The Boeing Company announced the unveiling of a new cargo air vehicle prototype.
In less than three months, a Boeing team designed and built an unmanned cargo air vehicle prototype. Researchers are using it as a test bed to mature the technological building blocks of safe, autonomous flight.
It stands four feet off the ground and measures 15 by 18 feet. Powered by an environmentally-friendly electric propulsion system, it is outfitted with custom Boeing batteries and eight counter-rotating propeller blades for vertical flight.
Designed to carry up to 500 pounds, the prototype will open up new possibilities for future aerospace vehicles used to transport cargo and other potential logistics applications.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the “NATIONAL CENSUS OF FATAL OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES IN 2016” on December 19, 2017.
There were a total of 5,190 fatal work injuries recorded in the United States in 2016, a 7-percent increase from the 4,836 fatal injuries reported in 2015, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This is the third consecutive increase in annual workplace fatalities and the first time more than 5,000 fatalities have been recorded by the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) since 2008. The fatal injury rate increased to 3.6 per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers from 3.4 in 2015, the highest rate since 2010.
Work injuries involving transportation incidents remained the most common fatal event in 2016, accounting for 40 percent (2,083). Violence and other injuries by persons or animals increased 23 percent to become the second-most common fatal event in 2016. Two other events with large changes were exposure to harmful substances or environments, which rose 22 percent, and fires and explosions, which declined 27 percent.
Fatal work injuries involving violence and other injuries by persons or animals increased by 163 cases to 866 in 2016. Workplace homicides increased by 83 cases to 500 in 2016, and workplace suicides increased by 62 to 291. This is the highest homicide figure since 2010 and the most suicides since CFOI began reporting data in 1992.
Fatal work injuries from falls, slips, or trips continued a general upward trend that began in 2011, increasing 6 percent to 849 in 2016 and 25 percent overall since 2011. Falls increased more than 25 percent in 2016 for roofers, carpenters, tree trimmers and pruners, and heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers.
Overdoses from the non-medical use of drugs or alcohol while on the job increased from 165 in 2015 to 217 in 2016, a 32-percent increase. Overdose fatalities have increased by at least 25 percent annually since 2012.
The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), part of the BLS Occupational Safety and Health Statistics (OSHS) program, compiles a count of all fatal work injuries occurring in the U.S. during the calendar year. The CFOI program uses diverse state, federal, and independent data sources to identify, verify, and describe fatal work injuries. This ensures counts are as complete and accurate as possible. For the 2016 data, over 23,300 unique source documents were reviewed as part of the data collection process.
When buying a pair of shoes, a pen, or a new car—the expectation is for the product to do the job. But you also want it to look good: stylish, current, cool. Why wouldn’t the same be true of products—wheelchairs, hearing aids, and more—designed to aid those with disabilities?
This is one of the major questions explored in the new exhibition “Access+Ability,” on view at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum through September 3 of this year. The show, which features more than 70 works, from an aerodynamic racing wheelchair to a vibration-activated shirt that allows the deaf to experience sounds, covers the wide range of innovations occurring in accessible design. It reflects how designers creating products for those with disabilities are making them not just increasingly functional and practical, but stylish.
“Why not be able to change the color of your prosthetic leg to match your style, your taste, your outfit?” asks Cara McCarty, director of curatorial at Cooper Hewitt, who co-curated the exhibition with Rochelle Steiner, curator and professor of Critical Studies at the University of Southern California. “You can dress it up, dress it down.”
McCarty is referring to a set of prosthetic leg covers designed and manufactured by McCauley Wanner and Ryan Palibroda for ALLELES Design Studio, which come in a number of patterns and colors, allowing the user the kind of choice they would get if shopping for any other item of apparel.
“Just like people add tattoos to their limbs, life-enhancing products can be yours, you can add your identity to it,” says McCarty.
From increasingly versatile canes and customized prosthetic leg covers to shirts with magnetic closures and shoes with a wrap-around zipper system, the exhibition shows how products created over the past decade are not only becoming more accessible and functional, but fashionable. Through the integration of groundbreaking assistive technologies, 3-D printing and haptic feedback, new design solutions are also extending sensory perception, providing new ways to navigate and negotiate the environment, and promoting greater access to sports and recreation. – Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Press Release
Senator Dan Quick has introduced employee-friendly legislation
Today’s post comes from guest author Jon Rehm, from Rehm, Bennett & Moore.
