Executive Orders Have No Impact on the Pending Silica Rule
Silica Alert
The Executive Orders recently signed by President Trump have no impact on the pending silica rule. The silica rule is not considered pending or a recent rule. We have been working with our attorneys to make sure that you will be kept up to speed on the silica rule and any changes that may or may not take place. We met Tuesday, January 31 and there are currently no changes and no plans for changes. As you know, the litigation we are involved in will likely not impact the implementation date of June 23. Likely the litigation will go well beyond that date.
As a result, until we hear further out of DC, it is imperative that we plan for the implementation date. We have two very important compliance components available to members. The first is the Silica Train-the-Trainer program. We begin these programs later this month in Syracuse, NY, Milwaukee, WI and Chicago, IL. These programs allow you to send a key employee to be trained to come back to your office and train your foremen or other people who will be your competent person on each job site beginning June 23. You need to have at least one per job site. This will be very important as you prepare to comply with the new rule.
The other component to this will be for you to have a written program for every job site. The competent people will be trained on this program. Every MCAA member will have access to a written program for each of their job sites. These written programs will be free to members, and you can download and print out as many as you need. They will be auto populated with your company name and information when you log in online to access them. You will simply add a few details about the specific site you are utilizing them for. We will keep the online program up to speed with any changes that occur with the rule in order to keep your plan up to speed with the rule.
We strongly encourage everyone to begin the process of implementing plans for the new rule. Please visit www.masoncontractors.org/train-the-trainer to view dates and locations of the coming Silica Train-the-Trainer programs. We require a minimum of 10 people to hold the classes. If we have to cancel a class, we will not be able to reschedule a class in that location as we have already booked our program out through June 23. Please register today so we do not get caught without enough space for everyone as we get closer to the rule, plus we have attempted to target cities that will limit travel for most people.
If you have any questions regarding the rule, please feel free to contact Jeff Buczkiewicz at 800-536-2225. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL IT IS TO LATE TO UNDERSTAND THIS NEW RULE. We are trying to make implementation as easy, cost effective and seamless for our members as possible.
If there is any change to rule or the implementation of the rule, you will be the first to hear through this newsletter alert in the future.
About the Author
Jeff Buczkiewicz is the President and CEO of the Mason Contractors Association of America. Jeff has worked in the masonry industry for several years as the Executive Vice President of the Building Stone Institute and the Director of Marketing and Membership for the Mason Contractors Association of America. Jeff has also served as Secretary on the Board of the Natural Stone Council and is a former Board Member of the StonExpo Federation.
