The Publication for Merit Shop Pipeline Contractors AMERICAN PIPELINE CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION 4th Quarter 2022 APCA 2022 Mid-Year Meeting Recap APCA Opposes Biden Administration’s Pro-union Regulatory Overreach APCA 2022 Year-End Product Showcase EEOC Issues Updated Rights Poster (Twice in Two Days) Contract Law: High Standards and Timely Notice! Keynote Speaker Steve Gilliland delights the APCA audience with his humorous and moving presentation
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PIPELINE CONTRACTORS JOURNAL | 4th Quarter 2022 5 Officer Directors Of f i c ial Publ i cat ion of the Amer i can Pipel ine Cont rac tors Assoc iat ion Board of Directors Publication Staff PO Box 638 Churchton, MD 20733 (703) 212-7745 • www.americanpipeline.org ©2022 American Pipeline Contractors Association Nick Bertram Jomax Construction Co., Inc. Mike Castle, Jr. Castle Scott Coppersmith Mears Group, Inc. David Dacus (Advisory) Troy Construction, LLC Ricky Dyess M.G. Dyess, Inc. John Fluharty (Advisory) Mears Group, Inc. Chris Jones HardRock Directional Drilling, LLC Patrick McRae Primoris Pipeline Sean Renfro Sunland Construction, Inc. Aaron Simon (Advisory) Troy Construction, LLC Publisher TimothyWagner Editor Michael Ancell Advertising Sales Stacy Bowdring Information Technology Greg Smela Accounting James Wagner Layout & Design JosephWagner Government Affairs Jaime Steve Government Affairs Zachary Perconti President Taylor Dacus Troy Construction, LLC 1st Vice President RoyWeaver Weaver, LLC 2nd Vice President Kevin LaBauve WHC Energy Services Treasurer Nick Bruno Bi-Con Services AMERICAN PIPELINE CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION APCA Mid-Year Meeting: Big Times in the Big Easy 16 When APCA President Taylor Dacus welcomed fellow members to the 2022 Mid-Year Meeting, he said, “Thank you for coming. We’ve just been through the worst two years for our industry that I can remember, and you’ve kept on supporting us.” The support was overwhelming, as 169 APCA members, family, and friends attended the meeting at the elegant Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans, making it the largest Mid-Year Meeting in APCA history. The meeting featured entertaining and enlightening speakers, the alwaysinformative Government & Industry Relations Panel, fun-filled parties, and great tours around the city. The Science of Safety Training; Defining the Fundamental Drivers of Adult Learning 27 By Perry Redman A project led by the University of Colorado-Boulder’s Construction Safety Research Alliance is studying the science of safety training. The premise is that in contrast to rapid advancements in science and technology, training in general, and safety training in specific, has been slow to change. By studying training from a scientific perspective, the team believes they can clearly define the fundamental drivers of adult learning and reimagine how training is delivered. APCA 2022 Year-End Product Showcase 37 Inside Washington | By Jaime Steve & Zack Perconti 7 Human Resources | By Greg Guidry 11 Contract Law | By John Grayson 14 News Briefs 32 Industry Calendar 46 New APCA Members 46 Advertiser Index 46 4th Quarter 2022
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PIPELINE CONTRACTORS JOURNAL | 4th Quarter 2022 7 Fighting to protect your business from onerous new labor regulations has been Job #1 for APCA in Washington, D.C. and will be into the foreseeable future. From redefining the Joint-Employer rule to mandatory project labor agreement (PLA) requirements, APCA has been championing your interests. These overzealous, pro-labor union proposed regulation changes are forcing a focus on the details of employment law. We wrote this just after the Fall mid-term elections but prior to all the races being called, so by the time you read it the entire balance of power in Congress may have been reshuffled and become more favorable to APCA interests on labor law and many other issues. Either way, we will be engaged in a bolder legislative strategy than in the past, which means more Muster campaigns to bring your voice to House and Senate Members on Capitol Hill. Heavy-handed Expansion of the Joint-Employer Rule For some reason, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) thinks it’s a good idea to force all subcontractors and independent business workers to become “employees” of the companies with which they work, whether they want to be employees or not. This is the gist of the proposed joint-employer rule that APCA is fighting against. We will file comments opposing this effort. While filing comments is part of the fight, we will also be working with our allies in Congress to turn back these heavy-handed regulations. These regulations are aimed primarily as so-called “gig” workers, such as Uber and Lyft drivers, in an effort to shift them from independent contractors to employees so they can more easily unionize. Our argument is that independent contractors working with APCA companies are truly independent because they choose to make their own hours and to run—or start up—their own companies. Individuals should be free to make that choice for themselves instead of being forced into full employee status. At the same time, there are instances where some employers use the independent contractor label for some workers for the illegal purpose of avoiding paying taxes. This, of course, is wrong and is a practice that APCA does not support. Under the proposed expanded joint-employer standard, nearly every contractual relationship between businesses will trigger joint-employer status, making businesses responsible and liable for the employment practices of their franchisees, suppliers, vendors, contractors, and subcontractors. Under the current standard, businesses can only be joint INSIDE WASHINGTON Zack Perconti APCA Government Affairs Representative zperconti@americanpipeline.org (703) 677-6049 Jaime Steve APCA Government Affairs Representative jsteve@americanpipeline.org (202) 841-5493 InsideWashington continued on page 8 APCA Opposes Biden Administration’s Pro-union Regulatory Overreach
