Many contractors use mechanical roller dispensers to increase the productivity of bonding adhesive application. In order to further increase the productivity using these tools, Versico is introducing the Locking Ring Lid. This lid allows users to quickly and easily replace the original lid on Versico’s Bonding Adhesives after they are properly mixed prior to application. The lid can be reused indefinitely to quickly reseal steel pails throughout a project. The locking ring lid is not approved for the transportation of adhesives.

Versico offers the following recommendations for using mechanical roller dispensers.
Coverage Rates

* When using AquaBase 120 with VersiFleece^® membranes, the finished surface is considered to be the substrate only
Hole Sizing and Spacing

Additional Precautions

• Adhesives must be thoroughly mixed before applying.
• Roller covers must be replaced on a daily basis.
• The pace of application when using the mechanical roller dispenser for bonding adhesive isextremely critical to achieving proper coverage rates. The pace will vary depending on the adhesive used, ambient temperature and amount of adhesive in the container.
• A 9″ wide roller with a 3/8″ nap must be used to backroll the adhesive after application with the mechanical roller dispenser.
• During colder weather, keep adhesives warm as long as possible before use to reduce application times.

Click Here to view the complete announcement.

Versico and VersiFleece are trademarks of Versico.
© 2012 Versico.

MAY 9, 2012 | BY THERESA MINTON-EVERSOLE

Many employers are more than willing to hire military veterans. But many concede that they do not know all they need to know to effectively find and hire them.

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has published a toolkit that can help companies learn what they need to know to make their hiring practices military friendly. The toolkit, Support from Behind the Lines: 10 Steps to Becoming a Military-Ready Employer, written by Sherrill Curtis, SPHR, principal and creative director for Curtis Consulting Group, a New Jersey-based HR consulting practice, guides HR professionals and business leaders in how to source, assimilate and support military-connected talent — veterans, National Guard, reservists and their supporting family members — effectively in the workplace. It describes how to assess an organization’s culture and resources related to military-connected employees and how to develop initiatives that will fulfill the organization’s needs best.

“The transition from a military to a civilian career can be daunting,” writes Curtis. “Upon returning home, service members think primarily of reconnecting with their families and getting some much-needed rest as they try to acclimate to a ‘normal’ home-life routine.”

But she adds, “While service members transitioning out of the military may receive information during debriefings about potential job assistance and resources, there is no formal, mandatory career transition training program for all services.” Consequently, they typically sign papers and return home without training on how to take that next all-important step in their careers.

The toolkit outlines 10 steps employers can take to make their hiring practices military ready, the first of which are to understand the issues and challenges that this population faces and to build a business case for hiring these highly-skilled professionals. Curtis writes that programs with the continuing support of so-called executive “champions” are most  likely to gain traction, including gaining necessary time, talent, budget, equipment and space.

Other useful information detailed in the toolkit includes:

• Information on tax incentives available for hiring veterans;

• Tips on understanding military ranks, job titles and terminology;

• Advice on how to effectively interview veterans;

• Advice about on-boarding and assimilating veterans back into a civilian workplace; and

• Citations of successful employers, government and nonprofit resources and many other references for assistance.

“Remember that taking action, even if it may appear on the surface to be nominal, has great impact for those who directly as well as indirectly benefit. Though the intended purpose of sharing this information is to reach out to and engage military talent — those who served abroad and at home — the resulting strategies, flexibility and community that evolve from your actions serve to create a work environment that benefits all talent,” Curtis concludes.

Theresa Minton-Eversole is an online editor/manager for SHRM.

© 2012 SHRM. All rights reserved.

Courtesy of: homechannelnews.com

A closer look at your roof can reveal problems and help you assess whether it's time for repairs. (handout, HANDOUT / April 5, 2012)

You may glance up at the roof once in a while but it’s not part of the house that grabs attention— until there’s a leak. An inspection can catch problems before that happens, and also help you choose the right time to reroof. That can be a tough call unless you have a close look: too soon and you waste years of service from the singles; too late and reroofing can mushroom into an expensive sequence of stripping what’s there and starting from scratch.

