8 minute read
Construction Safety & Compliance
Construction Safety & Compliance: An Interview with Carmine Cimetti
UCANE’s Construction Outlook magazine editors recently caught up with Carmine Cimetti at a busy construction site in Boston. Carmine is a key member of HUB International’s Construction Specialties Practice which provides traditional and alternative risk solutions to clients throughout New England. Carmine outlined the critical importance of Safety & Health in today’s heavy construction industry.
Can you give us some insite on your background in Construction Safety, and how you eventually landed with HUB International?
I’m a graduate of Wentworth Institute of Technology with a degree in Construction Management, focusing on heavy infrastructure and building construction. My experience in construction safety and health started in the mid 90s when I worked for several large construction companies and construction managers in New England. I was fortunate to have worked on some historic projects including the Boston Harbor Cleanup and the Central Artery/Tunnel Project (the “Big Dig”). There’s something to be said about on-the-job experience on such complex projects that ultimately gave me great exposure, not only to construction safety, but to insurance related issues as well.
My work was noticed and I was approached by a construction underwriter from a global insurance company that needed an individual familiar with construction work-flow, safety and health, and who had a basic understanding of insurance. I was intrigued, so I accepted the position. Over time my role expanded to encompass risk management more broadly. I earned several professional designations (ASP/CSP, CRIS, etc.) and have had an on-going focus on education to stay current with the construction industry’s latest rules, regulations, policies, etc. While working for the insurance company I worked closely with many New England area contractors, ensuring their access to the deep resources that an international insurance carrier can provide.
A perfect storm of circumstances enabled me to expand on my experience in construction safety and health as it directly relates to risk management and insurance. HUB International, a well-known insurance broker with a thriving construction specialty practice, wanted to augment its team in New England. Their need was for a professional who could advocate for clients, provide guidance on safety risk and mitigation, and support client interests when it comes to choosing the right coverage from today’s ever-increasing array of insurance alternatives. I accepted the offer and started with HUB in 2015 and I’m currently Vice President - Construction Risk Specialties. continued on page 53
What types of Safety and Health related professionals and services does HUB International provide to contractor clients engaged in construction?
As the fifth largest insurance broker in the world HUB is proud to provide one-stop shopping for our clients including an unmatched blend of risk management services and solutions for any type of contractor or business owner.
The company’s extensive team of construction experts has expertise in both horizontal construction and vertical construction including almost every specialty trade. Based on the contractor’s field of work, clients are assigned to a team of HUB professionals who advise clients on how to confidently identify, quantify, and reduce risk through tailored solutions. Ultimately, the goal is to make sure they can protect what matters most to them – their people, their property, and their profitability.
The COVID-19 Pandemic continues to require contractors and their Safety professionals to react quickly to a changing array of safety protocols in order to protect employees. From an industry standpoint, how well do you think the local heavy construction industry has adapted to this unique situation?
On the local level (New England) HUB is reporting that our contractor clients involved in heavy civil work, site, foundation, and structural work adapted quickly and effectively to the challenges of working during a pandemic. However, many vertical contractors and interior trades were impacted by project shutdowns, especially in Boston, which was the first major city in the U.S. to totally shut down all construction at the pandemic outset in 2020. The challenges and constraints required for working safely indoors were difficult and often expensive. Creating social distances between multiple trades working in the same high-rise building was a challenge, to say the least. These jobs required increased management costs, re-scheduling, some night-work, and, in most cases, added engineering controls to allow work to move forward.
The current Administration has recently mandated that all Federal Contractors achieve a 100% employee vaccination rate (for COVID-19) by January 4, 2022 as a condition
continued on page 54
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of working for the Federal government. Private businesses with over 100 employees received a similar mandate from the Department of Labor (DOL). From your company’s broad perspective, how do you think these mandates will impact the construction industry?
President Biden’s Executive Order is sure to cause an impact to all contractors (and lower tier subs) who do business with the Federal government – whatever their size. It has proven difficult for any company to achieve a 100% vaccination rate. Even if only a small portion of the contractor’s or subcontractor’s program involves Federal work it appears that their entire home office – including those working remotely - will need to comply. Possibly much of the company’s non-federal operations could be impacted as well. The Q&A’s issued with this Executive Order are not encouraging for federal contractors and I’m sure some interpretations will need to be made in court. Some contractors may lose key personnel and may question whether or not they will pursue future Federal work, especially smaller contracts.
The DOL’s OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) impacts non-federal contractors, and every other type business, that has over 100 employees. Unlike the Federal Contractor Executive Order, the ETS does allow an option of weekly testing. Implementation has just been temporarily halted by a Federal court so all companies, and tens of millions of employees, are awaiting a final legal decision.
HUB has been ahead of the curve on these vaccination mandates, working steadily with our clients on company policies and programs that can help them reach compliance with not only federal but state and local laws, without decimating their workforce. We’ve created and published updates, white papers, and webinars on the topic. As these vaccination mandates evolve, I’ll be working closely with my clients to help them mitigate impacts to their staffing levels and company operations.
What other Safety concerns did you see among your construction clients in 2021, and what concerns lay ahead in 2022?
Obviously COVID-19 seemed to be the dominant issue in 2021. Most contractors returned to “near-normal” operations or at least most of the continued on page 55
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Safety & Compliance continued from page 54 COVID work requirements have been engrained in the workforce so as to be less of an impact to the daily routines. Throughout the year we continued to promote clean work areas, vigilance, awareness, and respect for airborne diseases such as COVID.
Having a national presence allows HUB to alert the Boston and New England Regions of trends in other parts of the country. That way our local team can work with contractors to avoid some of those trends. In 2021 we saw (nationally) an uptick in workplace violence, cyber security issues related to remote work stations, and a return of OSHA to the jobsite.
Looking forward to 2022, it appears that the threat of emerging strains of the virus will hang over the country and the construction industry. The industry must also look out for the impacts of trends that are byproducts of the pandemic and could deepen in 2022. These trends may intensify safety risks as a result. There has been an ongoing boom in construction, which will only gain momentum with the Biden Administration’s infrastructure bill. But the shortages and delays in delivery of materials, not to mention ongoing labor shortages, may create substantial pressure to find ways to get the work done on time. Are owners providing sufficient time to complete projects in 2022? Alternative materials like mass timber and bendable concrete are increasingly taking hold as their quality improves. Do contractors have sufficient people with the skills to work with them, safely or at all? Further, the industry needs 1 million workers in the next two years. This will challenge employers not only to train people effectively in a pressure-filled environment, but also to monitor how well their people are withstanding the pressure. Understanding the mental health of their employees is becoming increasingly important for all company owners, but more so for contractors , where a failure to do so has the potential to produce serious safety implications. n
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