PIPELINE CONTRACTORS JOURNAL | 4th Quarter 2022 8 Inside Washington Continued from page 7 employers if they exercise direct and immediate control over the essential terms and conditions of employment for the same group of employees. The NLRB, however, is trying to make indirect or even just reserved, unexercised control sufficient to trigger joint-employee status. This would be a radical and devastating expansion of the joint-employer standard. Under the proposed new rule, businesses would be forced to protect themselves against significantly more liability and obligations under the law. The new standard would force larger companies to subsume local small businesses rather than work with individually owned enterprises, stifling entrepreneurship, business innovation, and flexibility. The expanded standard even hampers businesses’ efforts to encourage “corporate responsibility” among their business partners to the detriment of workers, consumers, and their communities. In short, the expanded joint employer standard could cause substantial harm to the American economy. APCA Continues Fighting Mandatory PLAs APCA submitted comments in October opposing the Biden Administration’s effort to make Project Labor Agreements mandatory on all federal projects over $35 million. Under current law, PLAs are recommended but not mandatory on a variety of federal contracts. Recently, APCA’s Tim Wagner and Jaime Steve spoke for APCA during an online townhall-style meeting held by the Small Business Administration (SBA) on the issue. We told Washington, D.C., bureaucrats that mandating PLAs will drive up costs, reduce the already too small labor pool, and result in far fewer energy infrastructure upgrades throughout the U.S. Our argument against government-mandated PLAs is they are jobsite-specific collective bargaining agreements unique to the construction industry that needlessly increase costs and unfairly limit competition by some of America’s best contractors. Ultimately, they exclude almost 9 out of 10 of the construction industry’s workforce from the middle-class jobs and benefits created by government investment in infrastructure via the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 and other measures passed by Congress that fund public works contracts without government-mandated PLA requirements. When mandated by government agencies, PLAs can supersede and interfere with existing collective bargaining agreements that contractors have already negotiated with various unions and prevent firms from using labor from certain unions. In addition, typical terms within PLAs unfairly discourage competition from quality non-union contractors and their employees, who comprise 87.4% of the private U.S. construction industry workforce, according to the most recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. FERC Chairman Hearing Unlikely During Lame Duck Period President Biden’s nomination of current Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Richard Glick for a second term as head of the commission is in jeopardy. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that oversees the commission, has reportedly declined to schedule a confirmation during the lame duck Provider of Launchers and Receivers for all Pipe Diameters Our Rentals Include: • Pig Launcher Rentals (4”-48”) • Pig Receiver Rentals (4”-48”) • Valve Rentals 713-906-0271 candacetcrentals17@gmail.com tedbtcrentals@gmail.com www.tcrentalsinc.com P.O. Box 1688 • Tomball, TX 77377 c tedbtcrentals@gmail.com . . ll, Typical terms within PLAs unfairly discourage competition from quality non-union contractors and their employees, who comprise 87.4% of the private U.S. construction industry workforce.
PIPELINE CONTRACTORS JOURNAL | 4th Quarter 2022 9 session before the new Congress is seated. This decision comes after recent statements from President Biden critical of coal infrastructure, as well as Manchin’s continued criticism of the FERC majority’s scrutinization of proposed natural gas project certificates and other Biden administration actions hostile to natural gas. However, there are numerous problems with an incomplete set of FERC commissioners, including the delay of proposed rules and project approvals due to gridlock. APCA continues to urge FERC to speed the approvals of essential natural gas projects nationwide. If Glick is not confirmed by the end of the lame duck session, his nomination will have to be resubmitted by President Biden in the new Congress, should Biden choose to do so. Mid-Term Elections Update The 2022 midterm elections proved unusual, to say the least. Democrats defied historical trends and prevented a “red wave,” setting up one of the most closely divided Congresses in American history. At press time, it appears likely that Republicans will flip the House of Representatives. The Senate also remains uncalled, and it is likely the Democrats will hold either a 51- or 50-seat majority, similar to or slightly expanded from the status quo. Should either chamber flip, there would be strong efforts in Congress to slow or stop the pro-union efforts discussed above. Republican control of the House would shift to balance employer and employee rights and retaining current law versus adding more onerous and costly regulations on contractors and other businesses. GOP leadership has stated their intention to hold the Biden administration accountable and is likely hold many hearings with administration officials. We expect active oversight on issues ranging from implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to energy policy, and especially for labor and other regulatory issues. Without full control of Congress, it’s likely that the administration will shift even more of its policy priorities over to regulatory Whatever the outcome of the elections, APCA will be there leading the fight on labor and other issues to protect and grow your business. 7 Equipment Solutions for the Energy Industry semicrawlers.com | 800-524-2591 500 Davenport Drive College Station, TX 77845 79 Firetower Road Louisville, MS 39339