*On the roof or not. A close look provides better feedback than checking from the ground or even from a ladder along the eaves. But so-called walkable roofs (you don’t need scaffolding) may feel comfortable to some and scary to others. The rule is to follow your instincts. If you’re not comfortable there, don’t go there. If you make the climb, stay off wet roofs and wear non-slip shoes in any case. Avoid asphalt roofs midday under full sun (they can get gooey) and roofs where the singles (whatever the material) are loose.

*Checking choke points. They’re usually easy to spot, like the joint between chimney flashing and a sloping roof that piles up with leaves and pine needles. Whatever is stopping them, often displaced flashing, needs to be fixed to keep the roof free-flowing and prevent ice dams in winter. The same goes for gutters. You have an old wire basket that traps leaves and blocks the downspout flow? Remove it and either try another screening system or plan to clear the gutters more often.

*Revisiting repairs. A part of the roof that leaked before is a prime candidate to do it again. That’s because most repairs are stopgap measures. Instead of tearing out two layers of flashing, chiseling out old mortar, and resetting new copper along a chimney, you get a strip of aluminum with a smear of roof cement. Worse yet are repairs on sloped roofs made with roof coating, a runnier version of roof cement that leaves only a thin coat of asphalt over leaks.

*Monitoring shingle life. Thin, lightweight shingles wear out sooner and multi-layer, heavyweight shingles last longer, but typical installations on most sloped roofs last about 20 years. Of course, longevity also depends on the surroundings. Free-flowing roofs exposed to air and sunlight do better while roofs in shade and covered with mold and moss do worse. But whatever the lifespan, asphalt shingles generally deteriorate in three stages.

1. Surface granules start to wear away, creating dark patches where bare asphalt shows through. If you don’t see the patches you can spot the granules collecting at the ends of downspouts. Leaks are unlikely at this stage, but as more granules erode, shingles will dry out, crack, and may have to be replaced before the entire roof is redone.

2. Shingle sections exposed to the weather, called the tabs, become brittle and start to curl. The roof takes on a waffled appearance instead of lying flat. That makes it more likely to leak, specially in winter and any place where debris piles up and traps water. Reroofing is still an option. But unless you strip the roof and start from scratch, each curled tab should be broken away and patched. Otherwise the new roof will reflect the waffle pattern and the tabs won’t seal out the weather.

3. Instead of finding granules in the gutter system, you find chunks of shingle tabs— so brittle and curled that they break off. That exposes nail heads and a direct route for water through the overlapped layers of protection into the house. At this point most reroofing jobs start by stripping the roof, which drives up the price with extra labor and carting fees.

Courtesy of: chicagotribune.com

Los Angeles and London (CNN) — Can the roof of your house help you breathe easier by reducing the amount of harmful pollutants from urban air? ”Yes,” claims John Renowden, vice president of technology at Boral Roofing, a U.S. company that has introduced a line of roof tiles that they say have pollution-busting properties. Based near Los Angeles, the most ozone-polluted city in the U.S., according to 2012 rankings by the American Lung Association, the company says its “Smog-Eating Tiles” improve air quality by neutralizing smog-forming nitrogen oxides released by most vehicles (read more about smog in our fact box).
The tiles are coated with titanium dioxide, a photocalyst that can oxidize harmful air pollutants emitted in the burning of fossil fuels. When exposed to natural light, the titanium dioxide breaks down nitrogen oxides in the air and turns them into harmless calcium nitrate.
“Calcium nitrate … washes off your roof with normal precipitation and is a regular garden fertilizer,” said Renowden. He notes that the tiles typically add between $600-$1000 to the price of tiling an average roof. He adds that over a one-year period, the tiles on a 2,000 sq/ft house can oxidize nitrogen oxides “equivalent to driving 10,000 miles a year in your car.” Ancient ‘air-conditioning’ cools building sustainably
Boral Roofing claims to be the first construction company in the U.S. to introduce titanium dioxide coatings to roofing products. The technology originates in Japan and has been adopted in Europe by a number of industries. In the last few years, it has been used in the production of several products, including eco-friendly cement, architectural panels and paints. The de-polluting properties of titanium dioxide, a compound commonly used as a white pigment in paints and plastics, were tested in a European Commission-backed project in 2005.

