broke off each section. By using two of these custom frames and three operators, the contractor cut 30,000 linear feet of concrete in just 20 days.

This project involved the cutting and removal of a 30-foot-tall, 129-year-old monument in Lowville, New York for restoration. When the hollow zinc monument was found to be in need of strengthening, it was filled with reinforced concrete.

This seemed like a good idea until rain water ran in through cracks in the zinc.

The water froze and expanded between the zinc casts and the concrete filling, damaging the monument.

MMG Industrial used a wire saw to split the monument into sections before using other sawing and drilling techniques to remove the steel-reinforced concrete within them. The job called for precise, low vibration cutting to avoid damaging the monument further. Over 20,000 pounds of concrete was cut and removed from the monument before it was handed over to fellow CSDA member McKay Lodge Conservation Laboratory for restoration work.

These winning projects are just some of the innovative and complex jobs being done by CSDA contractors everyday on jobsites around the U.S. and beyond. The association encourages all concrete cutting, breaking, polishing and imaging members to submit their best job stories for publication in Concrete Openings, and to consider entry to this year’s awards. Look out for more information about the 2014 Concrete Openings Awards in the June issue.

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To read any, or all, of these job stories in full, scan the QR Code or visit www.concreteopenings.com and click on the Concrete Openings Awards banner when it appears.

For more information about the winning projects, the awards or about CSDA, call 727-577-5004 or email rhitchen@concreteopenings.com.

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Fast Track to Success Coring Machine Provides Speed and Efficiency on Railroad Project

Over 23,500 holes were made along the Long Island Rail Road.

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aced with the challenge of creating over 23,500 core holes on one of the busiest rail networks in the U.S., a New Jersey-based contractor came up with an inventive way of doing the work with speed, accuracy and efficiency.

The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) was constructed in 1834 during Andrew Jackson’s Presidency as a quick travel route from Brooklyn to Boston. This historic railroad has stood the test of time and currently holds the title of the second-busiest railway in North America. There are currently 124 stations on the LIRR connected by more than 700 miles of track, helping to transport 335,000 passengers daily. In order to maintain and assure the capability and safety of the LIRR’s infrastructure, a number of routine maintenance projects are in progress.

The contractor created a custom drilling machine dubbed the LIRR Railcar.

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The LIRR Railcar allowed the drilling team to create four core holes at one time.

The LIRR is owned and operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). In early 2013, the MTA expanded the maintenance program with the solicitation of proposals for the LIRR. The primary contract was awarded to Kiewit Infrastructure Co. of Tampa, Florida.

On April 1, 2013, the Eastern District office of Kiewit, based in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey,

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subcontracted local CSDA member Atlantic Concrete Cutting, Inc. of Mount Holly to core drill thousands of anchor holes in the concrete rail bed. The holes were needed to house new direct fixation fasteners and further secure the track to the bed.

For this cutting contractor, the specified size and quantity of the holes were well

within its capabilities. However, the challenge was to create the holes to strict tolerances associated with their location, diameter and depth—all within a tight time frame. Atlantic’s scope of work included diamond core drilling 23,680 holes in the concrete rail bed that had to measure 1.75 inches in diameter and 5 to 5.5 inches deep. The holes had to be precisely

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drilled for the replacement of direct fixation fasteners and were to receive new track anchor bolts. Atlantic Concrete Cutting was given a 16-week window to complete the work.

Because of the tight deadlines, a creative solution was needed to increase productivity and successfully complete the project on time.

It came in the way of a new piece of innovative

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C A S E S

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF CSDA

Subscribe Today—It’s Free!

If you do not currently subscribe to Concrete Openings, scan the QR Code with your smartphone or visit www.concreteopenings.com to sign up.

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866-688-1032 DIAMOND TOOLS & EQUIPMENT

DIAMOND TOOLS & EQUIPMENT

1250 NW Main Lees Summit, MO 64086 866-688-1032 877-220-4777 (fax) www.DITEQ.com

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equipment. After many hours of design, manufacturing and testing in conjunction with Joe Gerdelmann of Gerdelmann & Son’s Welding, Atlantic Concrete Cutting’s custom LIRR Railcar was ready for the track.

The LIRR Railcar housed four, six-speed Cardi core drills supplied by K2 Diamond outfitted with 10-horsepower motors supplied

by Hertz Engineering. The contractor was able to drill four holes simultaneously in the rail bed at speeds of 3,000 to 3,200 rpm. The custom railroad machine was designed to travel along the track like a regular railcar, but was also fitted with a 400-hertz generator, a hi-cycle water pump, a lateral hydraulic drive and a 1,285-gallon water tank for the drilling work.

A significant contribution to the LIRR Railcar’s design came from Bill Furter, lead mechanic for Atlantic Concrete Cutting.

Commenting on some of the difficulties encountered during the design process, Furter said, “The toughest part was making the holes perfectly perpendicular to the varying track surface. We had to figure out a way to both move the heads laterally and line up the holes precisely. We used a hydraulic drive with an air brake and laser pointer to make it happen.

Under normal testing conditions the cart lived up to expectations and then some, but the most rewarding part was watching it run for the first time on the job.”

The team from Atlantic had to drill 23,680 holes on a two-mile stretch of railroad. Holes were created in groups of four with one hole on each side of the two rails. The LIRR Railcar was used to make a consistent pattern of four 1.75-inch-diameter holes in the reinforced concrete rail bed every 2.5 feet, taking just 90 seconds to drill one set of four holes to depths of around 5 inches. Due to the configuration of the contractor’s new piece of equipment, setup times between drilling locations were drastically reduced and precise positioning was assured.

The LIRR Railcar drilling team from Atlantic was able to remain on schedule throughout the whole project, and all drilling work was completed in nine weeks and within budget.

In addition to the strict time frame and tight tolerances set by the general contractor, the core drilling team had some on-site challenges to overcome. Besides the usual issues of equipment wear, minor mechanical fixes and working in the summer heat, operators had to be quick to react when the drill bits hit hidden steel reinforcement in the concrete. By making periodic adjustments to speed and the type of drill bits used, coring was able to continue as

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It took an average of 90 seconds to create one set of four holes.

Slurry created during the drilling work was controlled by wet vacuums.

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planned. Slurry created during wet cutting was collected by wet vacuums and disposed of safely off-site.

“Everyone involved did an incredible job on this project. The guys took ownership of their work, always pushing both themselves and the equipment to their limits to maximize productivity. In some cases, workers on different shifts competed to see who could be more productive,” said Stu Fishman, Atlantic’s project manager for the LIRR core drilling work. “Our guys gave up weekends and family time to take on this challenge and I applaud them for their productivity, safety record and personal sacrifice,” he added.

Atlantic Concrete Cutting’s core drilling work on the LIRR is yet another example of how skilled and experienced members of CSDA are able to think outside the box to successfully deliver a project. When this contractor was issued a challenge to complete a ‘hole’ lot of coring, the company prepared itself to take the fast track to success.

REVIEW AND COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE AT: WWW.CONCRETEOPENINGS.COM/FORUM.CFM

COMPANY PROFILE Atlantic Concrete Cutting, Inc. has been a CSDA member for 23 years and is based in Mount Holly, New Jersey. Support operations are located in Totowa, New Jersey and Spring City, Pennsylvania.

The company has been in business since 1991 and has 22 operators and 31 trucks, and offers the services of core drilling, wall sawing, wire sawing, flat sawing, curb sawing, sawing and sealing, highway and bridge deck diamond grinding, sawcut grooving, grinding and polishing, selective demolition and ground penetrating radar. Atlantic Concrete Cutting, Inc. is a CSDA Certified Company and a CSDA Certified Operator company with DBE/WBE certifications issued by numerous state agencies and authorities.

RESOURCES General Contractor: Kiewit Infrastructure Co. Sawing and Drilling Contractor: Atlantic Concrete Cutting, Inc. Mount Holly, New Jersey Phone: 609-261-7200 Email: sfishman@atlanticconcretecutting.com Website: www.atlanticconcretecutting.com Methods Used: Core Drilling All 23,680 core holes were completed in just nine weeks.

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THE BUSINESS OF BUSINESS

Where is Your Business Now?

By Vince Westerman

T

o me, the curve on this chart is the arc of a storyline. It is more than just a story about how a business changes over time; it is really a story about how an owner’s attitudes and priorities evolve as the company grows. As a planning advisor, I’ve seen lots of variations on the story—every company has its own unique cast of characters, after all. Still, the fundamental arc of the storyline is remarkably constant. As a company moves along that arc, here is what my experience has taught me about where an owner’s head is at during each stage.

WONDER YEARS “You wonder where you’ll get the money, the employees and the customers to be successful.”

It is actually pretty tough for a planning advisor like me to get face time with owners in this stage; they are usually way too busy trying to keep the trains running. They really do not want to give up any time to meet with someone about planning. These are the guys who, if I can ask them about how they measure success, say something like, “If we can make payroll and pay our bills this month without having to tap our credit cards, it’ll be a successful month.” With what little attention they are willing to spare, I urge them to focus on the basics of planning:

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• QUALITY ADVISORS – Find quality advisors to grow with, including an attorney, CPA, banker and P&C broker.

THUNDER YEARS

• FORMAL BUSINESS AGREEMENTS – Establish a solid Operating Agreement with your partners—or yourself—covering the essentials, including transition of management and/or ownership in the event of death, disability, divorce, departure (friendly / unfriendly) and retirement. Fund a buy-sell obligation between partners to your best ability.

When the owners are no longer wondering if they will be able to make payroll or keep the doors open, they have proven to themselves what they always suspected: “This thing’s got legs!” Now these owners know they have something the market wants, and they keep seeing more opportunities waiting to be captured. When I talk to these guys about their business, they say things like, “My biggest problem is growing fast enough to keep up with demand.” Now that they are profitable, they could take more income from the business, but instead they are far more likely to feel the need to reinvest in people or equipment to fuel growth. When I am across the table with them, I want them to consider:

• HEDGE RISK – Life insurance and disability income insurance can protect your family in case something happens before you have time to make this venture a financial success. Liability coverage can keep your fledgling business from being wiped out if a customer sues you. Health insurance can keep your family from being wiped out from a major medical crisis.

• SET BOUNDARIES – Decide how your personal financial situation will coordinate with your business financials. Do not shortchange your family, but do not let the business become just another family checkbook. What you do now will become habit as you grow the business.

“The company grows rapidly”

• PLANNING – Take care of the planning that should have been done during the Wonder Years but got put off “until things aren’t so crazy.”

• PERSONAL PORTFOLIO – Start building some wealth outside your business. I know you want to deploy capital to keep growing your business quickly, but reallocate at least something to outside investments to mitigate the risk of “over-concentration.”

• KEY EMPLOYEE & NON-ERISA PLANS – Now is the time to reward the talent that stuck with you from the beginning by setting up a low-cost benefit plan, for example a Select Executive Bonus or Sick Pay plan.

The Future of

Concrete Cutting Has Arrived

• QUALIFIED RETIREMENT PLAN – Establish at least a contributory qualified retirement plan for your employees; a QRP will also give you a tax-efficient way to reward employees by making a profitsharing contribution to their accounts.

• INSURANCE AUDITS & REVIEWS – For both personal and business policies, review life and disability insurance to make sure coverage amounts are in line with the growth of the business.

PLUNDER YEARS “Cash flow finally outstrips the needs of the business” One day, a business owner realizes he or she has got more cash in the corporate checking account than they have got plans to spend on hiring or equipment. The first few times it happens, they may just let it sit there, but as the number keeps getting bigger they are eventually going to say to themselves, “I already paid taxes on it; why should I just let it sit in the company doing nothing?” This marks the start of the Plunder Years; and the stakes just got higher for whether their planning is up to snuff. Considerations:

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• YOUR PERSONAL P&L – Things get a little confusing when your family’s disposable income starts growing so quickly. Be careful with your credit line; make sure you know what cash flow you need to maintain both your business and your lifestyle.

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• PERSONAL PORTFOLIO – If you already have a habit of allocating to a personal investment portfolio, it will be easy to increase those allocations in step with increasing revenue. If you do not, develop the habit quickly or you will find it all too easy for that “excess income” to turn into “excess spending.”

• CORPORATE ADVISORY BOARD – As the business continues to grow, so do the opportunities for missteps. Make sure your current advisors are comfortable working with clients at the level you have achieved. Then, consider inviting them to attend board meetings periodically.

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THE BUSINESS OF BUSINESS • BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING – It was always important, but now, more than ever, you need to be serious about having a plan to handle the sudden loss of you or one of your key people due to death or disability. It is not just your own family’s income at stake; it is the families of all your employees as well.

• EXECUTIVE BENEFIT PLANS – One of the best ways to make sure the business continues to thrive in the years ahead is to make sure effective people are around for the long term. Use a Deferred Comp, Stock Incentive, Restricted Bonus or other type of executive carve-out plan to retain your best people and/or recruit new talent.

• BUSINESS SUCCESSION PLANNING – It may be hard to imagine now, when things are really just starting to pop for you, but eventually you are going to want to (or have to) step back from running the business.

Now is the time to think about how that should happen and determine who will be the one(s) to take up the reins, and start the process of getting them ready.

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• PERSONAL/BUSINESS ESTATE DOCUMENTS – The purpose of these documents is to protect your assets from litigation during your lifetime, and from taxation or dissipation after your death.

