A consent decree filed on September 19, 2019 by the EPA and DOJ allege that Hyundai illegally imported heavy construction equipment with diesel engines that violated Title II of the Clean Air Act.

According to the EPA’s website:

From 2012 to 2015, Hyundai pre-purchased, or “stockpiled” engines that met outdated emissions standards and then illegally imported, marketed and sold heavy construction equipment with these engines installed, in violation of the Clean Air Act.

Additionally, Hyundai imported, marketed and sold units of equipment in quantities that exceeded their exemption allowance limit under the Transition Program for Equipment Manufacturers (TPEM) program regulations.

Defendants allegedly introduced into United States commerce at least 2,269 illegal diesel nonroad vehicles. Under the terms of the settlement, Hyundai has agreed to pay a $47 million civil penalty to resolve their Clean Air Act violations. (citation)

“By ignoring regulatory requirements, Hyundai not only gained a market advantage over their competitors, but they also introduced higher-polluting vehicles into the United States, undermining the protection of human health and the environment,” said Susan P. Bodine, EPA assistant administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.

The Tax Cuts and Job Acts of 2017 (AKA The Trump Tax Cuts) increased the Section 179 benefit for small businesses.

“Section 179 of the IRS Code was enacted to help small businesses by allowing them to take a depreciation deduction for certain assets (capital expenditures) in one year, rather than depreciating them over a longer period of time. Taking a deduction on an asset in its first year is called a ‘Section 179 deduction,'” according to The Balance SMB (citation).

Effective for tax years beginning January 1, 2018, businesses can immediately deduct up to $1 million for qualifying purchases of capital property, with a limit of $2.5 million. (citation).

The $1 million deduction was increased from $500,000, and according to the IRS website, “…applies to tangible personal property such as machinery and equipment purchased for use in a trade or business…”

Take advantage of these deductions and plan a purchase of a new JLG, SkyTrak, Princeton, or Polaris machine before the end of 2019. We are taking orders now. Call 951-256-2040

Updated October 31, 2019

The deadline for the Mobile Elevating Work Platform (MEWPs) safety training and certification has been moved to March 1, 2020.

Members of the A92 Main Committee decided at the 2019 ASC A92 Aerial Work Platforms Annual Meeting, held Oct. 27-30 in Kansas City, Missouri to move the deadline from December 10th, giving everyone in the industry a big sigh of relief.

We called the Scaffold and Access Industry Association (SAIA), which serves as the secretariat for the A92 standards, to confirm the reporting.

According to Lift & Access magazine, “…two appeals, partially approved by ANSI this spring, have resulted in the delays. The appeals, brought by the ARA and Tutus Solutions, opposed the requirements that the Manual of Responsibilities (MOR) must be placed on every MEWP and that modifications or additions to a MEWP must be made only with the permission of the manufacturer. ANSI agreed that those provisions were not in compliance with ANSI’s commercial policy.”

“The Scaffold and Access Industry Association, which serves as the secretariat for the A92 standards, has been working with the appellants, other main committee members, and ANSI to reach an agreement and approval on language changes that the appeals’ decision dictated.”

What does this mean for you? You still need to have your operators and supervisors trained and certified.

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) create standards that govern the use of aerial work platforms. The last big change to these standards was in 2006.

New standards were published on December 10, 2018. According to these new standards, owners and operators must meet the new ANSI training requirements, which include:

• The ability to self-familiarize yourself with any machine that you have not been specifically certified on by reading the operators manual, doing a walk-around inspection, and understanding the limitations of the equipment.
• Documentation of self-familiarization.
• The ability to provide occupant training. 
• Rules, regulations, and standards that apply to MEWPs, including operation, safe use, and training.
• Potential hazards associated with the use of MEWPs and how to protect against them.
• Where manufacturer’s operation manuals should be stored and how they should be used.

We have trainers onsite ready to help you. Please call 951-256-2040 today for an appointment. You can attend training at one of our Corona or Escondido locations. 

Other changes in the ANSI guidelines require owners and operators to:

• Give more consideration to machine choice
• Participate in extensive planning to determine machines based on application.
• Perform site risk assessments for MEWP operations, including training.