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PIPELINE CONTRACTORS JOURNAL | 4th Quarter 2022 11 On October 19, 2022, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released a new poster that covered employers are required to display in their workplaces entitled “Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal,” which updates and replaces its previous “Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law” poster. According to the EEOC, the poster uses plain language and bullet points that will make it easier for employers and employees to understand their rights and obligations. Then on October 20, 2022, the EEOC reissued a revised poster without explanation. It issued a statement as follows “Please use the version marked (Revised 10/20/22) going forward. We apologize for any inconvenience”. IMPORTANT: If you posted the October 19 poster, you should replace it with the October 20 version. You can access the updated poster on the EEOC website at www.eeoc.gov. The EEOC stated that the new “Know Your Rights” poster informs employers and employees about discrimination based on: • “Race, color, sex (including pregnancy and related conditions, sexual orientation, or gender identity), national origin, religion, • Age (40 and older), • Equal pay, • Disability, • Genetic information (including family medical history or genetic tests or services), and includes • Retaliation for filing an EEOC charge, reasonably opposing discrimination, or participating in a discrimination lawsuit, investigation, or proceeding.” The new poster also makes some substantive updates from the previous poster, specifying that harassment is a prohibited form of discrimination and that sex discrimination includes discrimination based on pregnancy and related conditions, sexual orientation, or gender identity. The poster further provides a new notice of the pay secrecy requirements for federal contractors under Executive Order 11246, which was formerly part of a required EEO Is the Law Poster Supplement. The new poster features internet links and email addresses for employees to contact the EEOC if they suspect they have been the victim of prohibited discrimination. It also includes a QR code that links directly to an EEOC website with instructions for how to file workplace discrimination charge with the EEOC. In addition to the requirement that employers physically post the notice in a conspicuous location in their workplaces, the EEOC “encouraged” covered employers to “post a notice digitally on their websites in a conspicuous location.” The agency noted that employees without a physical work location or who work remotely may not have an opportunity to view the physical posting. In a recent statement, EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows called the new poster a “win-win for employers and workers alike” and said that the “plain language and bullet points” will make it “easier for employers to understand their legal responsibilities and for workers to understand their legal rights and how to contact the EEOC for assistance.” Key Takeaways The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has long required covered employers to conspicuously post summaries of applicable federal labor and employment laws, which employers have traditionally posted in break rooms or cafeterias. Some employers argue that such notice and posting requirements have become anachronistic, particularly with more employees working remotely. Nevertheless, the DOL, in January HUMAN RESOURCES Greg Guidry Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart greg.guidry@ogletree.com (337) 769-6583 EEOC Issues Updated Rights Poster (Twice in Two Days) Human Resources continued on page 12
PIPELINE CONTRACTORS JOURNAL | 4th Quarter 2022 12 2022, increased the maximum fines for noncompliance with certain notice and posting requirements, highlighting the need for employers to understand these rules. And with issuance of the new poster, the EEOC noted that covered employers may be subject to fines for noncompliance with the posting requirements. In the pipeline construction industry, many employees never work at the contractor’s headquarters. It is important that posters be posted electronically and/or at jobsites in places where employees can view them. Notably, the EEOC’s new “Know Your Rights” poster makes a couple of specific updates to adapt to new technology, adding a QR code that easily links to information on making a workplace discrimination charge and encouraging employers to post a notice on their websites. It remains to be seen whether the number of charges filed will increase as a result, particularly as the total number of EEOC charges has been steadily decreasing each year since 2016. (Retaliation continues to be the most frequently filed type of EEOC charge.) The EEOC provided links to PDF versions of the poster in English and Spanish for employers to print, in addition to PDF and HTML versions of the poster optimized for viewing on a computer screen for electronic posting. The EEOC said posters in additional languages will be made available at a later date. Employers may further want to consider any other unique posting requirements under other applicable federal or state laws. Of course, employers can purchase required posters from poster vendors, who generally keep their customers up to date on required posters. They can also go the Department of Labor website to access required posters. Some additional federal posters that need to be posted by most employers (Note: federal contractors have additional posting requirements) include: • FLSA Minimum Wage Poster • OSHA Job Safety and Health: It’s the Law Poster • Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Poster • Employee Polygraph Protection Act Poster • Your Rights under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act. 7 This poster, issued by the EEOC on October 20, is the one that covered employers must display in their workplaces. You can access the poster at www.eeoc.gov. Pease note that this image is just page one of the two-page poster. Human Resources Continued from page 11