With your net worth increasing so rapidly, you have to make sure these documents are up-to-date and that they reflect your current circumstances and intentions.

BLUNDER YEARS “Personal commitment to the company wanes and poor decisions are made” All through the previous stages, the relationship between the owner and the clock has been the same: they look at the clock and wonder how they are going to get everything done before they have to leave. But for some guys, there comes a day when, instead, they look at the clock and wonder how they are going to look like they are getting things done until they get to leave. The best case, of course, is that they do not get to this point. Better that they pass the business on to the next generation or sell the business—either to an internal

or an external party. But for some, what I hear is, “I’m ready to retire, but there’s no way my [kid / senior employees] can run this thing,” or, “I’d sell if I could, but no one will pay what I need to get out of it and retire.” Owners like this need to pay attention to these issues: • YOUR PERSONAL P&L ... AGAIN! • GROOMING OF TALENT – Are the right people in the right chairs to run the company without you? Maybe the talent is there but someone is sitting in the wrong chair. Maybe it is you?

• EXIT STRATEGIES – Explore all your potential exit strategies and decide on one that will allow you to sell while the company still has value—sale to key employees, sale to an ESOP, sale to a competitor, sale to a third party, etc. Any exit strategy will take a few years to implement—other than a fire sale or outright liquidation—so the sooner you get started the sooner you will be able to cash out.

The 720-foot-long concrete pontoon needed to be cut in half.

GOING UNDER YEARS “Unless the company is turned around or sold, competitive forces will eventually destroy it” The owner in this stage has likely been in denial for some time, and there is probably nothing I, or anyone else, can say to him or her that will help them escape the inevitable. What they need to do is to face reality, do some honest introspection and decide whether they have got enough fire in their belly to attempt a turn-around, or if they need to wrap up operations as cleanly as possible.

I would tell them the turnaround isn’t impossible ... “Remember, what you built was accomplished with a fraction of the knowledge or relationships you have now.” To have a chance, they’ll need a strong set of advisors to help create and execute a go-forward plan with specific milestones and a mechanism for monitoring progress.

There is no time left for inventing it on the fly.

On the other hand, if their heart just is not in it, the owner and their advisors need to make a plan for unwinding the business as cleanly as possible. They need to consider how the family’s cash flow needs will be met as operations are shut down and assets are sold. They will also want to put in place the legal documents and strategies to protect the family’s personal assets from creditors of the business.

THE TAKE-AWAY Just as you are not obsessed with the same things you obsessed over as a teenager, your business now is not focused on the same things it was when you started. And, just as you have responsibilities now about which you were blissfully ignorant when younger, there are things you should be doing in your business now that wouldn’t have crossed your mind in the early days.

Vince Westerman is the President & CEO of The Westerman Group, LLC, a registered investment advisor company based in Sagamore Hills, Ohio. For over 25 years,

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Concrete Sawing & Drilling Association

Westerman has been helping clients plan financial goals as an investment and wealth manager. He can be reached at 330-467-3111 or vince@thewestermangroup.com.

The Westerman Group, LLC is a Registered Investment Advisor. Securities offered through

Visit us online www.csda.org

MerCap Securities, LLC Member FINRA/ SIPC Office of Supervisory Jurisdiction 40 Darby Road, Paoli, PA, 19301 (877) 784-8021.

The Westerman Group, LLC and MerCap Securities, LLC are not affiliated.

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State of the Union

CSDA Member Cuts Piers for New UT Student Center

A rendering of the new UT Student Union building.

(Courtesy of the University of Tennessee.)

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C O N C R E T E

C A S E S

An old parking structure was demolished to make way for a new student building at the University of Tennessee.

I

n the winter of 2012, the University of Tennessee began a $160-million project to build a new and improved Student Union on campus. Before construction of this new facility could begin, however, 25 reinforced concrete support piers from a recentlydemolished structure had to be cut and removed from the jobsite. In January 2013, a specialty concrete cutter arrived on site to address the state of the union.

The overall project required the demolition of several existing buildings and structures to make way for a new Student Union that will be at least 50 percent larger than the existing University Center. Built in

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1952, the existing center will be renovated and integrated into the new construction. This new building is being constructed to LEED standards and will feature, among other things, a 50,000-square-foot bookstore, a 1,000-seat auditorium and a 12,000-square-foot ballroom for lectures and events. Divided into two phases, the main building is due for completion in 2015 with additional facilities to be completed in 2017.

One of the structures demolished was a parking garage that stood adjacent to the existing University Center. The structure was old, in need of repairs and the land was needed for the new Student Union. Therefore, a combination of heavy excavating equipment and selective demolition

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with diamond tools was specified to bring it down. The ground below the garage was then excavated, exposing 25 concrete piers at foundation level. The old structure was built on these cylindrical piers, each measuring 3-4 feet in diameter. As the structural integrity of these piers was still good below the ground, the plan was to cut them to elevation and reuse them for the new build.

The general contractor for the job, Blount Excavating of Maryville, Tennessee, used breakers to reduce the piers to various heights between 4 and 12 feet, but a smooth cut was necessary for the finished elevations

The contractor made a custom wire saw system to cut the 3 to 4-foot-diameter piers.

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to avoid damaging the foundations. CSDA member Cuts, Inc. of Knoxville, Tennessee was contracted to make these cuts on all 25 locations.

“Blount Excavating needed a precise, non-destructive method of creating a clean and level cut,” said Matt Hephner, owner of Cuts, Inc. “Diamond wire sawing was chosen, as it was ideally suited for this type of application. The piers were round, not square, so this made other demolition methods more difficult and costly. Also, our equipment was cutting close to other remaining structures that had to stay intact.”

The first thing that the team from Cuts, Inc. had to deal with was the weather. Typical conditions for Knoxville in January consist of average daily lows of 30 degrees Fahrenheit and freezing rain. The 270-foot by 160-foot excavation pit was muddy and uneven, with the 25 piers in various locations. Some days the pit was difficult to navigate on foot, let alone drive trucks or other equipment. There was one access point into the pit for workers on foot and small items of equipment, but none for trucks. Because the pit was 40 feet deep and a truck could not be positioned anywhere near the edge, the contractor had to develop a plan that would allow operators to quickly move their cutting equipment out of the way while excavators continued to work around them.

The cutting contractor developed a wire saw system that could be placed on the company’s skid steer as an attachment. After positioning the machine in front of a pier, the operator looped the wire around it and lined up the wire for a pull cut. The skid steer’s hydraulic power provided adequate power to pull the wire as the movement of the skid steer took up the tension.

As the job progressed, Cuts, Inc. modified the tool to improve it, ultimately ending up with three different versions that could push and pull the wire through the 3-4-foot-diameter piers.

The skid steer provided the required mobility and flexibility to move to and from the cutting area with very little setup time, no hydraulic hoses and no electrical cords to worry about.

A 50-foot length of 10.3-millimeter-diameter (0.4-inch) diamond wire was provided by Husqvarna Construction Products and the skid steer was a Bobcat T-190. The wire sawing attachment was designed and built by Matthew J. and Matthew C. Hephner of Cuts, Inc. To avoid any collisions with excavation traffic, a spotter was present at all times to assist the skid steer operator. The risk of accidents or injuries occurring from a break in the diamond wire was reduced by keeping people a safe distance from the cutting area.

Despite several delays because of inclement weather conditions—including instances where the general contractor’s excavators had to pull the skid steer free from the mud in rainy conditions—and having to yield to excavation

C O N C R E T E

C A S E S

“The piers were round, not square, so this made other demolition methods more difficult and costly.

Also, our equipment was cutting close to other remaining structures that had to stay intact.”

—MATT HEPHNER, OWNER OF CUTS, INC.

The modified skid steer cut 25 concrete support piers in five days.

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C O N C RET E O P EN I N G S | 3 3

traffic, the cutting team was able to wire saw all 25 steel reinforced concrete support piers in five work days. The contractor found large time savings in setup and mobilization due to this innovative design, which would have taken at least twice as long with more conventional sawing methods. By successfully completing this job, Cuts, Inc. was awarded additional work by the general contractor at other locations.

“We were very satisfied with the results, especially the speed!” said Hephner. “The opportunity to build and modify equipment to help us complete jobs with unique challenges is always welcomed. The system we fabricated for this project has since proven to be useful on other projects,” he added.

Len Smith, project manager for Blount Excavating, was also pleased with the team from Cuts, Inc., “We looked long and hard for options to cut the support piers and keep the work on schedule. Matt and his guys did very well and the piece of equipment he fabricated was a great help. I am very happy with how things went.”

All cut sections were removed from the 40-foot-deep excavation pit by crane.

REVIEW AND COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE AT: WWW.CONCRETEOPENINGS.COM/FORUM.CFM

COMPANY PROFILE Based in Knoxville, Tennessee, Cuts, Inc. has been a CSDA member for two years. The company has been in business for ten years and offers the services of flat sawing, core drilling, wall sawing, wire sawing, hand sawing, grinding and floor preparation, robotic demolition and excavation. Cuts, Inc. has 12 employees, seven trucks and services Tennessee, North Carolina and all other states in the southeastern U.S.

RESOURCES General Contractor: Blount Excavating Sawing and Drilling Contractor: Cuts, Inc. Knoxville, Tennessee Phone: 865-922-0800 Email: matt@cutsinc.org Website: www.cutsinc.org Methods Used: Wire Sawing The 270- by 160-foot area will house part of the new $160-million facility.

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The Husqvarna WS 482 HF wall saw boasts more power, a larger blade capacity (63") and the best powerto-weight ratio on the market. The saw features a powerful, water-cooled electric motor, which generates an impressive 25 hp to the bladeshaft. Its two-speed gearbox delivers a wide RPM range to handle blades at their optimal performance level. In addition to its powerful motor, the saw is operated by radio remote control.

This allows total control of the sawing process and freedom to move around the workplace. Power and control enable the WS 482 HF to handle many different applications.

17400 West 119th Street • Olathe, Kansas 66061 • T 800-288-5040 • F 800-825-0028 • www.husqvarnacp.com 2077 Bond Street • North Bay, Ontario P1B 4V6 • T 800-461-9589 • F 800-825-0028 • www.husqvarnacp.ca Copyright © 2014 Husqvarna AB (publ.). All rights reserved. Husqvarna is a registered trademark of Husqvarna AB (publ.).

SAFETY COUNTS

CSDA Working to Repel OSHA’s Proposed Silica Rule

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n September 12, 2013, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that the notice of proposed rulemaking for respirable crystalline silica had been published in the Federal Register. OSHA invited the public to participate in the process of developing a final rule through written comments and participation in public hearings.

OVERVIEW OF THE PROPOSED RULE The proposed standard for construction includes provisions for employers to: • Measure the amount of silica that workers are exposed to if it may be at or above an action level of 25 μg/m3 (micrograms of silica per cubic meter of air), averaged over an eight-hour day • Protect workers from respirable crystalline silica exposures above the Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) of 50 μg/m3, averaged over an eight-hour day • Limit workers’ access to areas where they could be exposed to amounts above the PEL • Use dust controls to protect workers from silica exposures to amounts above the PEL • Provide respirators to workers when dust controls cannot limit exposures to the PEL • Offer medical exams—including chest X-rays and lung function tests—every three years for workers exposed to amounts above the PEL for 30 or more days per year • Train workers on work operations that result in silica exposure and ways to limit exposure • Keep records of workers’ silica exposure and medical exams Basically, the proposed rule would halve the current PEL from 100 µg/m3 to 50 µg/m3 and implement an action level of 25 µg/m3. To meet these levels, a burden of laborious, costly and overly-complicated procedures will be placed on business owners.

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According to OSHA, about 1.85 million workers are currently exposed to respirable crystalline silica in construction workplaces and over 640,000 of these workers are estimated to be exposed to silica levels that exceed the current proposed PEL of 100 μg/m3. It is claimed the proposed rule will save over 560 lives in the construction industry and prevent about 1,080 cases of silicosis among construction workers each year.

However, historical data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) show that in 1968, silica was a contributing factor in just under 1,200 deaths nationwide. By 1999, the number had dropped to less than 200. Most recently, figures released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that there were just 102 deaths in the construction industry during 2012 as a result of “exposure to harmful substances or environments.” As this category includes many types of harmful substances and environments, not just silica, it is reasonable to suggest that only a fraction of this number can be attributed to silicosis. It seems strange that OSHA would want to push for new exposure limits when the number of deaths attributable to silica have dropped so dramatically. Furthermore, the industry has developed its own standards and regulations to protect construction workers, no doubt contributing to this dramatic decrease in silica-related deaths.

Obviously, it would be a great achievement if the number of annual silica-related deaths could be reduced to zero, but the proposed rule put forth by OSHA is not a feasible way for the industry to meet this goal. The fear is that this number could be achieved, but at the expense

of tens of thousands of contractors going out of business because of the overly-burdensome processes and costs associated with implementing the rule.

PREVIOUS RESPONSES TO PROPOSED OSHA RULES It was almost 10 years ago that OSHA first proposed new regulations on respirable silica, aiming to reduce the PEL. The proposal was largely based on OSHA’s experience in the manufacturing sector, but showed a lack of understanding regarding the construction industry. Cutting contractors can be on 3-5 different jobsites in one day—quite different from a manufacturing plant that operates with consistent processes at a fixed location.