Last weekend’s Big 10 Conference football championship game between Ohio State and Wisconsin contained some off-the-field controversy when former Wisconsin Badger and current Cleveland Browns player, Joe Thomas, criticized the fact that Ohio State starting quarterback J.T. Barrett was playing in the game six days after arthroscopic knee surgery.
While Barrett lead the Buckeyes to victory with 211 passing yards and 60 rushing yards, Thomas argued that college players should have the option of a second opinion when it comes to major surgeries like players do in the NFL. Thomas argued that team doctors are overly influenced by coaches who want players to return to action as soon as possible and that college players are over eager to return to the field.
Nine workers received $210,000 in back pay recently for work on 10 Western Washington schools after a Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) investigation.
The company, I&C Northwest of Bonney Lake, WA, and owner Jim Lingnaw, were cited for the unpaid regular wages and overtime, and for false reporting. The company owes another $218,000 in fines and faces a prohibition from bidding on any public works projects.
Jim Christensen, Prevailing Wage Program manager for L&I, said the citations are based on I&C’s continued violations of state law after the agency educated the firm on requirements for public contracts. The agency warned Lingnaw in January 2016 about receiving fines and disbarment after L&I uncovered the same violations on five other projects. Investigations involving the company go back to at least 2014.
“This case represents examples of repeated violations of the law,” said Christensen, who has more than a decade of experience handling prevailing wage issues. “Our investigation showed I&C falsified pay documents and shorted the workers on each project – this goes beyond a simple, honest mistake.”
L&I investigated the current complaints starting in February for work done on the schools in 2015-16. The school districts involved include Bellevue, Clover Park, Mercer Island, North Thurston, Tacoma, Tumwater, Seattle, and Snoqualmie. The work covered seven elementary schools, two middle schools and a high school.
I&C paid the wages and has also has appealed the citations to the Office of Administrative Hearings. A hearing has been scheduled for March 26-April 6, 2018.
The citations represent L&I’s continued enforcement against contractors who show a pattern of avoiding requirements under the law, Christensen said. He credited the work of the agency’s industrial relations agents and the state Attorney General’s Office on the case.
The state’s prevailing wage law, triggered when construction uses public funds, covers workers on projects such as schools, roads, and buildings. L&I enforces the law, which protects employees by setting the wages for specific work. The law ensures contractors have a level playing field in bidding public projects.
The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) fined an Othello, WA company $105,000 for violating required conditions in hiring farm workers.
The violation issued to Agri Aide Inc. is the largest L&I fine ever against a farm labor contractor. The penalty is based on the firm’s history of repeated violations. Agri Aide did not file an appeal and made payment toward the infraction.
As a farm labor contractor, Agri Aide is one of about 250 firms across the state that hires, organizes, and transports workers to farms. Under law, contractors must provide each worker written notice about pay, housing, safety requirements, and other conditions.
“Often, these workers are happy just to have a job; they’re not looking at whether the person who got them the job has a license,” said Tisa Soeteber, agricultural employment specialist at L&I. “L&I is going after repeat offenders like Agri Aide to stop unlicensed contractors from both competing with legitimate farm labor contractors and putting workers at risk.”
Marivel and Jose Luis Brunetti, Agri Aide owners, operated the company without a farm labor contracting license in at least 2012, 2013, and 2015. Agri Aide received the maximum fines in those cases, which included forging a contractor license in 2012 and failing to tell workers about the conditions of their employment in 2015.
L&I began its investigation in May after receiving a complaint. It involved Agri Aide laborers at Williamson Farms, in Quincy, WA, transplanting chili plants.
Williamson Farms hadn’t checked the Agri Aide license since 2006. The farm told L&I it would no longer work with any unlicensed contractor.
Soeteber said farmers should check annually for the license of their farm labor contractor. She said the Farm Labor Contractor Act protects workers’ rights and limits the liability a farmer may face for using an unlicensed firm.
Information about farm labor contracting is available by emailing ESgeneral@Lni.wa.gov, calling 1-866-219-7321, or going online to www.Lni.wa.gov and typing “Farm Labor Contractors” in the search box.
Port builds on solar power pilot at Fishermen’s Terminal with larger solar plan for the roof at Pier 69 Headquarters
Port of Seattle Commissioners passed an Energy and Sustainability Motion that charts a new course toward the Port’s commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance sustainability and assess new opportunities for sourcing renewable energy. One of the most tangible aspects of progress on sustainability at the Port is the new solar array currently being installed at Fishermen’s Terminal. The Port’s proposed 2018 budget includes an even larger project to add solar energy to the roof of its Pier 69 building.