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PIPELINE CONTRACTORS JOURNAL | 4th Quarter 2022 14 In last quarter’s issue of Pipeline Contractors Journal, we discussed freedom of contract and how, in some cases, owners may attempt to manipulate certain contractual provisions in ways that have the effect of unfairly shifting too much risk over onto the contractor. The point of the last article, as well as this one, is not to give exhaustive legal advice about these contractual clauses, but to raise awareness of them and suggest you carefully review and understand them before signing the agreement. I do not mean to suggest owners are anything less than honorable, but given the intense level of competition for projects, the pressure on everyone involved (contractor and owner), and our litigious society, you simply cannot be too careful. In the previous article, we addressed clauses dealing with indemnity and no damage for delay and how courts and legislatures across the country have taken steps to limit or restrict how such clauses should be enforced and interpreted. Here, I want to briefly address contractual provisions dealing with standard of care for the work and requirements addressing timely notice of a claim for damages. Standard of Care Obviously, when we are about to sign a contract for a project, it is important to know what we are committing to. Uncertainty about the standard of care we must meet for the work can lead to serious problems, including potential failure to meet owner expectations and the resulting headaches, if not litigation. Generally speaking, standard of care is the benchmark to which the contractor’s services will be compared. Of course, owners often push to require the highest possible standard of care and often try to include language in the contract such as: Contractor/Engineer will perform the Work or Services consistent with the highest possible standard of care and attention to detail in the industry. Owners have a hard time understanding why such language is not acceptable and resist any changes in this regard. Of course, owners want the best possible project they can get and, of course, contractors want to deliver a good product, but language obligating the contractor to perform up to “the highest standards in the industry” is far too general and nonspecific. It is not that we want a lower standard of performance, but what, exactly, is “the highest standard in the industry” and how, specifically, is a contractor expected to meet this ill-defined standard? Furthermore, since we obtain liability insurance to protect us against claims in the event something goes wrong, how is our insurer able to evaluate the project risks if we must meet the “highest possible standard”? Fortunately, many state legislatures have dealt with this problem. A distinction is often made between services provided by an engineer and services provided by a construction contractor. For example, in Texas the only permissible standard of care for engineering (or architectural) services is: “The professional skill and care ordinarily provided by competent architects or engineers practicing under the same or similar circumstances and professional license.” The law further provides that if the contract has different standard of care language from that stated above, such language is void and the standard set forth in the statute will apply. Many states have similar laws. This legislatively imposed standard of care represents an important step and provides the industry a certain level of predictability and uniformity. It also provides contractors, engineers, and their insurers the ability to properly assess performance risks in the project. Many APCA members provide engineering services along with their construction services. In those cases, the contract should specify the above-quoted language or whatever the local, state law provides. Uniformity of the standard of care is a good thing, and even if your contract does not involve engineering or architectural services, it is good practice to go ahead and apply the same language to your construction services. You need to know the applicable standard of care. CONTRACT LAW John L. Grayson Cokinos | Young jgrayson@cokinoslaw.com (713) 535-5573 High Standards and Timely Notice
PIPELINE CONTRACTORS JOURNAL | 4th Quarter 2022 15 Notice of Claim The construction contract includes many types of notice. Some of these notices advise of an event or circumstance that may or may not eventually be the basis of claim for damages by the contractor against the owner. A notice of delay, for example, is not necessarily a notice of a claim for damages. The distinction between the two is important and can be the difference between a successful and unsuccessful claim for damages. Some owners have defended claims by contractors by asserting that the contractor failed to provide timely notice of the claim. In raising this defense, it is not uncommon for the owner to refer to contractual language similar to the following: “Contractor will immediately notify owner, in writing, of any event, occurrence or circumstance that may impede or prevent the proper or timely execution by contractor...” Others may specify short time periods, like 5 days, etc. The owner may point to such language and take the position that whatever notice was provided was not “immediate” enough or otherwise failed to meet the specific requirements. Here, the distinction between “notice of an event or occurrence” and “notice of a claim for damages” is important. Under the law of many states, including Texas, any contract stipulation that requires a claimant to give notice of a claim for damages is not valid unless that requirement is reasonable. Any requirement of less than 90-days notice of a claim for damages is unreasonable and is void. Therefore, when you are reviewing your contracts, be sure not to accept any requirement for notice of a claim for damages less than 90 days after the event giving rise to the claim. In other words, when the contract calls for notice of an event or circumstance that may give rise to a claim, a notice requirement of less than 90 days is perfectly fine. Where we have to be careful is if the notice requirement calls for notice of a claim for damages. In those cases, we should not commit to any notice requirement less than 90 days. This can vary between states, but similar rules apply in most jurisdictions. Be sure to carefully review this provision with your legal counsel. Conclusion Standard of care and notice of claim provisions are essential elements of a good, clear contract, and so long as they are reasonable and fair, they can provide useful guidance to the parties involved. Because each project and each contract is unique, the prudent contractor will review these provisions with legal counsel every time. Best wishes to all for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 7 Pipelayers Flat Bed Tractors Padding Machines Bending Machines Excavators Trenchers Dozers For Rentals And Supplies Visit CrossCountryIS.com Or Call 1-855-955-CCIS (2247) SUPPLIES INCLUDE: Abrasive & Cutting Tools > Environmental > Safety Products > Valves, Fasteners & Fittings > Lifting & Rigging > Pigging Products > Pipe Testing Equipment > and Much More EQUIPMENT RENTALS INCLUDE: Pile Drivers