Back then, the proposed standard required construction companies to initiate many new procedures. An industrial hygienist would have been required to provide sampling services on each jobsite. The contractor would have had to designate a “competent person” to identify and evaluate silica exposure hazards and establish

a regulated workspace, perimeter and constantly monitor the quality of the air. Respirators and Tyvek clothing would have had to have been made available to workers as well as anyone entering the jobsite, including trades working in adjacent areas. In addition, medical screening and exam costs for employees would have skyrocketed.

These changes would have severely impacted the ability of cutting contractors to earn their living, so CSDA took action. The CSDA Vice-President at the time, Susan Hollingsworth, calculated that the proposed standard would cost her company of 21 operators upwards of $3 million—a far cry from OSHA’s estimate of up to $12,000 per small business. Susan and the CSDA Safety Committee developed a simple chart that operators could use on the jobsite to determine if respiratory protection was needed and, if so, what type of protection was recommended.

NIOSH was invited to attend CSDA training classes at St. Petersburg College in Florida, and recognized that the use of water during cutting operations produced very little silica exposure problems for contractors in the industry. The chart has simplified procedures and helped to protect workers at the same time.

The CSDA Silica Data Analysis Chart is based on extremely thorough data collection from member jobsites and from NIOSH, and has been used by the membership since 2005.

It is available to anyone in the industry via CSDA. Call 727-577-5004 or email info@csda.org for a copy.

CSDA POSITION NOW In response to the latest proposed rule, CSDA has formed a Silica Sub-Committee to review the contents and has provided a response to OSHA based on how the rule will affect the concrete sawing, drilling and polishing industry.

Kellie Vazquez of CSDA member Holes Incorporated in Houston, Texas—a Board member, former Safety Committee chair and daughter of Susan Hollingsworth—was nominated to lead the group.

“It is generally agreed that exceptional jobsite safety and health practices are inherently good for business. However, OSHA’s proposed silica rule is potentially the most far-reaching regulatory initiative the Administration has ever proposed for the construction industry,” says Vazquez. “Silica is found in various building materials and can easily be disturbed by a number of tasks on a typical jobsite. The proposed rule uses an overly-complicated structure to control crystalline silica in a construction environment. It is hoped that we can help the Administration under-

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stand that this material cannot be completely separated out of daily tasks or totally avoided on the jobsite.”

While it is appreciated that OSHA has now attempted to recognize the unique nature of specialty contractors in the construction industry through its proposed rule, it ultimately would be unworkable for many concrete cutters and polishers to implement. Under the “engineering and work practice control methods” section of the rule, OSHA states there must be “no visible dust” emitted from a process after the introduction of engineering control methods.

Even through the use of wet cutting methods or engineering controls, rarely—if ever—will there be no visible dust emitted from cutting activities. Therefore, it would be nearimpossible for contractors to reach compliance on many jobsites. It is generally accepted that the collection of measurements for a PEL of 50µg/m3 cannot be accurately achieved, so how would a PEL action level of 25 µg/m3 be accurately measured and enforced? How can a rule be imposed if the technology to accurately measure at these levels does not exist?

As the CSDA Silica Sub-Committee has been planning its response to the latest proposal, so too have other trade associations with members that would be adversely affected by it. To provide a stronger, more unified response to OSHA, CSDA and 23 other associations have joined forces to form the Construction Industry Safety Coalition (CISC). This new Coalition has hired legal representation to help state its case to the U.S. Department of Labor.

An initial deadline of December 11, 2013 was set for the submission of written comments on the proposed rule, but in response to letters from several parties (including CSDA) requesting that more time be given to thoroughly review and provide a detailed response to the rule, the deadline was extended to January 27, 2014.

It is the hope of CSDA and the Coalition that OSHA will withdraw its burdensome proposal. It must instead demonstrate a rule that is realistically attainable and necessary for the industry. OSHA is encouraged to work with the construction industry to ensure that there is a continued reduction in silicosis-related illnesses and fatalities. However, this reduction must continue without bringing many small businesses to their knees, or worse, trying to meet unnecessary levels of regulation.

Hearings on the proposed silica rule are scheduled to begin on March 18, 2014 at the Department of Labor in Washington, DC. For more information about OSHA’s proposed rule, or about CSDA’s continuing efforts to represent and protect the industry, call 727-577-5004 or email info@csda.org.

The Construction Industry Safety Coalition CSDA joined the CISC to provide a unified voice from the construction industry on OSHA’s Proposed Rule on Occupational Exposure to Crystalline Silica. CISC is comprised of 24 trade associations representing virtually every aspect of the construction industry.

CSDA was responsible for a good number of these associations joining CISC through its involvement with another industry group called the Concrete and Masonry Related Associations (CAMRA).

The members of the CISC are as follows: • Road and Transportation Builders Association • American Society of Concrete Contractors • American Subcontractors Association • Associated Builders and Contractors • Associated General Contractors • Association of the Wall and Ceiling Industry • Building Stone Institute • Concrete Sawing & Drilling Association • Construction & Demolition Recycling Association • Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute • International Council of Employers of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers • Leading Builders of America • Marble Institute of America • Mason Contractors Association of America • Mechanical Contractors Association of America • National Association of Home Builders • National Association of the Remodeling Industry • National Demolition Association • National Electrical Contractors Association • National Roofing Contractors Association • National Utility Contractors Association • Natural Stone Council • The Association of Union Constructors • Tile Roofing Institute For more information about the CISC, call 727-577-5004 or email info@csda.org.

A copy of the proposed rule can be viewed via www.osha.gov/silica.

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TECH TALK Tech Talk is a regular feature of Concrete Openings magazine, focusing on equipment, maintenance and technical issues of interest to concrete cutting, polishing and imaging contractors. Readers wishing to have a particular subject addressed can call or email CSDA with their suggestions at 727-577-5004 or rhitchen@concreteopenings.com.

Technology: Our Greatest Advantage and Biggest Challenge

By Cliff Bailey

B

igger. Better. Faster. Stronger.

Easier. More reliable. These adjectives and more describe what we have been striving for since the first time a diamond blade cut the first piece of concrete. The desire to evolve different techniques, to improve processes and find the best way to get something done is human nature.

To be able to accomplish objectives in the concrete cutting and demolition industry, the right equipment and power source have to be used. The power source is very important since it is what runs the equipment. If the power source does not perform as expected, the equipment won’t either. The concrete sawing, drilling and polishing industries have used every applicable power source in as many different combinations as possible. It is important to understand how these different types of power sources work, what the benefits are and what disadvantages they have. Knowing these key factors help us understand where we have been, what is available today and where technology is going in the future.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION Over the years, engines have been used in every size, shape and horsepower to do the majority of sawing, drilling and polishing work.

Everything from handheld power cutters to large, diesel-powered hydraulics or generators have been run using internal combustion engines. This technology has served the industry well, but it has come with a cost.

Today, the effects of mass gas and diesel consumption have become increasingly hot topics and the Environmental Protection Agency continues to refine standards associated with fuel economy and clean air requirements. This has challenged manufacturers to alter their engines to meet the new standards and requirements.

The 20:1 two-cycle, handheld power cutters and the air-cooled, four-cylinder engines were tough and durable, but at what cost to the environment? For those who grew

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up working on cars and dirt bikes, there are no doubt fond memories of this “old school” non-technology. Nowadays, it has become more like a recurring nightmare for some. While these machines were easy to work on, it was not unusual for would-be mechanics to work on them all the time. These old technologies just do not compare to the new, clean air power cutters and the Tier 3 (soon to be Tier 4) diesel engines.

HYDRAULICS Hydraulic systems have been one of the most dependable, flexible and adaptable forms of power delivery. They are used in everything from the largest earth moving (concrete breaking) equipment to the smallest handheld saws and everything in-between. Hydraulic equipment has a very high degree of dependability and power delivery, with relatively low maintenance. Of course, all hydraulic systems are driven by some type of internal combustion engine or electric motor. They are sized by the amount of horsepower the hydraulic system is designed to deliver, plus another 10 to 20

percent that it takes to run the hydraulic pump, motors and push the oil—at potentially high flows and high pressures. This is all before it is hooked up to a machine to work. Perhaps the only “Achilles’ heel” of hydraulics, is its vulnerability to contamination in the system. The smallest amount of contamination in the oil can cause severe damage to the components. And with the frequent use of quick couplers on the tools and hoses, this can be an issue.

Hydraulics have not seen too much in the way of new technology, except that the control units that run the systems have become much more technical. A good example is demolition robots. Manufacturers use Programmable Logic Control (PLC) and Bluetooth communication in the controls of the machine, but still use the same standard components in the machine itself, such as pressure compensated variable displacement piston pumps and positive displacement gear pumps with magnetic proportioning valves. These are time-tested components—very dependable and widely used in other industries as well as the concrete cutting industry.

ELECTRONICS The fastest-growing and most innovative part of the concrete cutting and demolition industry is electronics. It is no secret that new technology in electronics has had the greatest impact in people’s daily lives as well. Today, electric tools of every size and power requirement can be found in a concrete cutting truck— rotary hammers, wet vacuums, core drills, electric flat saws and generators matched to every power need.

Electronic motors are becoming more common in wall saws and wire saws. This product category has seen the greatest growth in recent years. Advances and improvements with inverters and the control systems that run them have made this growth possible. Inverters are used to change the frequency of the alternating current and the voltage supplied to the motor. What this means to the concrete cutting or polishing contractor, is smaller, lighter and more ergonomically-designed power sources and equipment. Some describe the technology as “pure magic,” but when time is taken to break down the finer details of this technology, everyone can understand the advantages of these systems and why they are the future of the industry.

Electricity can easily be compared to flowing water and has many of the same characteristics. Imagine a river with a water wheel.

Upstream from the wheel is a dam with a lake downstream from it. When the dam is opened, the current turns the wheel and provides power for turning objects (like very large generators in modern dams or a water wheel like the one used in 1689 for musket manufacturing in the original Husqvarna factory) and the water flows into the lake as spent energy.

When Direct Current (DC) electricity is observed through an oscilloscope, it looks and acts the same as the water in the river. The positive (+) side of the current flows flat and consistent from the power supply (battery) to the work (motor) and returns on the negative (–) side, very smooth and powerful. One inherent problem with DC power is that it requires a large stranded wire to carry it any distance. This is because DC power only travels on the outside surface of a strand of wire, so several strands are needed to carry the power. DC motors need high amperes to function. This will be covered later in the article.

Alternating current (AC) looks very different on an oscilloscope than DC. A wavy line can be seen going up and down an equal distance from the center. At the top and bottom of each wave, the power latterly shuts off and changes polarity from positive (+) to negative (–) and back again. The “frequency” of changes

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is counted in one second intervals. This is the Hertz (Hz) or frequency. In the U.S., when something is plugged into the main electrical supply of a house the power is running at 60 cycles per second (60Hz). In Europe and other parts of the world, it is 50Hz. This has nothing to do with voltage or amperes, only the number of cycles per second.

Again, think of the river of water. Now it has lots of curves in it and the water has to change directions many times before the energy from its current can be used. A physically larger wheel (motor) is needed to harness the maximum amount of power from the AC power compared to the DC power. One of the advantages of AC power is that it can be carried a much further distance, because AC power travels through the whole wire and not just the outer perimeter. This is where inverters come in to play.

Inverters take the 50 or 60Hz input power and rectify it, changing the AC power to DC power. The inverter “chops up” the power anywhere from 0 to 1,500Hz depending on the motor RPMs needed for the desired power output. It is like changing the wavy AC line to look flat like the DC line. The flatter it gets, the faster the motor goes. For example, a conventional 480 volt, 3-phase motor running on 50Hz will spin at 1,500 RPMs, but at 60Hz it will spin at 1,725 RPMs and at 1,500Hz the motor will spin at 15,000 RPMs. All this motor speed is converted into horsepower in a much smaller package. This is very different than previous hi-cycle systems.

Hi-cycle (400 Hz) equipment has made a great contribution to the industry. It was adapted from military applications, mostly from aircraft. The 208 volt, 3-phase, 400 Hz generators were fitted to internal combustion engines. The larger motors were modified with water-jacketed housings to dissipate the heat generated by these hot rod motors. The difficulties came from trying to control the speed, soft start, amperes draw and overload protection of the motors. The power was generated and was set to what the generator was wired for.

The hertz could be controlled to some degree by changing the engine RPMs, but this could adversely affect the voltage on the earlier units that did not have electronic voltage regulators.

The 208 volt units ran at much higher amperes.

In the simplest terms, the higher the voltage, the lower the amperes and vice versa—lower voltage draws higher amperes.

For those who have ever welded, there is a correlation between amps and heat. Heat is not a great friend of anything electrical and can cause damage to electrical components. Amps are directly related to power used. When an

operator is bearing down on a piece of steel, they are pulling maximum amps and generating maximum heat! Any weak component—plugs, wires or motors—will burn up. This is true with any and all electric tools. What does this have to do with inverters? Inverters can raise the voltage to help keep the amps down, helping to minimize the heat in the motor and other components. This is not to say the components will not get hot—they will. However, the use of inverters and water cooling systems help keep the heat under control.