“In addition to reducing the Port’s carbon emissions and working to reduce the competing demands on Washington’s hydropower system, these projects demonstrate how the Port can lead efforts to reduce the increasingly obvious impacts of climate change on the environment and our quality of life,” said Port of Seattle Commissioner Fred Felleman, who co-chairs the Port’s Energy and Sustainability Committee with Commissioner Courtney Gregoire.
“Today’s action reinforces the Port of Seattle’s commitment to sustainable economic growth and should encourage expanded innovation in green technology. From biofuels at Sea-Tac Airport to solar panels at Fishermen’s Terminal, we look forward to strengthening partnerships to make our region a market leader in the green economy,” Commissioner Gregoire added.
Watch local solar experts and Port of Seattle Commissioner Fred Felleman describe current and future renewable energy and sustainability projects at the Port of Seattle.
The Motion will direct the Port of Seattle to:
Develop a Sustainability Evaluation Framework to assist the Commission helping the Port meet its greenhouse gas reduction and sustainability goals by increasing the transparency of project impacts.
Select up to four pilot projects, divided between the airport and maritime, to identify the framework and process that incorporates environmental and societal components in design and decision-making for Port construction and operations. The solar project at Pier 69 should be selected as the first pilot project to test the Port’s new evaluation framework.
Ensure sufficient resources to track greenhouse gas reduction and implement sustainable design principles.
Expand our carbon reduction emission goal in the Port’s Century Agenda to include indirect emissions. The Port’s goal is for Port-controlled and indirect emissions to be carbon neutral or carbon negative by 2050.
Increase collaboration with the Northwest Seaport Alliance through the Sustainability Center of Expertise.
Rendering of solar power array on Fishermen’s Terminal Net Shed 5. The solar panel installation should generate approximately 11,000 kWh of power annually, enough to power the building’s operations. A Washington State based company manufactured the solar panels and a local company will perform installation. Completion: early 2018.
Rendering of solar power array on Port of Seattle’s Pier 69 office building. The solar panel installation could generate approximately 320,000 kWH of power annually and defer 11,000 lbs. of CO2. The project, if approved, would be partially funded by a grant from Washington State Department of Commerce.
“The Port knows that a more prosperous future is also a cleaner, more sustainable one,” said Vlad Gutman-Britten, Washington Director of Climate Solutions. “These policies put the Port of Seattle on a path towards environmental leadership that reflects the values of this region.”
The Energy and Sustainability Motion marks a major milestone for the Port, which two years ago began significant internal, policy and operational changes that will contribute to a healthier environment and communities. Significant conservation and sustainability actions from the past two years have included:
Creating a consolidated Sustainability Center of Expertise to better share information and strategies between environmental experts in aviation and maritime;
Establishing the new policy-making Energy and Sustainability Committee that includes Port Commissioners, staff and was advised by external stakeholders;
Creating a first-of-its kind Marine Stormwater Utility, which relies on tenants and business unit fees to assess, repair and improve stormwater infrastructure, including adding green infrastructure to manage stormwater;
Setting more ambitious goals for reducing Port-controlled carbon emissions;
Increasing energy efficiency through upgrades and new equipment, including converting CNG buses to electric;
Pursuing opportunities to supply sustainable aviation biofuel to all airlines fueling at Sea-Tac Airport;
Sourcing new wind-powered electricity, renewable natural gas and renewable diesel; and
Improving the walkway between public transit stations and the airport terminal by adding an electric cart shuttle, increasing wayfinding, adding weatherization panels and improving lighting.
The Port of Seattle set a goal to be the greenest, most energy efficient port in North America. The Port’s environmental programs cover air quality, energy, clean water, habitat and wildlife management, noise abatement, recycling and solid waste management and cleaning up industrial contamination. In addition to maintaining its aviation and maritime facilities, the Port manages 24 acres of waterfront parks using organic landscaping practices.
Six construction workers were shorted more than $155,000 in wages for work on a Belfair senior center, according to a Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) investigation.
The workers are owed about $25,000 each for wood framing at the Belfair HUB Senior Center. Their employer, Integrity Construction LLC, was on the project from May to August 2015. L&I notified the company of the violation in August, 2017.
L&I’s investigation found the Tacoma company owes $156,692.48 in wages and more than $30,000 in fines and penalties. Integrity did not appeal the violation and is barred from bidding on future public works projects until the money is paid.