PIPELINE CONTRACTORS JOURNAL | 4th Quarter 2022 16 APCA Mid-Year Meeting: Big Times in the Big Easy When APCA President Taylor Dacus, Troy Construction, welcomed his fellow members to the 2022 MidYear Meeting in October, he said, “Thank you for coming. We’ve just been through the worst two years for our industry that I can remember, and you’ve kept on supporting us.” The support was overwhelming, as 169 APCA members, family, and friends attended the meeting at the elegant Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans, making it the largest Mid-Year Meeting in APCA history. The meeting featured entertaining and enlightening speakers, the always-informative Government & Industry Relations Panel, fun-filled parties, and tours of the French Quarter, Louisiana swamps, and fantastic eateries around the Big Easy. The excellent Mid-Year program was made possible by the generous support of 27 sponsoring companies. Please see the full list on page 26. “We’ve been able to improve our meetings and add to our program every year due to the support of our Associate members and especially our sponsors. I encourage all of our members to thank the sponsors for all they do for the association and for the pipeline industry,” APCA General Manager Tim Wagner said. The Mid-Year began on Tuesday night with the President’s Welcome Reception in The Roosevelt’s stylish Blue Room with music from a cool jazz combo. Then members followed the band up the stairs for a sumptuous feast in the Waldorf Astoria Ballroom. Dealing with Life’s Detours The Mid-Year kicked off in earnest the following morning
PIPELINE CONTRACTORS JOURNAL | 4th Quarter 2022 17 with keynote speaker Steve Gilliland, a baseball announcer turned greeting card writer turned author turned prolific speaker, who now is a member of the Speaker Hall of Fame. Gilliland wowed the APCA crowd with a talk that was part stand-up comedy and part motivational speech, part laughout-load hilarious and part bring-a-tear-to-your-eye touching. He focused largely on dealing with change and not letting life’s detours get you down. “Stop giving people permission to ruin your day,” he implored. “Stop giving circumstances permission to ruin your day.” Speaking of detours, the next session—the Government & Industry Relations Panel—covered the many changes and proposed changes foisted upon the pipeline industry by the federal government. During the session, APCA members met their new government affairs representatives, Zack Perconti and Jaime Steve, who were joined on the panel by Taylor Dacus and Tim Wagner. The group discussed APCA’s strategy in Washington, D.C., on key issues, including permitting reform, mandatory project labor agreements, damage prevention, and promoting the pipeline industry and its vital work. Steve summed up APCA’s goals: “We’re working to stop them from doing dumb stuff that makes your life harder and encouraging them to do good things that will allow you to do your work.” Perconti discussed the upcoming mid-term elections, saying that control of Congress is still too close to call. He thinks that our industry can work well with a GOP House and a split Senate by working with Democratic Sens. Manchin and Sinema, who both support all-of-the-above energy policy. He said that turnout will be key to the elctions and urged, “Have a plan to vote, and make sure your employees have time to vote.” Dacus talked about APCA’s participation in Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future and its support for the natural gas industry. The group works to change the perceptions that policymakers and the public have about natural gas. Working in key battleground states, Natural Allies is currently engaged in a big social media push prior to the mid-term elections and recently commissioned a white paper on the role of natural gas in the clean energy transition. Wagner explained next steps for Infrastructure Protection Coalition, following last year’s release of the 811 Emergency study, which found significant waste in the notification and locating process. He said much work was done in 2022 to consider corrections offered by industry stakeholders, update the report, and get states to consider and adopt the study’s recommendations. The strategy is to work state-bystate using the study’s findings to help improve 811 laws and processes. With the rest of the day off, APCA members headed in many different directions. Some went on a fascinating swamp tour, others toured the historic French Quarter, while others explored the city on their own. One large group was spotted at world-famous Antoine’s, others enjoyed the home-style classics at Mothers Restaurant, and we saw one member in the hotel elevator with a bottle of wine and a pizza that he later said was one of the best he’d ever had. Everyone loves the food in New Orleans! On Friday morning it was back to business with Recent Developments in Labor and Employment Law, from Greg Guidry, Ogletree Deakins. Guidry has attended every APCA meeting since the 1994 convention in New Orleans, and he said that when the association started as the Rocky Mountain Pipeline Contractors, “Our biggest enemies were the unions. Now your number-one enemy is the government.” And he had the receipts, detailing recent developments from the Biden White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, NLRB, EEOC, and others that have the pipeline industry playing defense. Guidry also provided APCA members with lots of good practical advice, including don’t discourage employees from taking leave under FMLA, have a strong harassment policy in place, make sure you fill out OSHA 300 form for recording workplace injuries and illnesses, all employers should conduct active-shooter training, and more. Following an afternoon of culinary tours and cooking classes, APCA members met one more time for the Final Banquet, with a jazzy band, a delicious spread, and fun times with friends old and new. 7
PIPELINE CONTRACTORS JOURNAL | 4th Quarter 2022 18 Images of Mid-Year 2022 6APCA President Taylor Dacus, Troy Construction, welcomes association members to New Orleans and to the 2022 MidYear Meeting. He thanked his fellow members for continuing to support APCA and the merit shop pipeline industry.