“Tests in urban settings determined that some pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides, which are a major pollutant contained in exhaust gases, could be reduced by 20-70%,” according to the European Commission’s Environmental Technologies Action Plan.
Read more: The eco artists turning trash into treasure Air pollution is one of today’s biggest urban problems. It poses a serious threat to the health of city dwellers, according to experts. Air pollution — outdoor and indoor — is estimated to cause more than two million deaths a year worldwide, according to Maria Neira, director of health and environment at the World Health Organization. ”It is definitely one of the biggest health challenges we are confronted with today,” she said. Exposure to urban air pollutants can increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancer as well as trigger asthma attacks, she added. A recent study on the UK’s air quality by MIT pollution experts Steve Yim and Steven Barrett found that traffic pollution is killing more people than road accidents per year, causing 13,000 premature deaths on an annual basis. A brief uptick in traffic-related air pollution may also be enough to increase a person’s short-term risk of stroke, another report found in February this year. Four in 10 Americans live in counties with dangerous levels of either ozone or particle pollution, according to the American Lung Association.
The organization’s recent State of the Air 2012 report found that California is home to many of the country’s most polluted cities, with Los Angeles continuing to top the list of ozone-polluted cities thanks to its heavy road traffic and trade ports. Renowden says that more sustainable solutions are needed in the fight against urban air pollution. ”We have to move past our oil dependence but it won’t happen overnight,” he said.

Hacking the city for a greener future Janice Nolen, national policy adviser at the American Lung Association, says that rather than dealing with the harmful effects of air pollution, the focus should be on tackling the problem at source. ”What we have found historically in any kind of pollution is that the best way to tackle the problem is to clean up the sources,” she said, “rather than trying cleaning it up afterwards when it’s in the air.” ”If you can keep those raw ingredients that make up ozone from coming out of the tailpipes and the smokestacks, then you don’t have to worry so much about cleaning it up later on,” adds Nolen.

Courtesy of: CNN.com

Courtesy of: www.cdrecycler.com

DISPOSE OF YOUR BATTERIES AT SOUTH COAST SHINGLE…CAUSE THEY GET A CHARGE OUT OF IT!!

Everyday we are reminded to recycle paper, plastic and aluminum cans to help protect and improve our environment. But how often are we reminded that batteries are part of that mix and that recycling batteries also helps to curb pollution and protect the water we drink and the air we breathe.

ACCORDING TO THE EPA:
• Americans purchase nearly 3 billion dry-cell batteries every year to power radios, toys, cellular phones, watches, laptop computers, and portable power tools.
• Inside a battery, heavy metals react with a chemical electrolyte to produce the battery’s power.
• Wet-cell batteries, which contain a liquid electrolyte, commonly power automobiles, boats, or motorcycles.
• Nearly 99 million wet-cell lead-acid car batteries are manufactured each year.

So what do you do with your used batteries? Do you you feel a bit guilty throwing them in the trash, wondering if you are doing the right thing? Well you don’t have to worry; the Battery Recycler is there to remind us where used batteries belong.

The design and mere size of the Battery Recycler allow it to be placed anywhere in the home, school, office or anywhere batteries are in use, making sure the Battery Recycler is there to do its job! When the Battery Recycler is full it weighs in at only 17 pounds making sure its safe for anyone to use. The Battery Recycler has been used all across America from households to hospitals and we ask you to join with us today to make the change. Help us make sure that all batteries used end up where they belong, out of our trash and in a Battery Recycler.

At South Coast Shingle, we are committed to doing our part to help the environment. Help us concur our goal of reducing the release of harmful heavy metals and acid into our water tables and soil, from throwing old batteries away. Bring them to either of the South Coast Shingle locations! For more information, contact your South Coast Shingle representative, 800-540-7626

www.TheBatteryRecycler.com

Plumbers, electricians and other small contractors are being squeezed by changing expectations and a difficult economy. Customers are more demanding and quick to claim negligence when they aren’t satisfied with the results of the work. For plumbers, painters, finish carpenters, heating contractors and other artisan-type contractors, a simple complaint can easily escalate into a financial dispute they can’t afford.