“Integrity vastly underpaid its employees for the work they did,” said Elizabeth Smith, assistant director for L&I’s Fraud Prevention and Labor Standards division. “By making sure contractors pay their workers fairly, we are creating a level playing field for firms in the construction industry.”
The Belfair project received $1.86 million from the state’s capital budget. That meant Integrity was required to follow the state’s prevailing wage law. L&I enforces the law, which protects workers by setting the wages for specific work.
Because the project owner was a non-profit and not a public agency, the organization was not required to post a performance bond or hold money aside until the project was completed, called retainage, for situations like this.
“It’s important that agencies and non-profits understand that using public money on a project means it’s covered under prevailing wage,” Smith said. “The law’s safeguards would have assured protection for the workers’ wages.”
Belfair’s Hospitality, Unity, and Belonging (HUB) Senior Center, valued at a reported $3.5 million, opened in May 2016. At 15,000 square feet, the structure houses a thrift store, meeting space, and kitchen. PHC Construction of Bainbridge Island was the prime contractor.
Burns are among the most painful on-the-job injuries. Each year, hundreds of workers in Washington are burned on the job so severely that they require specialized medical care. The care and support these injured workers receive are key to their recovery and return to work.
The Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) and Harborview Medical Center opened a new Center of Excellence for medical care for burns in August, 2017. The agreement expanded workers’ access to a range of specialists who collaborate throughout the worker’s recovery.
“Getting the right care at the right time is crucial for these catastrophically injured workers,” said Joel Sacks, director of L&I. “We hope to make their recovery better and a little easier by improving access to specialists.”
“The new Center of Excellence for Burns will help us streamline multi-disciplinary care to Washington’s workers who sustain devastating burns,” said Dr. Nicole Gibran, director of the Regional Burn Center at Harborview Medical Center, part of University of Washington (UW) Medicine. “By coordinating care with providers who understand burn injuries, we facilitate physical and psychological recovery.”
National data has shown that nearly 50 percent of adult burn patients do not return to work two years after injury and 28 percent never return to work. In contrast, a recent study in the Journal of Burn Care & Research showed that 93 percent of workers with work-related burns who were treated at the UW Medicine Regional Burn Center at Harborview returned to work on average 24 days after injury. The research attributes these dramatically improved outcomes to the broad support the worker receives from employers and workers’ compensation claims staff, and to the specialized and comprehensive burn care at Harborview.
To streamline care for burned workers insured by L&I, a group of highly-trained staff from the agency manages catastrophic claims. They will coordinate closely with UW Medicine and with staff wherever workers continue treatment.
The new center is part of an L&I project to improve care for catastrophically injured workers. This is the second center of excellence; the first, for amputations, was established in early 2016.
The Port of Seattle Commission voted to select Trammel Crow Company (TCC) as a developer for its Des Moines Creek North site in the City of SeaTac. The proposed development will create more than 356,000 square feet of high quality, light industrial space with supporting warehouse functions within two industrial buildings. Tenants may include food processors, manufacturers, and logistics providers that support the aviation and air cargo industries.
“With this investment, the Port of Seattle continues to provide leadership in economic development,” said Port of Seattle Commissioner Stephanie Bowman. “This land will provide essential industrial and family-wage jobs for our region.”
TCC is one of the nation’s leading developers and investors in commercial real estate, having developed or acquired more than 2,600 buildings valued at more than $60 billion and over 565 million square feet. TCC has created a new, wholly-owned company TC Northwest Development, for this ground lease and investment. TCC was recently named as the #1 Development Company in the US for 2016.
The investment made at Des Moines Creek-North will help advance economic development within the City of SeaTac and for surrounding communities:
The project will provide approximately 90+ prevailing wage construction jobs during the build out of the property. At full occupancy, the development will be home to approximately 400+ full-time employees with an estimated payroll of more than $28 million annually.
The project complements the nearby Des Moines Creek Business Park by adding additional best-in-class industrial inventory that will continue to attract and retain growing firms, keeping jobs within King County and the nearby region.
The design and construction will be completed primarily by locally owned, private small businesses. This further serves to promote small business growth and workforce development.
The infill location of Des Moines Creek-North will help reduce sprawl by creating new light industrial facilities adjacent to current road infrastructure, highways, and public transportation.
Located south of the Angle Lake light rail station, this 22.47-acre undeveloped property is zoned Aviation Commercial (“AVC”) and will expand upon the success of the industrial development at the Des Moines Creek Business Park. It will also represent the first new industrial development on Port property in the City of SeaTac in many years. The City of SeaTac has voiced its support for the development here.