PIPELINE CONTRACTORS JOURNAL | 4th Quarter 2022 19 6APCA Past President Mike Castle, CASTLE, opens theWelcome Reception with a prayer. 4Keynote speaker Steve Gilliland delivered serious advice with a big dose of humor that had his audience nodding along and laughing at the same time.
PIPELINE CONTRACTORS JOURNAL | 4th Quarter 2022 20 3 Jaime Steve, APCA, tells that membership that their engagement on important issues is “vitally important” to the association’s lobbying efforts. To make our collective voices heard, respond to all Muster requests and pass them along to employees, subcontractors, and vendors. 5 Greg Guidry, Ogletree Deakins, has participated in every APCA meeting since the 1994 convention in New Orleans. He discussed lots of bad policy coming from the BidenWhite House and Congress, and he had lots of good advice for employers.
PIPELINE CONTRACTORS JOURNAL | 4th Quarter 2022 21 5During the Government & Industry Relations Panel, Zack Perconti, APCA (second from left), discusses the mid-term congressional elections and how the pipeline industry might navigate a divided Congress. 6Perry Redman, Caterpillar Global Pipeline, weighs in during the Government & Industry Relations Panel. 6APCA President Taylor Dacus talks about APCA’s involvement with Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future and its efforts in support of the natural gas industry.
PIPELINE CONTRACTORS JOURNAL | 4th Quarter 2022 22 6Keynote speaker Steve Gilliland warns, “Too many times we let the detours of life ruin the journey.” 3A big crowd for the Mid-Year’s Opening Session. 5Board members Sean Renfro, Sunland Construction, Inc., and Aaron Simon, Troy Construction, discuss legislative priorities with APCA’s new government affairs representatives. 64Below and below right, the smiles on the faces let you know that these are shots of Steve Gilliland’s presentation. 3APCA President Taylor Dacus, Troy Construction, and 1st Vice President RoyWeaver, Weaver, LLC, tend to association business during the Board of Directors meeting. 4Nick Bertram, Jomax Construction Co., Inc., and Kevin LaBauve, WHC Energy Services, pay close attention to the Government Relations Panel.
PIPELINE CONTRACTORS JOURNAL | 4th Quarter 2022 23 3 Tim Doerflinger, Digital Control, Inc., snaps a photo of one of the informative slides in Greg Guidry’s employment law session. 4Chip Prosser, Southeast Connections, LLC, enjoys the Opening Session. 4When Greg Guidry talks employment law, APCA members listen.. 6 Leading the Associate Member meeting are, from left, Jason Hunt, Montgomery Trucking Co.; Brian Tanner, EPIC Insurance; Jared Shuler, YAK MAT; and Bobby Sanford, CRC-Evans Pipeline International. 4Jaime Steve, PCCA (second from right), talks about a difficult task on Capitol Hill: “Keeping politicians from doing dumb stuff.” 6 Board members Patrick McCrae, Primoris Pipeline, and Ricky Dyess, M.G. Dyess, Inc., talk a little business at theWelcome Reception. 5Peter Wallace, TVT, LLC, is hard at work during one of the general sessions. 5 Greg Guidry, Ogletree Deakins, explains how having a solid harassment in place can help protect employers in case of a harassment suit.
PIPELINE CONTRACTORS JOURNAL | 4th Quarter 2022 24 5David Kavanaugh, RMSWelding Systems, catches up with JB & Maggie Brown, Mears Group, Inc., at theWelcome Reception. 5All smiles at theWelcome Reception are, from left, Bubby & Bonnie Brister, Empire Group, and Andrew & Lauren Shivers, Jones Power, LLC. 3Longtime APCA members Mike Castle, CASTLE, and Shell Sanford, Sunbelt Tractor & Equipment Co., enjoy the Welcome Reception. 4Relaxing during theWelcome Dinner are Scott Jardell and Laris Nolan, both with Bluewater Constructors, Inc. 6APCA members line up behind the sax player for a second-line style procession to theWelcome Dinner. 6Board member Nick Bertram, Jomax Construction Co., Inc., talks fuel with Karl Schwartz, Beard Oil. 4Patrick McCrae, Primoris Pipeline, chats with Roger Spee, CRC-Evans Pipeline International. 6Hanging out before theWelcome Dinner are Brian Tanner, EPIC Insurance; Brent Hargrove, Delta Fuel Company, Inc., and Sean Renfro, Sunland Construction, Inc.
PIPELINE CONTRACTORS JOURNAL | 4th Quarter 2022 25 4Fun times at the Final Banquet for, from left, RyanWalker, PSS Industrial group; Scott Shook, Troy Construction; and Michael Wilcox, Benchmark Industrial Services. 3Bhrett Farrar, T&C Rentals, makes his point in earnest to Nick & Anne Bruno, Bi-Con Services, Inc. 3This happy crew at the Final Banquet includes Casey Huggard, Lauren Shivers, Heather Johnson, and Beth Hayes. 346Tours at APCA meetings are funs ways to explore the cities we visit and get to know fellow members. Our New Orleans points of interest included St. Louis Cathedral (left), a French Quarter watering hole on the Culinary Tour (right), and the New Orleans School of Cooking (below), where Ashely Castle shows off her skills. 5A fun band and good friends are key ingredients to a great time.