High frequency enables a lot of power to be produced in a smaller unit. Equipment that uses high frequency power is smaller, lighter and more ergonomically-designed. This helps facilitate moving equipment in and out, up and down, saving time with setup and teardown. It allows an operator to be more productive with less physical strain, ultimately helping he or she to work more safely. High frequency tools can meet the needs of many jobsite challenges, with a high degree of dependability, production, safety and user-friendly operation. This technology is now being applied to other handheld tools and smaller wall saws as the technology becomes more widely accepted. The greatest challenge for the concrete sawing, drilling and polishing industry is to train contractors and help them learn how to operate and maintain this new technology. Some operators may say, “We are cutting concrete, why do we need all this technology?” The answer is that traditional air-cooled, four-cylinder systems are being left behind for better alternatives. The question for contractors is, will they allow themselves to be left behind too?

As in all aspects of life, change is inevitable. In the sawing and drilling industry, engines and power sources have been adapted and innovatively redesigned to match a changing environment. It is unclear what may power the industry in the distant future, but right now the future looks bright thanks to this latest wave of technology.

Cliff Bailey is a technical specialist for Husqvarna Construction Products, based in Olathe, Kansas.

He has over 27 years of experience in the concrete cutting industry, having worked as a fabricator, mechanic, shop manager and outside sales rep, among other roles. Bailey conducts demonstrations and provides training, technical support and repairs for wall saws, wire saws and the company’s line of demolition robots.

He can be reached at 214-918-9983 or cliff.bailey@husqvarnagroup.com.

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ELEVATED

Status

Diamond Wire Cuts Motors Free for Upgrade

The job was to cut six 2-ton elevator motors in half for removal.

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Operators set up a wire saw to cut through the metal cross section of each motor.

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he versatility of diamond wire means that contractors can cut an infinite number of objects—big or small—and not just in concrete. When a cutting contractor was asked to provide a solution for the removal of six, 2-ton metal elevator motors from one of the tallest buildings in Auckland, New Zealand, wire sawing was the obvious choice.

The building’s motor room was on the 41st floor.

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ANZ Centre stands 143 meters (469.2 feet) tall, has 35 levels of office space and has over 33,000 square meters (355,209 square feet) of floor space. It was the tallest building in New Zealand from 1991-1999, and remains one of the tallest buildings in Auckland. The building recently had a series of renovations completed, including the refurbishment of over 22,000 square meters (236,806 square feet) of office space, the instal-

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The 1.2-meter-diameter (3.9-foot) motors were positioned on a wooden prop and cut with a 4-meter (13.1-foot) length of diamond wire.

lation of a new fully-glazed entry pavilion and a refurbished ground floor lobby. Also, the existing public plaza at entrance of the buillding is being enlarged.

As part of the renovation works, the outdated electric elevator motors in the building were to be upgraded to new electric ones that were lighter and more energy efficient. In order to install the new elevator motors, the six existing motors had to be removed from a motor room on the 41st floor of the building.

The only way out of the building for each of the 2-ton motors was via the elevators, which presented a problem because the elevators had 1-ton weight limits. The old motors were now obsolete and could not be reused, so the general contractor for the project, Kone

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Elevators Ltd., began looking for ways to cut or break them for removal.

Kone Elevators and the customer made attempts to cut and break the motors, but their chosen methods had either proved unsuccessful or inefficient. It was at this point that CSDA member A1 Kiwi Cutters & Drillers Ltd. of Auckland was contacted about the job.

“Wire sawing was considered the most effective method because it provided a clean cut with minimum noise,” said Mark Simons, project manager for A1 Kiwi Cutters & Drillers Ltd. “ANZ Centre is an occupied office block, meaning our work could be completed during normal working hours providing we kept our work as quiet as possible.”

Each motor measured 1.6 meters long (5.3 feet) and was 1.2 meters (3.9 feet) in diameter at the specified cutting point. The shape and diameter of the objects had made them difficult to cut with other methods. In addition, the motors contained different metals like steel and copper with varying hardness levels. Simons and two operators from A1 Kiwi Cutters & Drillers Ltd. visited the building to inspect the motor room and discuss what preparations were required for the job. The proper planning of this cutting job ensured success for the contractor.

Cutting metal with diamond tools requires a different approach than cutting concrete.

Typically, metal cutting is done at slower

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speeds and with less pressure applied—often half the amounts used for concrete cutting— but this can vary depending on the type of metal and the configuration of the cut. This is because cutting metal increases the amount of friction on the diamond tool and, therefore, increases heat buildup in the cut. This can dull or break diamond segments, bits or beads much faster than when sawing or drilling concrete. Contractors will sometimes apply air as well as water to cool the tools while cutting.

For this task, heavy-duty plastic sheeting and wood was used to erect a pool-like structure to contain and manage slurry and debris created by the wire sawing work. The contractor then set up wooden props in the slurry collection pool to hold each motor in place, before a small crane was used to position the motors on the props for cutting.

A WS20 wire saw from Hilti was brought to the jobsite and two operators set up the pull cut to saw each motor in half. Space in the motor room was tight, so the positioning of the motor, saw and control unit was crucial to avoid accidents or injuries in the event of a break in the wire. The operators were fitted with all appropriate items of personal protective equipment for the work.

The cutting contractor used a 4-meter (13.1-foot) length of diamond wire from Hilti to make the cuts. Working closely with the manufacturer, A1 Kiwi Cutters & Drillers Ltd. chose the most suitable wire possible for the application and operators were careful to monitor cutting speed as the wire hit different metals

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Each motor took between six and seven hours to cut.

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Cut sections met the 1-ton weight restrictions of the elevators and were removed from the building. in the cut. Each motor was secured on the wooden props in turn and the cross-sectional cut took between six and seven hours per motor. All twelve cut pieces were moved to the elevators and individually taken down to the ground floor for transportation to a metal recycler. Wet vacuums were used to collect slurry and all waste material was removed from the building for safe disposal.

“We have built a good reputation for employing reliable and professional operators, who have strong problem-solving abilities. When combined with modern equipment and technology, we have the opportunity to tackle unique and difficult jobs like this one,” concluded Simons.

In total, A1 Kiwi Cutters & Drillers Ltd. cut and helped remove 12 tons of material from the 41st floor of the ANZ Centre over an eight-day period, which included all setup and cleanup work. The job was done on time, within budget and—most importantly—without disturbing office workers in the building. This has led to the cutting contractor being awarded more work from Kone Elevators.

REVIEW AND COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE AT: WWW.CONCRETEOPENINGS.COM/FORUM.CFM

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COMPANY PROFILE Established in 2005, A1 Kiwi Cutters & Drillers Ltd. is one of the largest concrete cutting companies in Auckland, New Zealand. The company joined CSDA in 2009 and currently has 14 operators and 10 trucks. A1 Kiwi Cutters & Drillers offers the concrete cutting services of slab sawing, core drilling, wall sawing, wire sawing, hand sawing, grinding and ferro scanning.

RESOURCES General Contractor: Kone Elevators Ltd. Sawing and Drilling Contractor: A1 Kiwi Cutters & Drillers Ltd. Auckland, New Zealand Phone: 64-921 430 357 Email: thegirls@kiwicutters.co.nz Website: www.kiwicutters.co.nz Methods Used: Wire Sawing

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SOCIAL MEDIA FOCUS

How Many Times Per Week Should You Be Posting to Facebook and Twitter?

By James Parsons

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hen it comes to social media marketing, many small businesses assume that more information is better. They hire a marketing intern or someone from their marketing team to post to Facebook and Twitter multiple times a day. Unfortunately, these efforts may not be effective. Your business should be using Facebook and Twitter to connect with fans and followers, but posting all day, every day, without a specific strategy, is probably not helping you achieve your marketing goals.

When considering how often to post on Facebook and Twitter, there are a variety of issues you must take into account. Consider the following factors when planning the frequency of posts in your social media marketing campaign:

HOW OFTEN SHOULD I TWEET? Brand awareness and trust is created through the relationships that are formed by using social media outlets such as Twitter. You need to post enough to connect with customers without overwhelming them. Too many posts could be a waste of time and money, while too few posts could mean that you are not creating connections and new customers.

So you are probably wondering exactly how many times per week you should tweet in order to carry out an effective marketing campaign. There is no exact number, but data shows that businesses who tweet around 30-35 times per week experience more success than those who tweet 10-20 times per week. Don’t let these numbers mislead you. There is no evidence that tweeting more than 35 times per week will lead to higher engagement.

In addition to thinking about how often you should tweet, you should also consider when you should tweet. At 5pm each day, Twitter experiences a significant increase in retweets. Retweets mean more exposure for businesses, so you may want to focus some of your energy into this time period. Data also shows that Twitter users click on the most links between 12pm and 6pm. Weekend

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activity is also higher than weekday activity.

Consider all of this information as you plan frequency and timing of your tweets.

HOW OFTEN SHOULD I POST TO FACEBOOK? Posting 3-4 times per week on Facebook seems to be the magic number for most businesses. This will create the most number of “likes” for your page and increase other types of engagement. Surprisingly, posting too much on Facebook can be harmful to your social media marketing goals. Businesses posting on Facebook more than three times or more per day actually have lower engagement rates than businesses posting every other day.

Timing is just as important when posting to Facebook as it is with Twitter. It is quite common for companies to make the mistake of using the same strategy for Twitter as they do for Facebook. Facebook and Twitter are very different social media outlets! While it is common for people to use Twitter in the workplace, Facebook is often blocked. Due to this reason, the majority of Facebook activity happens on week-

ends and evenings. Saturdays have the highest engagement rates.

Of course, these numbers are only guidelines. You will need to experiment and take a careful look at your data in order to determine the frequency and timing of your social media posts. Start by using the guidelines above and measuring your results. There are a few different ways to measure the success of your posts.

For Facebook, you can use your page’s “Insights” in order to monitor engagement, post reach, likes and other valuable data. Look for trends in your data and begin to experiment with the frequency of your posts. If you find that engagement is higher when you post just two times a week, then go ahead and adjust your strategy. Each audience is different, so you may be surprised what works.

You can also track the success of your tweets using Twitter’s Analytics tool. You can find this tool in the Twitter Ads section of your account settings. This tool allows you to check statistics such as retweets, favorites, replies and click-throughs. You are also able to see

helpful demographic information about your followers.

It is free to use Facebook and Twitter’s data tools, but these tools may not meet your needs as your company grows. If you find yourself in need of more specific data, there are plenty of third party tools to meet your needs.

While it is wise to try the free tools first, you may want to utilize third party analytics tools as your marketing goals expand.

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OTHER FACTORS TO KEEP IN MIND LIFESPAN VERSUS VALUE—Facebook and Twitter posts have a short lifespan by design. These posts do not last long, nor are they are meant to. Do not make the mistake of treating a social media post like a blog article.

Depending on how many followers you have, the lifespan of a tweet may be anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. The lifespan of a Facebook post is a little longer at three hours.

Think about the time it takes your staff to create content for these posts. Of course you need to have quality content, but you also need to create content in a timely manner in order to get value out of each post. In other words, your marketing staff should be thoughtful and strategic in their posts, but they should not be spending hours creating a tweet that only lasts for fifteen minutes.

RELEVANCY AND CURRENCY—Your customers are not looking for cat memes or celebrity gossip when they make the choice to like or follow your business. They believe that you can offer them quality information that is somehow relevant to their lives. Of course, offering a promotion or deal is fine every once in a while, but the majority of your posts should be content that speaks to a need or fulfills an informative purpose.

There are many tools that allow users to schedule Facebook or Twitter posts ahead of time in order to effectively manage their social media marketing campaigns. These tools are very helpful, but they can also lead business owners to post content that may not be relevant or current for followers and fans. Some overzealous business owners find themselves hoarding content and scheduling future posts that are neither timely nor relevant to their followers.

MARKETING GOALS—Before you create a posting schedule for your Facebook and Twitter, you have to understand your marketing goals. Are you just trying to get more followers?

Maybe you are more focused on creating website conversions. You will not be able to measure the effectiveness of your social media campaign if your are not clear about your goals.

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There is no exact science when it comes to the frequency of your social media marketing posts. First, take a look at what works for others. There is a strong possibility this could work for you as well. If you are not seeing the results you want, then it is time to experiment with your weekly posting schedule. Mix and up and see what happens. If you are totally lost, remember the data does not lie. Take a careful look at your analytics and page insights so you can understand what your customers are responding to. Used correctly, Facebook and Twitter can be powerful marketing tools. Make

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sure you follow the tips in this article to create the most effective posting schedule possible.

James Parsons is a blogger, marketer and business development manager at AudienceBloom, a Seattle-based content marketing and social media marketing firm. He is an avid blogger on search engine optimization (SEO), social media and design. Parsons can be reached at james@parsons.me or via his personal blog, www.parsons.me.

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POLISHED PERSPECTIVE

Are You in Control of Your Polishing Process?

By Andy Bowman

S

ome polishing contractors often run operations that are on the edge of control, which means they tolerate production problems that most other industries would not. However, ethics and honesty will, sooner or later, drive these contractor to seek out a better understanding of the polishing process and the materials used throughout.

Have you ever blissfully ignored the possible consequences of a less-than-ideal production method, then acted surprised when the “day of reckoning” came? When a polishing contractor is forced to retrospectively look at his or her mistakes, it often turns out that past problems, which at one time appeared small and unrelated, have combined to cause major headaches.

A production facility cannot be operated on luck. It must be run with an understanding of the materials and processes. Each facet of a production line has a set goal and is like a highway. Remember, for every mile of highway there are two miles of ditch! If you understand and control the processes and materials, then you proceed down that highway in a relatively straight line. If not, you zig-zag more and more until you hit the ditch. Typically, a problem has a dizzying array of contributing factors and the 20/20 vision of hindsight usually testifies to how many things could have been done differently.