Read related: “Project Losses a Major Consideration in Contractor Coverage.”

Sometimes a misunderstanding or a lack of communication can lead to a problem. When a small contractor makes a mistake or a misjudgment that results in a loss, he often must spend the time and his own money to fix the work. A typical errors and omissions claim can cost $5,000 or more, a significant cost for an uninsured small contractor. With more than 2 million artisan contractors in the U.S., it happens every day on jobs like these.

• Carpet installer: A flooring contractor picks up the wrong carpet at the dealer and mistakenly installs it in a customer’s home. The installer has to remove the incorrect carpet and replace it with the correct product. Total contractor loss: $3,000.
• HVAC contractor: When installing a new cooling unit on the roof of a commercial building, a heating, ventilation and cooling contractor fails to properly complete the foundation support. The unit breaks through the roof, destroys the equipment and causes significant damage to the building and personal property. Although the property damage is covered under the contractor’s general liability coverage, the contractor’s uncovered errors and omissions loss is $25,000.
• Fence erection: A fencing contractor misreads the site plan while installing a fence. As a result, the fence is installed significantly over the property line. The fence has to be removed and reinstalled. Total contractor loss: $35,000.
• Lawn care service: A lawn care specialist applies the wrong chemical to the lawns at a corporate office park. Subsequently, all the turf dies, needs to be removed, and replaced with new sod. Total contractor loss: $17,000.
• Appliance installer: An appliance installer incorrectly wires a new 220-volt receptacle, which causes a new commercial-quality oven to malfunction. The oven is damaged and a new unit has to be installed. Total contractor loss: $6,750.

In a competitive market and difficult economy, small contractors are pressured to do more jobs within narrower margins, exposing them to costly errors in their work. Yet most general liability forms exclude coverage for “your work,” or “your product,” or “impaired property,” when applied to wrongful acts related to contractor services.

This means that although a general liability policy can cover property and other exposures, many small artisan-type contractors have no insurance protection for E&O claims. It’s a coverage gap that can lead to thousands of dollars of uncovered losses at any time, an unanticipated expense that can threaten the survival of a business.

Contractors E&O insurance can pay these losses, but the coverage has not been widely available or affordable to small contractors, or it was limited to only a few classes. Typical E&O coverage is geared to larger businesses, such as general contractors, and priced accordingly, even though small contractors face many of the same risks and liabilities.

Now, E&O insurance is available for small contractors, with more affordable premiums and coverage designed to meet the needs of this growing market. It helps fill the coverage gap in general liability policies and some programs have expanded eligibility to many more classes, including HVAC dealers and distributors, janitorial contractors, locksmiths, septic tank cleaners, masonry contractors, interior tile and stone artisans, and other specialty trades.

To make it easier for small contractors and their agents, for example, Hartford Steam Boiler offers its contractors E&O coverage as an enhancement to the small business policies of other insurance companies that partner with us. Deductibles can vary, from $500 per job to $5,000 per job, and limits may range from $2,500 per job/$10,000 annual aggregate, to $100,000 per job/$100,000 annual aggregate.

Read related: “Never By Accident.”

The new E&O coverage was developed in large part because agents and brokers saw the need to better serve their small contractor clients. As the economy recovers, this market will continue to expand as consumers make home improvements and a growing U.S. population increases demand for new apartment, business and housing construction.

An errors and omissions product for small artisan contractors gives agents and brokers an opportunity to fill a coverage gap and provide financial protection and peace of mind for their customers at a price they can afford. It’s important coverage that can help small contractors operate with more confidence in today’s litigious environment.

The relationship between employee engagement and organizational vitality has been well documented over the past decade. Highly engaged employees are more productive and efficient, and they deliver better customer service and higher quality work. In addition, higher levels of engagement lead to less turnover and absenteeism. Engaged employees make your organization thrive; disengaged employees detract from an organization’s ability to fulfill on its mission and vision.