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PIPELINE CONTRACTORS JOURNAL | 4th Quarter 2022 27 QUICK! How many rescue breaths should you administer after providing chest compressions on an unresponsive, non-breathing accident victim during CPR? [The American Red Cross recommends giving 2 breaths for about 1 second each before immediately returning to giving 30 chest compressions with two hands centered on the chest at a depth of at least 2 inches at a rate of 100 to 120 compressions per minute.] We can reasonably expect to agree that training is a critical element of any corporate safety management system. However, it is unlikely we can agree on how to understand or measure the student’s retention level of the training materials. Tests, quizzes, and skill demonstrations prove the student has learned something from the training course. But, for how long? Will the student be able to act upon their training six months from now? Will they be able to recall their training in an emergency? A project led by the University of Colorado-Boulder’s Construction Safety Research Alliance is studying this exact issue. The premise is that in contrast to rapid advancements in science and technology, training in general, and safety training in specific, has been slow to change. By studying training from a scientific perspective, the team believes they can clearly define the fundamental drivers of adult learning and reimagine how training is delivered. Training allows us to impart knowledge, improve skills, and reinforce a safety culture. But we all learn and retain training differently. This challenges the abilities of the trainer and the training program to ensure the students are prepared to properly identify—and act upon— their training when it is truly needed. Thirty-one company representatives from the energy, pipeline infrastructure, marine, and construction industry along with five PhD academic members are working to bring together well-defined safety training content with new academic research in the science of adult learning. Specifically, the team is exploring how time-tested strategies like storytelling and humor pair with modern technologies like simulations, virtual/augmented reality, and artificial intelligence to improve the learning and retention of safety-related content. With input from front-line employees and controlled experiments, the team will test how these potentially transformative methods of training impact the acquisition, retention, and application of new safety knowledge. This project is critical for equipping the next generation of workers with training that is purposely designed to be more effective, efficient, and engaging. Project Vision and Goals The project is focused on developing and validating an effective safety training framework that will: • Identify key learning agents—the tools used to deliver the learning content • Improve learning transfer/information acquisition • Facilitate knowledge retention • Define, create, and document a safety training template The Science of Safety Training; Defining the Fundamental Drivers of Adult Learning By Perry Redman, Caterpillar, Inc. Continued on page 28
PIPELINE CONTRACTORS JOURNAL | 4th Quarter 2022 28 that can be deployed over multiple training topics in the construction industry to enhance and improve student learning and retentio The project intends to deliver recommendations on the following safety training program elements: • Learning Environment: What is the optimal learning environment for workers and immediate supervision? • Learning Content: How should content be designed and delivered for optimal knowledge transfer? • Trainer: What tools and resources are needed for trainers to be successful? What does a successful trainer “look” like? • Learner: How do we help workers and their supervision turn into better learners? Initial Action The team first identified and then narrowed the key safety topics relevant to construction workers and their immediate supervision. These are the safety-related learning topics deemed to be of top relevance and importance to a company’s safety performance. These topics needed to include demonstrable skills that can be measured, however, experimentally they may not be assessable. Five key safety topics were identified as critical to the safety learning portfolio: 1. Hazard Recognition; can the student recognize the jobsite hazards to themselves and their crew? 2. What controls are in place to manage jobsite risks? Can the student identify them and recognize their absence? 3. Are safe work plans identified and clearly communicated for the project as well as the work at hand. 4. Are roles and responsibilities identified and understood for the project and the day’s work? Does the student understand the impact they have on themselves and their crew if they do not understand and act on their own roles and responsibilities? 5. How will the student and crew respond to jobsite or work procedure change and/or emergencies? Then the team worked to identify the Learning Objectives for any safety training. These are the deliverables expected from the student after completing the safety-related training. While not exhaustive, the team identified and then narrowed eight learning objectives that are considered important outcomes of any safety related learning program. Learnings to Date The team surveyed more than 200 construction workers and immediate supervision about what they liked and didn’t like about training in general and safety training in specific. • Workers like: ◆ Hands-on, engaging and on-the-jobsite training ◆ Knowledgeable and experienced trainers The Science of Safety Training Continued from page 27
PIPELINE CONTRACTORS JOURNAL | 4th Quarter 2022 29 • Workers don’t like: ◆ Presentations without hands-on engagement ◆ Non-interactive / online-based training ◆ Out-of-date materials and training techniques The team also surveyed 190 safety training professionals about what they found most effective in training workers and immediate supervision/ foremen: • Effective Training Techniques ◆ Discussion, storytelling, and hands-on are the most engaging training methods ◆ Demonstrate positive attitudes on new technologies ◆ Content depth needs to balance Practical vs Competency ◆ Training templates help create the safety training Climate, but execution creates the safety Culture • Training Challenges: ◆ Keeping every trainee engaged ◆ Training experienced workers ◆ Keeping trainees focused Next Steps: Now that the team has outlined the key safety training topics and then the objectives of each of the training topics, the research can begin to: 1. Collect data on effective training tools or learning agents to deliver the content 2. Evaluate effective delivery mechanisms for the learning agents such as virtual or face-to-face training 3. Determination of the tools and resources needed to ensure effective trainers 4. Compile and disseminate the analysis, findings and recommendations Continued on page 30