When things are going well, it is a joy to turn over the project. But when a problem hits, “crisis management mode” kicks in and everyone suddenly becomes very interested in chemistry! There is a much more direct relationship between gloss chemistry and gloss readings than between surface texture and distinction of image (DOI). So if you are having a problem with gloss, then chemistry might be an important factor in solving it properly. If you are having a problem with sustainability,

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then surface texture may be the solution to the ultimate problem that controls all of the above.

How close are you to encountering a problem or product liability that could endanger everything you have worked for? It is not uncommon for smaller contractors to have less than complete control over their processes.

For example: • Often no testing is done on tooling, equipment, hardeners, densifiers and sealers.

• Chemical guard recipes have been formulated and have been put into production on the merits of their visual properties only. For example, an estimated 90% of guards were made by blenders that do not have a proper understanding of mechanical refinement, thus severely compromising the value of a highly refined surface.

• Polishing contractors are often untrained

in technical areas of production. It is very common for people to overestimate their ability to produce both quality and quantity of a processed finish.

Contractors that teeter on the edge of control are ill-equipped to deal with unexpected problems, and are often unable to diagnose the true cause of any issues. Many tend to be stuck in an, “I’ve always done it this way and it worked before,” way of thinking.

Some think that all contractors in the polished concrete industry are similar, but they are not. Some manufacturers and suppliers in the polishing industry think they have a level playing field and believe they have worked out the problems, so that people without a decent amount of concrete knowledge can be successful at polishing concrete. In reality, the only constant in this industry is that everyone has different results. Let us not forget that we

POLISHED PERSPECTIVE are all working with a less-than-perfect canvas and we all have a different interpretation of artistic impression.

INCREASE YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR MATERIALS AND PROCESSES If you can answer the following questions, you will be in a better position to solve problems related to each one.

• Where does my gloss come from?

• Is my processed/polished surface strengthened or weakened by my guard or sealer?

• What is the porosity of my concrete substrate? What happens when I apply densifiers at higher and lower application rates? What do I know about water column testing?

• Are my guard systems maintainable?

Do I know why?

• Am I using the right grout filler? Have I qualified the substrate for the proper grouting system?

• Am I using quality materials or cutting corners by using less expensive, inconsistent tools?

• Do I have a good relationship with my manufacturers and suppliers? Do I call them at the first sign of trouble or struggle until things are out of control? Do my suppliers have a level of support that meets my expectations?

A CHANGE IN THINKING You might feel that doing things one way has always worked, but did it really? Maybe your polishing process has been deficient in a certain way all along and you have not noticed. Maybe your way of doing things does

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not “scale up” well and the only thing that has kept you from falling off the edge was luck.

Concrete polishing is a very complex industry.

No one person can know it all. Be ready to accept suggestions. More importantly, understand the reasoning behind these suggestions so that you truly know why you should do things those ways.

DO NOT BITE OFF MORE THAN YOU CAN CHEW We have all had to “eat crow” after being unable to make finishes we promised a customer, because our way of doing things just did not work with that particular slab of concrete or in certain conditions. Never commit to doing a type of process unless you have actually done it already and done it over a period of time. Moving to another project with a 2 to 3 point differential of hardness, for example, is a really big deal. Do not underestimate it.

RECOGNIZE YOUR RESPONSIBILITY Be very cautious about making claims and statements that set parameters around sustainability. Your customer will remember everything you said just before you cashed the check. No matter what anyone says, an ordinary polished system is just not good enough for facilities that must withstand sudden changes in temperature. You can be open to liability if someone expects the same performance on polished systems that experience thermal shock and changes. Contact your suppliers to get a special product intended for this, but be ready to make some compromises in order to adjust for new performance criteria.

Do not be naive and think that because

your finish is beautiful, you are exempt from concerns of hardness, strength, porosity, leaching, thermal shock resistance, chip resistance and gloss retention. Some of these relate to safety concerns for your customers.

All relate to your reputation and that of the entire polishing community.

Simple tests are within your reach to address these matters and you should become familiar with them. CSDA Standard ST-115 Measuring Concrete Micro Surface Texture is useful tool for everyone in the concrete finishing and polishing industry. It has been created to help polishing contractors validate the tools they select before starting a polishing process. This not only helps to prove the tools chosen were the correct ones for the application, but that they were correctly measured, utilized and recorded in an organized manor. CSDA-ST-115 is available to everyone via www.csda.org. Simply click on the link under Architect/Engineer Resources on the home page of the website. For more information about this Standard, or other polishing resources from CSDA, call 727-5775004 or email info@csda.org.

Andy Bowman is the owner of Adaptive Concrete Innovations based in Rose Bud, Arkansas. He has 14 years experience of concrete polishing, is the chair of the CSDA Polishing Committee and the lead trainer of the association’s Concrete Polishing training class.

Bowman will present at the CSDA Convention and Tech Fair, March 13-15, 2014, and can be reached at 419-408-5906 or by email at abowman@gmiengineeredproducts.com.

CORE HEALTH

Implementing a Pre-Employment Physical Program

By Erin O’Brien

I

n the construction industry, the physical demands of the job and risk of injury are high. Each year, one out of every ten construction workers is accidentally injured on the job. Back injuries are the most common type of injury, at 25 percent, followed by leg, arm and hand injuries.

Even though these injuries are covered by Workers’ Compensation, all owners and managers of a concrete cutting, polishing or imaging company should take every safety precaution possible to avoid on-the-job injuries.

By preventing on-the-job injuries, employers will save their company and employees time and money. Unfortunately, there are occasions when an employee is less than truthful about the extent or cause of an injury. Falsifying a Workers’ Compensation claim is illegal, however, almost every day an employee is convicted of collecting on a fraudulent claim. It is important for companies to protect themselves from this type of fraud.

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One of the most important steps a company can take to prevent fraudulent Workers’ Compensation claims is to administer a Pre-Employment Physical to all employees. A Pre-Employment Physical, or PEP, is a physical health examination that can include a health history, previous illnesses and hospitalizations, current health concerns (frequent headaches, high blood pressure, back/joint pain or “trick” joints) and orthopedic measurements such as strength and range of motion for all muscle groups and joints. The results of this PEP help employers manage future risks, set the foundation for preventative procedures, limit future liability, establish an employee’s medical condition when hired (creating a medical and legal information base) and promote workplace safety. A PEP should be administered to all employees immediately after they are hired, or as soon as the program is implemented by a healthcare professional or

company that specializes in administering workplace PEPs. This program is essential in preventing fraudulent Workers’ Compensation claims.

There can be many reasons why employers choose not to implement a PEP program. These include cost, high employee turnover rate and convenience. The benefits, however, of pre-employment testing far outweigh any of these reasons. Any initial cost incurred would be recovered by discouraging frivolous and fraudulent Workers’ Compensation claims. In addition, by testing employees before they begin work, a company is ensuring that their employees are physically able to perform their job. This can reduce turnover rate, as well as show employees that the company cares about their health and well-being. Finally, immediate

Why Implement a PEP? • Reduces fraudulent Workers’ Compensation claims • Provides a baseline medical profile to reference for

testing of employees is paramount. Even one day on the job provides a new hire with ample opportunity to claim an injury or elaborate on an existing injury or condition. A good example of this comes from CSDA Past President, Doug Walker. While undergoing a routine pre-employment physical, a standard at Atlantic Concrete Cutting, Inc., a new hire was tested for vision. The employee tested with 20/70 vision and was referred to an opthamologist. The results of that evaluation showed the employee had shards of metal in his eye, probably resulting from an incident at a previous job. Because this impairment was caught before he performed any work for Atlantic Concrete Cutting, the company was not at risk for this employee claiming Workers’ Compensation against them, potentially saving the company hundreds to thousands of dollars. Walker states that there have been several cases similar to this one, and had his company not administered these PEPs, the company would have been out thousands of dollars in false Workers’ Compensation claims. Atlantic Concrete Cutting began administering PEPs to their employees in January 2008.

Every company should consider adding this valuable service to their employment process. Implementing a PEP program is an important step in insuring safe employees and safe companies.

medical or legal purposes if required • Uncovers pre-existing conditions so employees can

Erin O’Brien, MS, ATC is a Certified Athletic Trainer and Marketing Director for

be treated or referred appropriately

O’Brien International, the association management company that manages

• Helps control turnover rate • Promotes workplace safety

the Concrete Sawing & Drilling Association. O’Brien received her Bachelor of Science degree in Athletic Training from Ohio University and her Master of Science degree in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology from the University of Florida. She is also a Certified Level 1 CrossFit Instructor and member of CrossFit9 in St. Petersburg, FL. She is a regular contributor to Concrete Openings magazine. She can be reached at erin@csda.org or 727-577-5002.

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OSHA/CSDA Alliance Latest The Alliance between the Concrete Sawing & Drilling Association (CSDA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is now in its eigth year and continues to educate contractors, prevent on-the-job accidents and injuries and provide vital materials to advance a safe work environment for sawing and drilling professionals.

Here is the latest news from the Alliance Program.

NAOSH WEEK 2014 Through OSHA’s Alliance with the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE), OSHA is continuing to work with ASSE to support North American Occupational Safety and Health (NAOSH) Week, May 4-10, 2014. NAOSH Week, an annual campaign led by the ASSE and the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering (CSSE), is aimed at increasing awareness of the importance of occupational safety and health. The theme for the 2014 campaign is “Workplace Safety Works for Everyone.” 2014 marks the tenth year the Alliance Program will be involved with the Week’s activities.

The 2014 NAOSH Week event will be held Wednesday, May 7 at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. This year’s event will feature presentation of the new “Spirit of Alliance” award by ASSE to an OSHA Alliance Program participant that has achieved exceptional results. In addition, Dr. David Michaels, Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health, has been invited to give the keynote address.

For more information about the OSHA/CSDA Alliance program, or to view documents released by this partnership, visit www.csda.org and click on the “OSHA Alliance” link under “Safety” or call 727-577-5004.

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INDUSTRY BITS New Electric Floor Planer from CS Unitec CS Unitec’s Trelawny™ floor planer has been designed for tough surface preparation and material removal applications. The TFP 200 is ideal for the removal of coatings and corrosion from concrete and steel surfaces to prepare for recoating. In addition, this walk-behind planer roughens concrete and produces a keyed or grooved profile on concrete for waterproofing and non-slip surface applications. The TFP 200 has an 8-inch cutting width and maximum 0.125-inch cutting depth per pass.

Depth control enables removal of surface materials without damaging the substrate. Other features include a fully adjustable handlebar, integrated vacuum connection and hold-to-run handle. Three models are available with different motors to meet the needs of the working environment. The 3.5-horsepower air-powered unit, Model 320.2012T, consumes 165 CFM of air at 90 PSI. Model 320.2000T is powered by a 5.5-horsepower Honda GX160 gas motor. The electric-powered Model 320.2004T features a 3-horsepower, 220-240-volt motor.

For more information, call 800-700-5919 or email info@csunitec.com.

Dixie Diamond Introduces The Twister Core Bit Dixie Diamond Manufacturing is pleased to introduce a new diamond coring bit. The Twister Bit is available in a range from 2 to 14 inches in diameter. Manufactured with turbo-style segments and a high-quality bond, the Twister Bit has been designed to reduce drag and increase coring speeds. Meanwhile, the bit’s 0.350-inch diamond depth is made for long life while coring at high speeds. For more information, call 800-654-7224 or visit www.dixiediamond.com.

New Husqvarna Flat Saws Meet New Emission Regulations ICS Acquires Distribution Rights for Pentruder Across the Americas ICS, a division of Blount International, Inc., has announced an agreement with Tractive AB, Sweden, and Pentruder Inc. of Chandler, Arizona, that makes ICS the exclusive source of Pentruder high-performance concrete cutting systems in the Americas. The announcement was made during the World of Concrete in January.

Through the agreement, ICS will market, sell and support the Pentruder line of wall saws, wire saws, core drills and all parts/accessories in the region through ICS’ direct sales team and its Portland, Oregon headquarters.

ICS assumes operation of Pentruder, Inc., previously responsible for Americas distribution and customer service from their location in Chandler, Arizona. Terry Martin, President/Owner of Pentruder Inc. in the Americas, has joined ICS full-time as director of business development—Pentruder from the Chandler location, providing ongoing business leadership and ensuring a seamless transition. For more information, contact Bob Engel at 800-321-1240 or email bob.engel@blount.com.

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Husqvarna introduced two brand new flat saws at World of Concrete in January, the FS 7000 D and FS 5000 D. Both are equipped with low emission engines and a diesel oxidation catalyst (FS 7000 D) or particle filters (FS 5000 D) to comply with Tier 4 Final/Stage III B emission regulations, and are available with 3-speed or 1-speed transmissions. In addition, both have an optional electronic blade clutch for instant release of power transmission. Engines for the FS 7000 D and FS 5000 D are now electronically controlled and have digital displays, enabling all important functions to be easily monitored. The E-track system has an integrated reset function in the display, designed to help achieve straighter cuts.

The new saws have a higher output, but can still handle the same size diamond blades as their predecessors.

For more information, contact Cate Stratemeier at 913-9281442 or email cate.stratemeier@ husqvarnagroup.com.