Organizations often wonder the level of engagement among their employees. What is the ROI on their human capital? The following brief employee engagement survey will allow you to gauge your team’s level of engagement. You may either complete the assessment manually as shown below ortake the online assessment.

DIRECTIONS

Read each question and decide which answer best describes your team members. Write down your responses for each question and refer to the scoring procedure at the end of the quiz to calculate your team’s overall level of engagement.

What percentage of your direct reports regularly comes to you with ideas & suggestions?

• 0-20%
• 21-40%
• 41-59%
• 60-79%
• 80-100%

What percentage of your direct reports regularly goes above and beyond expectations?

• 0-20%
• 21-40%
• 41-59%
• 60-79%
• 80-100%

What percentage of your direct reports appears focused and engaged in their work on a daily basis?

• 0-20%
• 21-40%
• 41-59%
• 60-79%
• 80-100%

What percentage of your direct reports regularly seeks development opportunities to improve and expand their skills?

• 0-20%
• 21-40%
• 41-59%
• 60-79%
• 80-100%

What percentage of your direct reports do you believe give their maximum effort each day?

• 0-20%
• 21-40%
• 41-59%
• 60-79%
• 80-100%

SCORING

Compute your team’s engagement score by summing together responses using the following scoring: a=0, b=1, c=2, d=3, e=4

Based on your responses, your overall team is best described:

• 0-4: Actively Disengaged. Not only are your team members ineffectual, they actively seek to undermine the goals of the team. As a team, their work performance and quality is likely unacceptable. They care little about meeting goals or the impact of failing do so on others, including customers. It is critical that you immediately understand and address the issues that have brought your team to this point. In order to have any realistic hope of turning this team around, it is likely that you will have to immediately terminate some employees.

• 5-8: Disengaged. Although such a team does not purposely sabotage or undermine team goals, their work output and quality is significantly subpar. Such employees are unlikely to take pride in their work and have little sense of investment or commitment to their team or organization. Team members would be best categorized as apathetic. It may be that you have a few team members that have had a toxic influence on the rest of the team. Such employees should be put on a “final” performance plan and terminated if they do not significant improvement within 30 days.

• 9-12: Opportunistic.  Team members in this category are motivated and show discretionary effort when there is something in it for them. They need be shown the proverbial “dangling carrot” before they are willing to put forward their best effort. One might describe the overall team as “lazy.” The employees likely take little pride in their work and feel only a small sense of commitment or loyalty to the team organization. No work group effort achieved great success with such a team. Focus on recognizing and acknowledging those who show initiative and hold them up as an example of what you expect from all team members.

• 13-16: Engaged. Engaged team members are consistent contributors who do their job and do it well. When asked to help out another or give extra effort, they are perfectly willing to do so but they may not take initiative on their own. They believe in the organization and want to do their part to help it to succeed. Let the team know how much you believe in them and challenge team members to increase their level of achievement in a one specific area. Be very aware of opportunities to recognize employees who show initiative.

• 17-20: Actively Engaged. These teams are composed of intrinsically motivated employees who fully support the vision and mission of the organization. Actively engaged employees look for opportunities to improve processes and output. They take high levels of initiative and regularly share their suggestions and ideas for improvement. As a leader of such a group you should be focused on providing team members with challenges commensurate with their skills and ambitions, and make sure that they have the resources and training they need to be successful.

If your employees end up characterized as less than “Actively Engaged,” what is the cost to your organization? What would the impact be if every employee were delivering their maximum discretionary effort? What have you or could you do to increase engagement in your organization?

Courtesy of: www.monsterthinking.com

Hello!

In case you didn’t catch the article in the Daily Breeze, the USS Iowa is opening an Outreach Center at 437 W. 6th St. in San Pedro.  The Ribbon Cutting Ceremony will be tonight, May 3rd  at 6:00.  I’ll be there along with other members of our crew, including Robert Kent, President of the Pacific Battleship Center.  If you live near by, come see us!

Sue Schmidt

Volunteer Coordinator
Pacific Battleship Center
USS Iowa BB-61