Please contact us today to learn more about training.

What You Didn’t Know About SkyTrak Machines

An Interview with Justin Davis

Justin is one of our top sales and rental professionals. He’s been in the business since 2006 and with West Coast Equipment since 2013. He works primarily at our new Escondido location, (which is often referred to as “SkyTrak Country”). In this interview, Justin explains why these workhorse machines are the number one selling reach forklifts in the United States, and why customers love them so much.

Why Do Some Customers Pick a SkyTrak Over a JLG Machine?

SkyTrak and JLG are both made by the same manufacturer and have the same performance standards. However, the SkyTrak machines have been around longer, since the 90’s, and so for many operators it has been their go-to machine for decades while other’s just like the feel of the machine better. That’s not to say that SkyTrak and JLG machines are exactly alike. There are slight differences that really make the difference for certain customers.

Better Visibility

SkyTrak machines have a slimmer boom and sit a little higher than the JLG machines which some operators say gives them more visibility.

Shorter Reach

SkyTrak’s total reach is 54 feet, which is a foot shorter than the JLG reach forklifts. For customers who want the extra foot, the JLG machine is for them, but for others 54 feet is just fine.

Interchangeable Attachments

For the past several years, the SkyTrak and JLG attachments have been interchangeable giving SkyTrak loyalists flexibility and additional options.

Anything New Coming with SkyTrak?

Don’t say that you heard it here but there may be some new exciting developments with SkyTrak coming in 2019. Stay tuned.

Need help with a SkyTrak purchase or rental, contact us today.

Say “Hello” to the New Polaris Pro XD Commercial UTV.

We have them in stock and ready to take you around your job site.

The Polaris Pro XD has plenty of Diesel power and all the safety features required on job sites.

Available for rent or purchase at all 4 of our West Coast Equipment locations.

Corona, Escondido, Paramount, and Chatsworth.

You can now transport larger materials safely around the workplace with JLG’s new material racks for Large Rough Terrain (LRT) and Rough Terrain (RT) Scissor Lifts.

According to the JLG website, “The racks offer a durable solution for transporting items, featuring nylon straps to hold heavy materials in place.

Rated for outdoor use, they include a foldable cradle that accommodates a variety of building supplies including piping and flat materials.

For wide panels, the racks feature extendable arms for loading.

To ensure extra-large materials can be transported easily, racks include fixed deck footers that allow the extension deck to expand and retract.

The racks can support up to 860 pounds of material while allowing two operators in the platform.

Large material racks are ideal for a variety of applications including construction, demolition, HVAC maintenance, plumbing installation, electrical work and more.”

Want to learn more? Then call us NOW at 951-256-2040

We have 4 locations to serve you better.

Corona

Escondido/San Diego

Paramount/Los Angeles

Chatsworth

The U.S. Department of Labor and OSHA cited GA&L Construction Corp., and The Rinaldi Group of Florida LLC $87,327 in penalties on Friday, June 21st 2019 for failing to protect employees from fall hazards at a construction work-site in Miami, Florida.

The employee in question fell 40-feet and was fatally impaled in December, 2018. According to the OSHA website, the employee was, “…retrieving cement blocks from a crane basket to place them in two locations where a wall was being built. The employee was walking on some plywood that was not supported underneath and the employee fell approximately 40-feet to a set of rebar that impaled him, killing him.”

Some of the citations included:

• Failure to maintain programs which provided for the frequent and regular inspections of the jobsite.
• Failure to clear work areas, passage ways, and stairs from debris during the course of construction.
• The employer did not determine if the walking/working surfaces had the strength and structure integrity to support the employees safely.
• Employees were exposed to a 40-foot fall hazard while storing cement block units on a plywood deck floor without fall protection equipment.

Click here to see all the citations for GA&L and for The Rinaldi Group.

Click here to learn more about how to create a culture of safety on the jobsite.

Stress, low morale, and poor expectations of your employees can contribute to high turnover, more time off work due to illnesses, and accidents on the job. All of which will increase your cost of doing business.