Brokk Appoints New Regional Sales Manager Brokk, Inc. is pleased to announce the appointment of Jeff Keeling to the position of regional sales manager for the Midwestern region of the U.S. Keeling joins the company having previously held sales positions with Magnum, Husqvarna, Precision Demolition Systems and most recently Hilti.

Keeling He brings a deep knowledge of the concrete cutting industry and a strong familiarity with demolition. Through his work with Precision Demolition, Keeling has experience with Brokk equipment and has honed his knowledge at the company’s U.S. headquarters in Monroe, Washington. Jeff will cover a total of 13 states across the Midwest and is a welcome addition to the Brokk team. For more information, contact Jeff at 312-509-0861 or email at jeff@brokkinc.com.

Bosch Introduces New Dust Extraction System Bosch has introduced a new lineup of nine- and 14-gallon vacuums suitable for dust and dirt extraction on concrete surfacing, drilling, cutting and chipping jobs. The VAC090S and VAC090A nine-gallon vacuums and VAC140S and VAC140A 14-gallon vacuums have a suction power rating of 150 cubic feet of air per minute (CFM) and weigh 28 and 37 pounds respectively. Outfitted with an automatic filter cleaning mechanism, the VAC090A and VAC140A self-clean the flat pleated filter through a reverse airflow every 15 seconds. The VAC090S and VAC140S use a similar airflow cleaning process and include a module on the hose that allows the user to cut off suction and activate the filter cleaning with the push of a button.

The vacuums also feature integrated cord and hose storage solutions, and a wet vacuuming water level sensor that protects the motor by automatically shutting down the device when water reaches a maximum height. For more information, call 877-207-2499 or visit www.boschtools.com.

Wolverine Equipment Announces Two-Way Loop Saw Wolverine Equipment is pleased to announce its new two-way loop saw. The W-60LS is the industry’s first loop saw with the capability to make both straight and circular cuts. With a push of a button and a pull of a lever, this saw transitions from circle cutting to straight cutting.

This feature allows the loop saw to make the straight cuts that connect the loops to each other, as well as the homerun cuts to the curb. The W-60LS can perform the same work that previously required two saws on site. As per Wolverine’s original loop saw, the two-way version has a 60-horsepower Kubota turbo-charged diesel engine that is water cooled. The W-60LS maintains a uniform depth of 3 or 5 inches over the entire 6-foot-diameter circular cut. It has a heavy duty frame and a blade capacity of 14 to 18 inches. Other features include a hydraulic raise and lower, a 14-inch blade guard included as standard and a hydraulic actuated pivoting plant. For more information, contact Bill Darling at 253-867-6209 or email bill@wolverineequipment.com.

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C O N C RET E O P EN I N G S | 5 9

I N D U S T R Y

B I T S

Adaptive Concrete Innovations Appoints President & CEO

Stihl Introduces Value-Priced Diamond Abrasive Chain Stihl, Inc. is pleased to introduce its 36 GBE diamond abrasive chain. This new chain has been manufactured particularly for rental applications, cutting abrasive materials such as brick or small-scale concrete projects. The Stihl diamond abrasive chain 36 GBE features pre-sharpened diamond segments on every other link, providing high cutting speed in concrete and stone materials.

The chain is ideal for short-term projects that require precise cutting and is to be used exclusively with the GS 461 Stihl Rock Boss® concrete chain saw and with Stihl Rollomatic® G guide bars. The chain is designed to cut concrete, reinforced concrete (with rebar up to 0.5 inches), cinder blocks and masonry (including bricks, asphalt and soft stone such as sandstone). Cutting hard stone, such as granite, and ductile iron pipe are also approved applications but will reduce the service life of the chain. This unit is also intended for special projects involving precise corner cutting without overcutting.

For more information, call 757-486-9100 or visit www.stihlusa.com.

Adaptive Concrete Innovations is pleased to announce that Henrik Rosencrantz has been appointed the company’s President & CEO. An experienced professional in the concrete polishing industry, Rosencrantz will be responsible for organizing operational and promotional efforts for the T Meter—a measurement device for reading concrete surface texture. He will also focus on creating a certified surface texture grading program based on parameters described in CSDA Standard ST-115 Measuring Concrete Micro Surface Texture. Andy Bowman, Rosencrantz surface metrology specialist for Adaptive Concrete Innovations, will be working with Henrik to realize these goals and educate the industry to correctly quantify the concrete surface refinement of concrete polished surfaces. For more information, contact Andy Bowman at 419-408-5906 or email bb@aciconcrete.net.

EDCO Unveils Single-Disc Wedge-Less Grinder at WOC Following the 2013 release of its two-disc Wedge-Less grinder, Equipment Development Co. (EDCO) debuted the company’s new single-disc Wedge-Less grinder at the World of Concrete in January and at the ARA Rental Show in February. The 1.5-horsepower singledisc model stands less than 40 inches tall and weighs 188 pounds. It features an 11-inch working width, gear-driven power, enhanced dust prevention and front-loading weight trays that accept up to 20 pounds of extra weight. All Wedge-Less Grinders have EDCO’s exclusive leveling system that adjusts the machine’s height, allowing operators to quickly attach accessories of different sizes and purposes.

For more information, contact Jason Stanczyk at 800-638-3326, extension 180, or email jstanczyk@edcoinc.com.

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New Line of Combihammers from Hilti, Inc. Hilti unveiled its new TE 70-AVR and TE 70-AVRATC combihammers during the World of Concrete in January. The TE 70 has an 1,800-watt motor for fast, 380-RPM drilling in various concrete, stone and masonry; creating holes for rebar dowels and anchor bolts; through-hole drilling and coring for mechanical and electrical applications, as well as chiseling and demolition of concrete and masonry. Suitable for drilling 20-40-millimeter (0.8-1.6-inch) anchor holes, the combihammer has been upgraded to include Active Vibration Reduction (AVR) and Active Torque Control (ATC). Hilti’s ATC system reduces the possibility of twisting, should the drill bit catch. The AVR system reduces vibration passed along to the operator during operation. For more information, contact Hilti customer service at 800-879-8000 in the U.S., 800-363-4458 in Canada, or visit www.us.hilti.com in the U.S. or www.hilti.ca in Canada.

I N D U S T R Y

GelMaxx Introduces AQUAmaxx for Water Reclamation Gelmaxx is pleased to introduce AQUAmaxx, a proprietary blend with special additives that will separate suspended solids without the need for machinery. It comes in a liquid form that is mixed with slurry and the separation process starts in minutes.

Only 2-3 quarts are needed for 55 gallons worth of slurry wastewater. AQUAmaxx wraps itself around the concrete particles and makes them heavy enough to drop to the bottom. The clean water remains on top.

Depending on the size of the cutting or polishing job, the use of AQUAmaxx can cut a contractor’s water usage in half. The product is also useful on jobsites without a close water supply, as it can provide a constant water supply. For more information, call 855-322-3335 or visit www.gelmaxxusa.com.

B I T S

The LMX100 GPR Locator from Sensors & Software The LMX100 can locate and mark metallic and non-metallic objects up to 30 feet deep based on soil condition. The unit can detect fiber optic cables, PVC piping and steel reinforcing bars among other objects. The unit is ready to use out-of-the box and has a bright color LCD with an anti-reflective screen optimized for outdoor viewing.

Standing 45 inches tall and weighing 48 pounds, the LMX100 is stored in a collapsible, rugged non-metallic fiberglass cart, specially engineered to provide interference-free GPR operation. It is designed for the optional easy capture of screen images to memory card and can store up to 16 gigabytes of information. For more information, call 800-267-6013 or email sales@gprlocates.com.

Diamond Tools Technology Announces New Technical Sales Specialists

Papadopoulos

Gorman

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Simons

Diamond Tools Technology is pleased to announce the addition of Nick Papadopoulos, Rich Gorman and Matt Simons as technical sales specialists within their respective regions. Nick Papadopoulos joins DTT as the sales specialist for the Southeast sales territory, consisting of Alabama, Florida and Georgia. Nick has over 16 years of diamond blade sales experience. Rich Gorman joins DTT as the sales specialist for the Northeast territory, consisting of the Philadelphia area north to Maine. Rich has over 35 years diamond blade sales experience as well as experience as a flat saw operator. Matt Simons joins DTT as the sales specialist for the Pacific Northwest region. Matt has over 14 years of experience selling a wide range of chemical materials/additives and supplies for concrete. For more information, contact Mark Turner at 847-537-8686 or email mark@diamondtoolstechnology.com.

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I N D U S T R Y

B I T S

Ruth Johnson, 1937-2014 Ruth Ellen Johnson, wife of CSDA Past President Jack Johnson, passed away peacefully on January 15th, 2014 surrounded by her loving family after a courageous battle with cancer. She was 77 years old. Ruth was born to the late John Oliver and Gracyie Bell Calhoun on January 20th, 1937 in Inglewood, California. Ruth graduated from Gardena High School in 1955. She married her sweetheart, Jack, in 1958 and lived in California before relocating to Salt Lake City, Utah in 1973. Ruth and Jack founded A-Core, Inc. in 1974 and built it into one of the most respected concrete cutting companies in the country.

Through A-Core and personal endeavors, Ruth supported various charities and was a Ruth Johnson driving force in the community for over 40 years. She will be greatly missed and remembered by those surviving her, including her husband of 55 years Jack B. Johnson; their three children: Robert Johnson (Pamela), Malissa Ryberg (Richard) and Valerie Fader (Kevin); grandchildren: Jacob, Ashley and Jordan Rodgers, Jonathan Cattani, Jacklyn Barnett (Trade), Gracie and Garret Fader; great-grandchild: Aiden Barnett; Ruth’s brother James Calhoun (Shauna) and numerous brother and sister-in-laws, nieces, nephews and cousins.

New 1-9/16-Inch Rotary Hammers from Bosch Bosch Power Tools is pleased to introduce its new 1-9/16-inch rotary hammers. At 6.1 foot pounds of impact energy, the RH540M SDS-max® rotary hammer and RH540S spline rotary hammer provide a high level of productivity for all-day drilling and chiseling applications. The new line of RH540 tools feature 12 amps and weigh just 14.2 pounds, delivering 1,200 to 2,750 blows per minute. They deliver 38 percent more impact energy and up to 50 percent faster drilling speed than previous Bosch models. A variable speed dial for both drilling and chiseling applications allows users to adjust tool settings based on application and material, and a selector knob can switch between hammer drilling, chiseling only and a Vario-Lock function—allowing chisels to be rotated into 12 different positions. Service minder displays indicate when preventive maintenance is required, helping operators to maximize productivity. For more information, visit www.boschtools.com or call 877-207-2499.

Husqvarna Introduces WS 220 Wall Saw Husqvarna Construction Products is pleased to announce the release of the WS 220 electric wall saw. The WS 220 is designed for blades 23-35 inches in diameter and is capable of making cuts 15 inches deep in concrete. The high-frequency Husqvarna Prime motor delivers 8 horsepower on the spindle and the head weighs only 42 pounds. It can be operated with both 3-phase and 1-phase power sources, plus the blade’s direction of rotation can be adjusted by wireless remote control. A symmetric track and carriage enable sawing on both sides of the track. For more information, call 913-928-1000 or visit www.husqvarnacp.com.

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Frank Padilla Baron, 1930-2014

Kellie Vazquez (with award) received the EIC Award with other members of Holes, Inc.

Holes Inc. Receives Industry Award CSDA member Holes Incorporated of Houston, Texas, recently won the Associated Builders and Contractors’ Excellence In Construction (EIC) Award for the best specialty contract under $2 million. Representatives from Holes were presented with the award during the association’s 2013 EIC Award Ceremony this past October. The cutting contractor submitted a job performed at Hobby Airport in Houston, where 36,000 square feet of a topping slab was removed to allow the bottom slab to be waterproofed prior to pour back. Holes completed the project with no incidents, accidents or damage to the bottom slab. For more information, contact Kellie Vazquez at 281-469-7070 or email kellie@holesinc.com.

Industry professional Frank Baron, born February 8, 1930, died peacefully at home on his 84th birthday after battling cancer for more than a year. Frank was born in Los Angeles, California to first generation Spanish immigrants Frank Padilla and Marie Baron.

He graduated from Freemont High with the winter class of 1949 where he excelled in Football and Track, playing right halfback on the city championship team and being named First Team All-City. As a youth, Frank worked at Grenlaw Saw and Knife, a small repair shop where he sharpened knives, scissors and Frank Padilla Baron hand saws. He took ownership of the business in 1950 and the company name was changed to Western Saw Manufacturers, Inc. Frank married high school classmate and prom date Lillian Elna Nielsen (also known as Kristina) in 1955. The couple moved to Chatsworth in 1964 and four years later changed their last name to Baron—the family name of Frank’s mother. A popular figure in his community, Frank was recognized as Chatsworth’s Citizen of the Year in 1981. He and Kristina fostered nineteen children.

Their marriage lasted 45 years until Kristina’s passing in 2000.

Frank married his second wife, Cleo Wood, in 2005. Frank lead the evolution of Western Saw with innovations including diamond cores, carbide-tipped saws, hard face diamond cores, tubes, carbide blanks and custom laser cutting. The company is now a leader in the diamond core industry. Frank is survived by his five children Kevin (Kimberly) Baron; Kraig (Cheryl) Baron; Kimberlee (Luke) Claus; Kurt (Teresa) Baron and Kristopher Baron; grandchildren Blake, Brooke, Cole (J’Lene), Bree, Chase, Cooper, Holden and Mackinzee, and great-grandson Cruz. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him.