PIPELINE CONTRACTORS JOURNAL | 4th Quarter 2022 30 The team is now working in parallel to define and draft experiments to test student acceptance, understanding, and retention of safety training content. This includes an academic review of critical literature and content related to adult learning in an industrial environment. These elements will all feed into the development of the safety training framework. Work is underway to identify the research questions that need to be answered to seek and narrow effective learning delivery tools—the learning agents. The research questions will guide the team of researchers to evaluate literature and academic materials for identifying potential knowledge transfer mechanisms/learning agents. This list of potential learning agents will then be tested from a scientific perspective in field and lab-based research to evaluate each learning agent’s effectiveness in respect to each safety training topic. Through in-field and lab-based training, the research team will evaluate the multiple learning agent’s effectiveness versus a control group. Here, the control group will be delivered a safety training content or program using current industry-accepted learning agents (text book, in-class program, etc.) with testing administered after completion of the session and then again at predetermined intervals to measure knowledge retention. Seperately, the experimental groups will utilize new learning agents to deliver related content to the other worker and foremen groups. Again, knowledge testing will be administered at the end of the session and then again at predetermined intervals to compare retention. Project Timeline The project will present its findings on potential learning agents in early November with lab and in-field testing scheduled to start February 2023. The project deliverables are planned to be released at year end 2023. Who Is CSRA? The CRSA is a partnership of industry leaders and experienced scientists, focused on construction safety research. The team is led by Dr. Matthew Hallowell through the University of Colorado Boulder. The alliance is supported by eight academic researchers and over 70 health, safety, and environment representatives from pipeline operators, pipeline construction, utilities, and infrastructure construction. The CSRA uses scientific data-driven methods to create defendable and reliable construction safety knowledge with an open-source, results-sharing strategy. The CSRA is a forum to: • Propose and test new safety ideas and innovations • Connect industry and academia to actively participate in safety research • Explore the efficacy of new safety technologies • Shape the next generation of safety researchers and practitioners • Network and share best practices CSRA research teams typically involve the active collaboration of 15-25 industry practitioners and 2-3 academic leaders. The research teams report quarterly to identify data sources, conduct field trials, interpret findings, create implementation strategies, advance ongoing research, and present results. The CSRA has completed four projects and has three projects underway including the Science of Safety Training. Completed CSRA projects: 1. Quality of Safety Leading Indicators: The project worked to create a precise, accurate, and reliable protocol for assessing the quality with which safety management systems (safety leading indicators) are implemented. 2. Tyranny of TRIR: Our industry has been using Total Recordable Injury Rate (TRIR) for nearly half a century to compare safety performance of entities, but to what extent is it statistically valid? This project reviewed the use and interpretation of TRIR metrics in our industry and validating its ability to predict safety performance. The Science of Safety Training Continued from page 29
PIPELINE CONTRACTORS JOURNAL | 4th Quarter 2022 31 3. Predictive Analytics: Is it possible to identify the business factors, work characteristics, and crew demographics that best predict serious injury and fatality incidents? This project evaluated and recommended potential predictors of safety performance and producing a dashboard enabling an objective and dynamic method to assess SIF risks. 4. Incident Investigation: Learning from incidents is vital in aiding organizations in the elimination of Serious Injuries and Fatalities (SIFs). Most incident investigation resources focus on the analysis of data collected, often with a presumption that the information collected is itself of high quality, but that is not always the case. The project worked to determine what happened and why, highlighting any causal factors that led to the incident. This approach enables organizations to learn from incidents and make appropriate changes to ensure they won’t happen again. Other in-flight CSRA projects include: 1. Unique Precursors of SIF: Are the causes of high and low severity injuries different? This project will aim to understand how to design interventions that are specifically designed to eliminate serious injuries and fatalities. 2. Safety Return on Investment: How do we isolate and measure the impact of a safety intervention? How do we measure our monetary and non-monetary return on investment? Organizations spend millions of dollars annually on safety programs, but how can we know if we are putting effort into the most useful programs? This study will explore the extent to which emerging methods from economics, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare can be adapted to construction safety. Details on these projects and more are available at www. csra.colorado.edu/projects. 7 Perry Redman is Manager of North American Corporate Pipeline Accounts for Caterpillar, an Associate Member of the APCA, and a member of the APCA Safety Committee and multiple other global pipeline safety committees. He is based in Houston, Tex., and is working with CSRA as Co-Chair of the Science of Safety Training project and as a member of the Predictive Analytics team. He is an advocate for advancing safety on the right of way and welcomes your feedback and participation on this research. He can be reached at redman_perry_m@cat.com.
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