But you can increase productivity, improve your ability to attract and retain good employees, and boost profitability through creating a company culture that embraces safety

According to the 2016 study “Building a Safety Culture SmartMarket Report,” conducted by Dodge Data & Analytics (DD&A), contractors who encouraged a culture of safety reported powerful payback in the form of project quality, staff retention, project ROI, and ability to attract new staff.

DD&A used 33 indicators of a safety culture. The companies surveyed were general contractors, specialty contractors, design-build firms, construction managers and engineering firms. Those who scored highest experienced the most powerful return from their investment into safety.

While not all of indicators are relevant to a smaller contractor (most companies surveyed had over 500 employees), there are some key takeaways that you can apply to your business today.

1. Management’s commitment to safety and health. As a manager, supervisor, and/or owner you set the priorities for safety. More importantly, those priorities must be communicated to your employees through having a formal process for safety-related corrective action, being proactive through making safety/health a key part of your strategic planning, having clearly defined health and safety expectations, and making safety a frequent topic at meetings.
2. Safety and health are company values. Employees who feel valued at work, feel safe to let management know when there is a safety violation on the job. Value and safety directly correlate to higher productivity, employee retention, and increased ROI.
3. Accountability. Your employees will rise to the level of your expectations. Expect them to hold themselves and everyone accountable for safety and they will.

To read the full report, click here.

Need to have your JLG, SkyTrak, Gradall, or Princeton machine serviced? Then call us right away. We’re a full-service factory authorized dealer. Our customer service team is standing by.

Effective July 15^th, OSHA is making 14 revisions to the federal rules that affect the construction industry. These changes, according to OSHA, will save employers approximately $6.1 million by clearing up confusion regarding compliance. Specifically they have removed or revised, “outdated, duplicative, unnecessary, and inconsistent requirements in OSHA’s safety and health standards, which will permit better compliance by employers and reduce costs and paperwork burdens where possible, without reducing employee protections.”

OSHA is updating the method of identifying and calling emergency medical services. This update, according to the report, may increase costs to employers by approximately $32,000.

However, there are two provisions (reduction in the number of necessary employee x-rays and elimination of posting requirements for residential construction employers) which may provide estimated combined cost savings of $6.1 million annually.

According to Equipment World, some of the highlighted changes are:

• Eliminates requirement that employers provide periodic chest X-rays to screen for lung cancer. OSHA says studies have shown X-ray screening does not reduce lung cancer incident or death.
• Updates the requirements for providing emergency services contacts. OSHA adds a requirement that employers must ensure that their communication system can effectively contact 911 services. And if the system is in an area that does not automatically supply the caller’s location to the 911 dispatcher, the employer must post or provide in some way the worksite’s longitude and latitude to employees. OSHA estimates this requirement will cost the construction industry a total of $32,440 a year. This cost will dissipate as enhanced 911 wireless service becomes universal, OSHA says.
• Changes the minimum breaking-strength requirement for lifelines for fall protection to 5,000 pounds instead of 5,400 pounds. This was done for consistency and to end confusion.
• Updates standards for traffic control devices at road construction areas to comply with the 2009 edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, the same as used by the U.S. Department of Transportation, as well as state DOTs.
• Eliminates the requirement that employees’ Social Security numbers be provided on exposure monitoring, medical surveillance or other records designed for OSHA to track employees for research purposes. Social Security numbers are no longer required for these OSHA standards: Respirable Crystalline Silica; Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response; Asbestos; Vinyl Chloride; Inorganic Arsenic; Lead; Chromium, Cadmium, Benzene, Coke Oven Emission, Bloodborne Pathogens, Cotton Dust; 1,2 Dibromo-3-Chloropropane; Acrylonitrile; Ethylene Oxide; Formaldehyde; Methylenedianiline; 1,3-Butadiene; and Methylene Chloride.

Prior to these upcoming changes, OSHA increase penalties in January, 2019. Their current maximum penalties are:

• $13,260 per violation — serious, other-than-serious or posting violations
• $13,260 per day — failure to abate
• $132,598 per violation — willful or repeated violations

According to OSHA’s “Business Case for Safety and Health,” an employer can save money by adhering to the rules, doing his/her part to prevent injury, death, and illness. They can also save money by avoiding penalties and costly investigations.

Need help with safety training? Call us today!