Stihl Supports ‘Look Before You Pump’ Campaign Stihl, Inc. is promoting a new campaign from the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI). The organization recently announced a national ethanol education and consumer protection campaign, called ‘Look Before You Pump.’ The education campaign cautions consumers that it is harmful and illegal to use higher than 10 percent ethanol gas in any outdoor power equipment, such as mowers, chain saws, snow throwers, UTVs, generators and other small engine products.

The urgency of the industry’s campaign comes from research that shows high-ethanol blends of gasoline can damage or destroy small engines not designed to handle it. A recent OPEI/Harris Interactive study shows the vast majority of Americans (71 percent) are “not at all sure” if it is illegal or legal to put high level ethanol gas (i.e., anything higher than 10 percent ethanol) into engines such as those in boats, mowers, chain saws, snow mobiles, generators and other engine products. The ‘Look Before You Pump’ campaign will reach consumers through radio and video public service announcements (PSA), fact sheets, in-store displays, labeling and product hang-tags. For more information, visit www.lookbeforeyoupump.com and search for #LookB4UPump on Twitter and Facebook.

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PCA Provides Forecast for Concrete Construction Market at WOC At a press conference during World of Concrete 2014 in January, Portland Cement Association (PCA) Chief Economist Ed Sullivan presented his view of what to expect in 2014 and following years. PCA expects 2014 cement consumption to reach nearly 86 million metric tons, an 8.1 percent gain over 2013 figures. It is also expected that half of the construction industry’s growth in 2014 will come from residential construction activity, where there is the largest amount of pent-up demand. The commercial and institutional sector will contribute another 25 percent. Further predictions suggest that real construction spending will grow by eight percent in 2014. By 2018, the end of the forecast horizon, portland cement consumption is expected to reach nearly 119 million metric tons—roughly three percent below the past cyclical peak in 2005. This implies a 14-year recession. For more information, contact Patti Flesher at 847-972-9136 or email newsroom@cement.org.

C O N C RET E O P EN I N G S | 6 3

CERTIFICATION OPERATOR CERTIFICATION

COMPANY CERTIFICATION

Companies listed here have invested time and money to send their operators to CSDA’s Operator Certification. If you are committed to professionalism in the concrete cutting industry, consider sending your operators through the training programs offered by the CSDA.

The CSDA Company Certification Program is the first of its kind in the industry. This program has been created for cutting contractors to provide owners, architects, engineers, general contractors and government officials with a valuable pre-qualification tool that acknowledges sound business practices. It is available to all sawing and drilling contractors.

ABC CUTTING CONTRACTORS BIRMINGHAM Bessemer, Alabama

DIXIE CONCRETE CUTTING CO. College Park, Georgia

ABC CUTTING CONTRACTORS MOBILE Daphine, Alabama

EAST COAST CONCRETE SPECIALITIES, INC. Jessup, Maryland

ACCU-CUT CONCRETE SERVICES Palm Harbor, Florida

ELMER’S CRANE & DOZER, INC. Traverse City, Michigan

ANDERS CONSTRUCTION, INC. Harvey, Louisiana

HAFNER & SON, INC. Danielsville, Pennsylvania

ATLANTIC CONCRETE CUTTING, INC. Mt. Holly, New Jersey

HARD ROCK CONCRETE CUTTERS, INC. Wheeling, Illinois

AUSTIN ENTERPRISE Bakersfield, California

HARD ROCK SAWING & DRILLING SPECIALIST CO. Keshena, Wisconsin

B.T. RENTALS LIMITED Woodbrook, Trinidad & Tobago

HOLES INCORPORATED Houston, Texas

CENTRAL CONCRETE CUTTING, INC. Edgar, Wisconsin

HOLES OF SAN ANTONIO, INC. San Antonio, Texas

CHICAGO CUT CONCRETE CUTTING Chicago, Illinois

HOUSLEY DEMOLITION CO., INC. Visalia, California

COBRA CONCRETE CUTTING SERVICES CO. Arlington Heights, Illinois

INTERNATIONAL DRILLING & SAWING, INC. Montgomery, Alabama

CONCRETE CUTTING & BREAKING CO. Jacksonville, Florida

J-RAY CONTRACTORS, LLC Marrero, Louisiana

CONCRETE CUTTING SPECIALISTS, INC. Freeland, Michigan

JACK DOHERTY CONTRACTING Woburn, Massachussetts

CONCRETE PENETRATING CO. Dallas, Texas

K.C. CORING & CUTTING CONSTRUCTION, INC. Kansas City, Missouri

CONCRETE RENOVATION, INC. San Antonio, Texas

L&S FORMLESS CURB COMPANY Hanover, Pennsylvania

CONSTRUCTION DEBRIS REMOVAL, INC. St. Augustine, Florida

LIUNA LOCAL 506 TRAINING CENTRE Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada

CORE SOLUTIONS LTD. Maraval, Trinidad & Tobago

LOMBARDO DIAMOND CORE DRILLING CO. Santa Clara, California

CORING & CUTTING OF SPRINGFIELD, INC. Nixa, Missouri

M6 CONCRETE CUTTING & CORING Wichita, Kansas

DI-TECH INTERNATIONAL, INC. Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

CORING & CUTTING SERVICES, INC. Bentonville, Arkansas

PENHALL COMPANY/CONCRETE CORING COMPANY OF HAWAII Aiea, Hawaii

GREENE’S, INC. Woods Cross, Utah

CORING & CUTTING SERVICES, INC. Jacksonville, Arkansas CUT-RITE CONCRETE CUTTING CORP. Pawtucket, Rhode Island CUTTING EDGE SERVICES CORP. Batavia, Ohio D.M. CONLON/DAN-KEL CONCRETE CORING, SAWING & SCANNING Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

QUICK CUTS CONCRETE CUTTING SERVICES, LLC Belvidere, Illinois ROUGHNECK CONCRETE DRILLING & SAWING Morton Grove, Illinois SUPER CITY CONCRETE CUTTING Ocean Grove, Victoria, Australia TRUE LINE CORING & CUTTING OF CHATTANOOGA, LLC Chattanooga, Tennessee

DARI CONCRETE SAWING AND DRILLING Raleigh, North Carolina

TRUE LINE CORING & CUTTING OF KNOXVILLE, LLC Knoxville, Tennessee

DEANDREA CORING & SAWING, INC. Henderson, Colorado

TRUE LINE CORING & CUTTING OF NASHVILLE, LLC Nashville, Tennessee

DELTA CONTRACTORS & ASSOCIATES, LLC Baltimore, Maryland

WOLF INDUSTRIAL SERVICES San Francisco, California

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ATLANTIC CONCRETE CUTTING, INC. Mount Holly, New Jersey AUSTIN ENTERPRISE Bakersfield, California CENTRAL CONCRETE CUTTING, INC. Edgar, Wisconsin COBRA CONCRETE CUTTING SERVICES CO. Arlington Heights, Illinois CONCRETE RENOVATION, INC. San Antonio, Texas CUTTING EDGE SERVICES CORP. Batavia, Ohio DEANDREA CORING & SAWING, INC. Henderson, Colorado

HARD ROCK CONCRETE CUTTERS, INC. Wheeling, Illinois HOLES INCORPORATED Houston, Texas ONLINE CONCRETE CUTTING SERVICES PTY. LTD Seven Hills, New South Wales, Australia WESTCOAST CUTTING & CORING, LTD. Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada

MEMBERSHIP NEW MEMBERS The Concrete Sawing & Drilling Association is a nonprofit trade association of contractors, manufacturers and affiliated members from the construction and renovation industry. Diamond tools for projects requiring sawing, drilling, selective demolition, cutting and polishing offers the construction industry many benefits including lower total project costs, precision cutting, maintenance of structural integrity, reduced downtime, reduced noise, dust and debris, limited access cutting and the ability to cut heavily-reinforced concrete. Founded in 1972, CSDA has 500 member companies worldwide.

North American Contractor

Polishing Contractor

ADVANTA ASPHALT Live Oak, Florida

CONCRETE PRESERVATION Dallas, Texas

ALLIED CORING & CUTTING, LLC Fort Worth, Texas

GL CONSTRUCTION Wolfforth, Texas

ANY CONCRETE CUTTING SERVICES Fayetteville, Arizona

NOVO BÉTON, INC. Quebec, Canada

ATLANTIC CONCRETE CUTTING AND DRILLING Fort Pierce, Florida

POLISHMAXX Cedar Rapids, Iowa

COASTAL CONCRETE CUTTING, LLC North Charleston, South Carolina

Distributor

JOSEPH J. ALBANESE, INC. Santa Clara, California LLOYD’S CONSTRUCTION SERVICES, INC. Savage, Minnesota MACTECH, INC. Red Wing, Minnesota STRAIGHT LINE SAWING & SEALING Irving, Texas

Overseas Contractor DRILLCUT, INC. Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong

MEMBER BENEFIT PARTNERSHIPS

CONCRETE POLISHING HQ Las Cruces, New Mexico

Affiliate ADAPTIVE CONCRETE INNOVATIONS Rose Bud, Arkansas

CONCRETE CUTTERS NETWORK Danvers, Massachusetts

CSDA member VBeltSupply.com is a national wholesale distributor of industrial grade belts. The company provides belting, power transmission solutions and replacement parts to many industries.

PREP AND POLISH CONSULTANTS Garland, Texas

Line Card

ADVANTAGE LEASING CORPORATION Brookfield, Wisconsin

• Cogged and banded belts • Conventional belts • Kevlar banded belts

MEMBER TESTIMONIAL My membership in CSDA really came about by accident. I met CSDA Polishing Committee Chair Andy Bowman via LinkedIn and we immediately found we were on the same page regarding CSDA’s new Standard for measuring concrete micro surface texture (CSDA-ST-115).

At this point I felt I should get involved with CSDA, then when I discovered just how strong their Polishing Committee had become in such a short space of time, I knew it was a good decision. Many firms now rely heavily on surface texture measurements to define the quality of refined and polished concrete surfaces. Becoming involved with the association’s

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• Timing belts • Pulleys, bearings, roller chain, etc.

Shipping & Invoicing Options • Drop shipping available • 30 net terms, credit card, Paypal • Free shipping on orders over $299 (Continental U.S.)

Len Sniegowski

Polishing Committee and polishing training program is a big honor.

I look forward to meeting new friends and helping our industry get stronger through CSDA’s resources.

CSDA members receive an additional 10% discount by using discount code CSDA10 when purchasing at vbeltsupply.com.

Phone orders will receive the same discount if the code is provided to the account manager. For more information, call 888-291-5450 or visit www.vbeltsupply.com.

Len Sniegowski Prep And Polish Consultants, LLC Alpena, Michigan len@prepandpolish.com

C O N C RET E O P EN I N G S | 6 5

Membership Application COMPANY INFORMATION

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

COMPANY

START UP DATE

ADDRESS

AVERAGE ANNUAL GROSS INCOME $

CITY ZIP/POSTAL CODE

PHONE

YEARS IN BUSINESS

STATE/PROVINCE

ANNUAL GROWTH RATE

COUNTRY

NO. BRANCH LOCATIONS

FAX

CONTRACTORS: NO. TRUCKS

NO. EMPLOYEES

EMAIL

PRINCIPALS/OWNERS OF BUSINESS

WEB ADDRESS

OTHER PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIPS

OFFICIAL REPRESENTATIVE OTHERS PARTICIPATING IN CSDA ACTIVITIES

CONTRACTORS ONLY—CHECK BELOW TO IDENTIFY THE SERVICES YOU OFFER, WHICH WILL BE LISTED IN THE PRINT AND ONLINE DIRECTORIES:

PRINCIPAL BUSINESS ACTIVITY

FLAT SAWING

CORE DRILLING

WALL SAWING

SELECTIVE DEMOLITION

CURB CUTTING

GROUND PENETRATING RADAR

WIRE SAWING

CONCRETE POLISHING

SURFACE PREPARATION

SLURRY RECYCLING

MEMBERSHIP DUES SCHEDULE PLEASE CIRCLE YOUR DUES AMOUNT GROSS SALES NORTH AMERICAN CONTRACTOR

POLISHING CONTRACTOR GPR IMAGING CONTRACTOR MANUFACTURER DISTRIBUTOR OVERSEAS CONTRACTOR AFFILIATE*

$0–1M

$575

$750

$1,225

$895

$1–2M

$940

$1,520

$1,140

$2–3M

$2,255

$1,690

$3M–5M

$1,420 $750 $1,910 $1,250

$5–10M

$2,400

$4,880

>$10M

$3,035

$6,065

$3,640

$395

$710

$2,725

*AFFILIATE: A person, firm, corporation, society, government agency or other organization providing services to the concrete sawing, polishing and scanning industry.

MEMBERSHIP DUES

PAYMENT CHECK ENCLOSED (US FUNDS AND DRAWN ON A US BANK) VISA MASTERCARD DISCOVER

COMPANY ANNUAL DUES (FROM ABOVE)

$

ADDITIONAL BRANCH LOCATIONS ($130 PER LOCATION)

$

CSDA WEBSITE HOTLINK ($100) LINKS DIRECTLY TO YOUR COMPANY WEBSITE

$

CARD NO. EXPIRATION DATE

3-DIGIT VERIFICATION (CSC)

NAME ON CARD BILLING ADDRESS

ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP TOTAL

$

SIGNATURE

CSDA • 100 2ND AVENUE SOUTH, SUITE 402N, ST. PETERSBURG, FL 33701 • TEL: 727.577.5004 • FAX: 727.577.5012 • E-MAIL: INFO@CSDA.ORG • WWW.CSDA.ORG

6 6 | M ARC H .14

BENEFITS Networking at the Annual Convention and Quarterly Meetings The number one benefit for members has always been the opportunity to network with industry professionals at the annual convention and quarterly meetings. This networking provides opportunities to forge new relationships and learn from other experienced professionals.

