What a mild winter so far!  Several projects are poised to start early, possibly mid March, if Mother Nature plays along. We will have our equipment and crews ready for that start date if the forecasts look favorable. My main concern is having everyone out on the road and then have the weather fold for 2 weeks and nothing gets accomplished.

One of the early projects will be the Iowa Speedway. Once they can get final dirt grades to pass, we have subdrain to place on the inside of the raceway. After that there is approximately 130,000 ton of base rock to be laid prior to paving. At this time it looks like possibly both the subdrain and sealcoat crew will gear up to place this rock. It looks like the sealcoat/stabilization crew will start first as the subdrain crew has about 2 weeks of early highway commitments to complete first. After that the stabilization crew will need to go the Fairfield airport for about 2 weeks. At that time hopefully the subdrain crew can continue laying the rock at the speedway.

Work for the 2006 season has been slow in coming so far. For the most part the DOT Lettings have been on the small side. The March and April lettings hopefully will make up for the small volume of projects. Sealcoat looks like it might be up in volume due to the mild winter and virtually no frost in the ground. I have been quoting several stabilization projects and this market looks to be fairly busy also. If the economy continues its pace, we should be able to fill all of the crews once again.

On February 7th and 8th we had our annual supervisors meetings in Brooklyn. Some of the topics that were covered were: Drug and Alcohol Policies, The Effects Of A Safety Program On The Bottom Line, OSHA Inspections And How To Handle Them, Job Site Safety, Personal Protective Equipment, Safe Driving Practices, Seatbelt Use In Vehicles And Equipment, and Safety Committees And Their Functions.  The meeting was presented in a different format this year, as each division and their supervisors presented the topics. The new format really gave the meetings a personal touch because you could relate what happened to crews and how it could happen to you or your crew members. We, as managers and supervisors, need to communicate on safety issues such as upcoming work type hazards or high-risk activities. Each employee needs to comply with company safety policies and participate in eliminating or controlling known or potential hazards. Bottom line, the ultimate responsibility for safety and health in the work place rests with each employee!

Jake and I will be holding monthly safety meetings with the subdrain and sealcoat/stabilization crews out on the job site. We will review safety incidents, (hopefully which will be zero), other crews’ incidents and topics related to each project specifically. All crew members will be present and the floor will be open for discussion. This way our entire crews are safety committees. It’s all about communication. Too many times, a few people receive training or discuss issues and that's where it stays. I want to make sure each and everyone is committed to their own health and safety.