Representation with Governmental Organizations CSDA has an Alliance with OSHA to advance the safety of cutting contractors. This partnership included issuing Best Practice and Toolbox Safety Talk documents, joint exhibitions at trade shows, review of safety materials and round tables.

Discount Programs The Association negotiates member benefit programs with national vendors in order to provide cost-savings opportunities for CSDA Members.

CSDA Website The CSDA Website at www.csda.org contains a wealth of information available 24/7 in the “Members” section. The online discussion boards also provide members a forum to discuss technical issues, sell equipment, hire employees or any other relevant topics.

Concrete Openings CSDA Training and Certification Programs Over 3,000 members have graduated from more than 20 classroom, hands-on and online training programs. In addition, CSDA has certification programs for companies and individual operators. See pages 8 and 9 for more details.

CSDA Safety Resources and Toolbox Safety Tips (TSTs) The 230-page CSDA Safety Manual, CSDA 57-page Safety Handbook and five safety DVDs are designed specifically for concrete cutters, polishers and scanners. They are available to members at a significant discount. TSTs can be used in employee safety meetings and can be an important part of your company’s safety program.

CSDA has released over 100 TSTs since the program began. A new TST is released every month.

World of Concrete Co-Sponsor Members receive free registration and significant discounts on educational seminars fees. CSDA also supports the industry by exhibiting at this event and sponsoring seminar sessions.

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ConcreteOpenings at www.concreteopenings.com is the only professional magazine dedicated to concrete cutting with a circulation of 18,000 per issue. Members can advertise at significant discounts and use the opportunity to have their job stories reach almost 7,000 architects, engineers, general contractors and government officials.

CSDA Next Generation Committee The committee aims to continue the growth of the association while serving the needs and wants of the younger generation, with the goal of continuing to set a standard of excellence.

Mentor Program New Members can receive personalized assistance from a current CSDA Board or Committee member during their first year of membership.

Market Intelligence • Helps you plan, measure, understand trends and markets.

• 3rd party non biased market research • Surveys and reports

Other benefits and programs can be reviewed by visiting the CSDA Website at www.csda.org or call the CSDA office at 727-577-5004.

C O N C RET E O P EN I N G S | 6 7

CALENDAR 2014 MARCH 6-7 CSDA Australia Convention Marriott Surfers Paradise Queensland, Australia Tel: 39-867-0227 Email: info@csdaa.com.au www.csdaa.com.au

MARCH 11-12 CSDA Spring Meetings The Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa Tucson, AZ Tel: 727-577-5004 Email: info@csda.org www.csda.org

MARCH 13-15 CSDA Convention & Tech Fair The Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa Tucson, AZ Tel: 727-577-5004 Email: info@csda.org www.csda.org

MARCH 13-15 Concrete Show India Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai INDIA www.concreteshowindia.com

MARCH 27-29 BeBoSa 2014 Sauerland Stern Hotel Willingen, Germany www.bebosa.com

MAY 18-21 Gathering of Eagles 2014 - Industry Business Meeting Pebble Beach Golf Resort & Spa Pebble Beach, CA Tel: 800-525-1009 x17 Email: debbie@businessnetworks.com www.businessnetworks.com

JUNE 12-14

OCTOBER 20-21

IACDS Annual General Meeting Madrid, Spain Email: info@csda.org www.iacds.org

CSDA Hand Sawing & Drilling 101 Training Diamond Products Elyria, OH Tel: 727-577-5004 Email: info@csda.org www.csda.org

SEPTEMBER 4-5 CSDA Fall Meetings Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront Portland, OR Tel: 727-577-5004 Email: info@csda.org www.csda.org

SEPTEMBER 4-5 Demcon 2014 InfraCity Stockholm, Sweden Email: info@demcon.se www.demcon.se/en

SEPTEMBER 29-OCTOBER 3 Concrete DĂŠcor Show Fort Worth Convention Center Fort Worth, Texas Email: bent@protradepubinc.com www.concretedecorshow.com

OCTOBER 7-8 CSDA Wall Sawing 101 Training K2 Diamond Torrance, CA Tel: 727-577-5004 Email: info@csda.org www.csda.org

OCTOBER 9-10 CSDA Wire Sawing 101 Training K2 Diamond Torrance, CA Tel: 727-577-5004 Email: info@csda.org www.csda.org

OCTOBER 20-22 Infra Oman 2014 Oman International Exhibition Center Sultanate of Oman Email: mail@alnimrexpo.com www.alnimrexpo.com/infraoman

NOVEMBER 10-11 CSDA Slab Sawing & Drilling 201 Certification St. Petersburg College Clearwater, FL Tel: 727-577-5004 Email: info@csda.org www.csda.org

NOVEMBER 12-13 CSDA Wall & Hand Sawing 201 Certification St. Petersburg College Clearwater, FL Tel: 727-577-5004 Email: info@csda.org www.csda.org

NOVEMBER 14-15 CSDA Wire Sawing 201 Certification St. Petersburg College Clearwater, FL Tel: 727-577-5004 Email: info@csda.org www.csda.org

DECEMBER 4-5 CSDA Winter Meetings The Westin Riverwalk San Antonio San Antonio, Texas Tel: 727-577-5004 Email: info@csda.org www.csda.org

2015 FEBRUARY 3-6

JUNE 5-6 CSDA Summer Meetings New Orleans Marriott New Orleans, LA Tel: 727-577-5004 Email: info@csda.org www.csda.org

6 8 | M ARC H .14

World of Concrete Las Vegas Convention Center Las Vegas, NV Tel: 972-536-6423 www.worldofconcrete.com

ADVERTISING AND READERSHIP

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF CSDA

Concrete Openings Website

Target the Specialized Industry of Concrete Cutting, Polishing and Imaging Advertising in Concrete Openings magazine is the only way to reach the specialty market of cutting, polishing and imaging contractors who work with concrete, asphalt or masonry because it is specifically targeted to this segment of the industry.

How Do You Reach 18,000+ Concrete industry Professionals?

Each issue of Concrete Openings magazine is sent to more than 11,000 operators, equipment manufacturers and suppliers in the concrete cutting, polishing and imaging industry, and more than 7,000 specifiers of these services around the world.

Who Reads the Magazine?

Concrete Openings reaches cutting, polishing and imaging contractors as well as specifiers of these services, including engineers, architects, general contractors and governmental agencies. Why waste your message on unnecessary circulation?

Advertising in Concrete Openings guarantees a targeted audience of industry professionals.

Concrete Openings has its own website.

Advertisers have direct links to their websites placed on our Advertisers page as a complimentary addition to ad placement.

A full page-turning copy of the magazine, including ads, is also available for visitors to read on the website. Visitors to the site can now access our advertisers at the touch of a button. The Concrete Openings Website also has banner advertising opportunities available throughout the year.

Visit www.concreteopenings.com for more information.

Readership Per Issue A poll of Concrete Openings subscribers revealed that 66% pass on their copy of the magazine to at least one other person, with almost 25% stating that the magazine is passed on to four or more people each issue.

This translates to an average of four people reading each issue of the magazine for a total readership per year of approximately 60,000.

52%

8% 40%

• Specifiers • Contractors • Manufacturers, Distributors

Circulation 18,000+ minimum, per issue 11,000+ member and prospective member companies made up of contractors, manufacturers, distributors and affiliates 7,000+

Not a Subscriber?

Get your free subscription today!

Visit www.concreteopenings.com and click “subscribe”.

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF CSDA

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READERSHIP BY PROFESSION

general contractors, engineers, architects and government officials who specify cutting, polishing and imaging

Do you “Like” CSDA? CSDA is on Facebook, and we hope you “like” it! The CSDA page is packed with all the latest news, updates, photos and videos from the association and Concrete Openings magazine. Look out for exclusive content and become “friends” with others who are looking to network and promote the sawing and drilling industry. Join our growing fan base and stay in touch with the association through your PC, laptop or mobile device.

C O N C RET E O P EN I N G S | 6 9

ADVERTISERS To receive additional information about products advertised in this issue, visit the advertisers page on concreteopenings.com, or contact the vendors below.

PAGE

ADVERTISER

29

Apollo General Insurance Company

707-996-2912

bobe@apgen.com

57

Brokk, Inc.

877-276-5548

peter@brokkinc.com

46

Concrete Cutters Network

781-771-1672

concretecutting1@gmail.com

5

Concut, Inc.

253-872-3507

suemayer@concutusa.com

56

CS Unitec, Inc.

203-853-9522

info@csunitec.com

45

Chicago Diamond Supply

630-442-3937

info@chicagodiamondsupply.net

71, Inside Front Cover

Diamond Products

800-321-5336

jpalmer@diamondproducts.com

25, 29

Diamond Tools Technology

612-408-9253

mark@diamondtoolstechnology.com

51

Diamond Vantage

866-322-4078

johnconrad@diamondvantage.com

22, 45

DITEQ Corporation

816-246-5515

jmiller@diteq.com

17

Dixie Diamond Manufacturing

678-296-3751

skilgore@dixiediamond.com

46

Expert Equipment Company

713-797-9886

expertequipment@sbcglobal.net

49

GDM Technologies/Terra Diamond

801-990-9034

gdmsaws@yahoo.com

28

GelMaxx

619-701-7246

info@gelmaxx.net

10

Geophysical Survey Systems, Inc. (GSSI)

603-893-1109

harmonj@geophysical.com

Inside Back Cover

Hilti North America

918-872-3079

claire.combs@hilti.com

36, 37, Outside Back Cover

Husqvarna Construction Products

913-928-1442

cate.stratemeier@husqvarna.com

2

ICS, Blount Inc.

503-653-4644

joet@icsbestway.com

35

Makita

714-522-8088

whart@makitausa.com

21

Merit Engineering & Equipment Company

928-771-0575

r.ferguson@meritsaws.com

53

Pentruder, Inc.

562-445-6429

terry@pentruderinc.com

27

Spidercut Systems, LLC

262-763-9002

rdrkw@aol.com

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PHONE

EMAIL

DIRECTOR’S DIALOGUE

What Can CSDA Do With You?

PATRICK O’BRIEN Executive Director

O

ne of the age old questions that members and prospects often ask of an association is “What can the association do for me?”

So, “What can CSDA do for you?” Or maybe a better question is “What can CSDA do with you?”

CSDA membership has grown from less than 200 member companies when I began my tenure as executive director, to over 450 member companies. The association must be doing something right to have attracted all these members and achieved such growth.

CSDA has changed and so have its members. Many contractors now offer more than just sawing and drilling services. CSDA has also changed from primarily a social organization (some called it an “Old Boys Club,” and some still call it this) to a member-focused association providing an everincreasing array of benefits to help members succeed in business.

The benefits that CSDA offers have always been driven by member and prospect ideas and requests. These benefits were developed in cooperation between CSDA staff and the committee members, and the list is constantly growing. Current benefits include classroom and online training programs; safety manuals, handbooks and safety tips; safety and training DVDs; industry promotion of contractor services through Concrete Openings magazine and Website as well as the CSDA Website; and participation in the OSHA Alliance program.

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These benefits and programs did not happen by themselves. As one committee member has stated, “Joining an association is like joining a gym. You have to show up and put the work in to get the results you are looking for.” The results are accomplished by the hard work of committee members and staff during and between the quarterly meetings. The committee members want to give back to the industry that provides them with the opportunity to become successful. But they also gain so much more from the relationships that they develop by networking with other members. Many members have made life-long friends through CSDA as well as benefitting from a professional standpoint.

Members or prospects that do not participate in the committee meetings or conventions often do not know what they are missing. The quarterly meetings are held around the country so that local members can see firsthand what CSDA is accomplishing and have the chance to meet these hard-working committee members. This year’s meetings will be held in New Orleans in June, Portland in September and San Antonio in December. The dates are in the calendar section of this issue.

I encourage you to seize the opportunity and attend a meeting when CSDA comes to your local area. I know you will be impressed and you just might find out “What CSDA can do with you!”

Ready, set, DRILL. When operators need a machine to handle heavy-duty core drilling jobs, the Husqvarna DM 340 drill motor is the right tool. It was designed to provide optimal performance when drilling with 2" to 16" bits. The gearbox is water-cooled for reduced wear, and the three speeds make it easy to set the optimum drilling speed. The Elgard™ feature indicates, via an LED, when the machine is overloading. This prevents motor damage and increases product life. It can be used with the AD 10 automatic drilling system to increase production and bit life. The DM 340 drill motor is powerful and smart.

17400 West 119th Street • Olathe, Kansas 66061 • T 800-288-5040 • F 800-825-0028 • www.husqvarnacp.com 2077 Bond Street • North Bay, Ontario P1B 4V6 • T 800-461-9589 • F 800-825-0028 • www.husqvarnacp.ca Copyright © 2014 Husqvarna AB (publ.). All rights reserved. Husqvarna is a registered trademark of Husqvarna AB (publ.).