Author: paul

Through the work and dedication of SM Local 103 (Helena, MT) Business Rep. Brandon Leatham, SM Local 103 has secured work on the new Black Canyon High school in Idaho Falls, Idaho.
“By strategically using the Idaho Market Recovery Fund over the last couple of years we were able to be in a position to target this project for our S.E. Idaho members,” said John L. Carter, Local 103 Business Manager.
YMC Inc., a mechanical contractor from Meridian, Idaho, was the successful bidder–over two large non-union shops—for the 23,000 man-hour, $5.2 million HVAC job.
The school will serve about 1,500 students at first and will be constructed with the infrastructure to add more classrooms and 300 additional students. The school will cover just over 250,000 square feet.
Unity raises market share
“With a completion date of August 2018, this project is a great opportunity for our members to work in their home area and showcase their skills for this contractor.
“Local 103 has been working to increase our market share in southeastern Idaho, and with this project the members are able to see what can be done when we all work together,” Carter said.

For the second year in a row, Superior Air Handling was one of several winners of the SMOHIT Safety Champion award for its record of safety at the Mixed Oxide Facility, known as The Mox Project, at the Savannah River Site.
The company reached a milestone of more than 1.75 million safety man hours, which amounts to seven years without a lost-time injury, to earn the award. Superior Air Handling expects to hit 2 million safety man hours by this spring.
James Walton and Robert Dickamore from Superior were on hand at SMOHIT’s second annual Safety Champions Conference in October 2016 to accept the award.
When accepting the award, Walton, a certified safety and health technician and safety manager for Superior said, “These awards are for the guys. Without them, I don’t have a job. They’re the reason I get up and go to work every day.”
The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) in Aiken, South Carolina will be a major component in the United States’ program to dispose of surplus weapons-grade plutonium.
The Mox project is one of Superior Air Handling’s largest ongoing projects. Superior is installing the HVAC and industrial ventilation systems for the facility, which is designed to take surplus weapons-grade plutonium, remove impurities and mix it with uranium oxide to form MOX fuel pellets for reactor fuel assemblies. These assemblies will be irradiated in commercial nuclear power reactors.
Superior Air Handling began work on the project site in 2009, and the company characterizes the project as one of the “most significant, complex, challenging and rewarding projects due to the unique design of the nuclear processing systems and the strict compliance to NQA-1 quality requirements.”
Superior’s team of more than 150 employees at Mox has installed much of the NQA-1 ductwork and equipment.
Superior Air Handling is one of the country’s leading HVAC sheet metal contractors with an extensive background in a variety of project venues, including laboratory and health care facilities, high rise commercial buildings, and nuclear plants.
 

The sheet metal trade may be one of the oldest inthe country, but modern technology propels it forward—and SMART’s affiliated funds are helping members keep pace.
AutoCAD, Navisworks, Robotic Total Station and other tools make it easier to design HVAC systems, communicate with the job site, collaborate with other trades and allow changes to happen that once would have been impossible.
Greg Greene, a detailer/designer for Metropolitan Mechanical Contractors in Minnesota, marvels every day at the changes since he turned out in 1980. In 1999, slowed by degenerative arthritis, he traded his tools and embraced for the then-new technology.
Greene’s 37 years of craft and digital experience went into designing HVAC at the Minnesota Vikings’ U.S. Bank Stadium and his current project, the BMO Harris Bradley Center, home of the NBA Milwaukee Bucks.
Virtual feet on the ground
Working on a Milwaukee project from his Minnesota office—400 miles away–would not have been possible even five years ago. Today, Navisworks lets anyone associated with the project virtually walk around the building like a first-person player in a video game.
“It allows you to tour the facility and make changes in the 3D virtual world instead of waiting until the building is finished and you wish you could have done something different,” Greene said. That brings everyone into the loop clarifying every detail.
“I’m updating the model four to five times an hour, so they’re constantly getting those updates,” Greene added. “We constantly work with the other trades. There is a lot of back and forth, especially on remote projects. Before, everyone would need to work on the same model at the same time. It would’ve been a lot harder.”
Similarly, Robotic Total Station allows workers to precisely place duct and pipe hangers and floor openings using land-based positioning devices fed by software. Once again, it means fewer mistakes.
“On a lot of drawings, we aren’t dimensioning anymore, because we know the hangers are done before the deck floors,” Greene said. “Most trades are getting on board with coordinating the hangers. If you do it from the get-go, you really save time.”
Experience required
While this undoubtedly sound cool to younger members, including upcoming and current apprentices, the work still requires skills that only experience can provide, said Ron McGuire, Building Information Modeling (BIM) specialist for the ITI.
“The gaming age has influence on a generation,” McGuire said. “But you can’t teach experience. Someone with ten years in the field knows how a job runs. It’s hard to reenact that in a classroom.”
By embracing the opportunity to transition his expertise from the job site to the BIM world, Greene reinvigorated his passion for his career—and saved it.
“I saw it as a way to be able to work until I’m 62,” Greene said. “I could see field work wasn’t going to be long term. A lot of sheet metal workers don’t want to sit at a desk all day, but for me, it saved my career.”
ITI builds the leading edge
 
Industry demands these technologies, and the ITI develops the instructors who train members at their home locals. Sessions and courses are already broad and always expanding, to keep members not just current, but on the leading edge.
For information on ITI instructor classes, visit www.sheetmetal-iti.org/catalog.
 
 

Inventing the wheel isn’t always necessary when it comes to curriculum and training. For SMART Sheet Metal Local 22 in Crawford, New Jersey, finding something new was more about bringing back something that worked years ago, dusting it off and adding to it.
Local 22 hosted its last Building Inspectors Program in 2007. It was brought back when Dave Castner, organizer, marketing director and instructor, inspected at a school improperly installed fire dampers that both the building department and fire inspector had approved. After the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs got involved, the repair was awarded to a union contractor.
Recently, leadership at the local — including Tom Fischbach, president and business manager; Castner; and Charlie Beelitz, training coordinator — saw a niche in the community the program could fill and resurrected it. The first class was held in April 2016 with 50 building inspectors in attendance.
The program uses the curricula of the ITI and hosts local building inspectors to educate them on the correct installation, operation and inspection of fire and smoke dampers.
Through a partnership with Rutgers University and the Department of Community Affairs, Local No. 22 was able to offer the course as a continuing education sponsor, which allowed them to provide continuing education units (CEUs), which every inspector needs to maintain his or her license. Local No. 22 also made the class mobile, filling a 7-foot-by-12-foot trailer with equipment and holding the class on campus.
In five classes in 2016, approximately 200 building inspectors, out of 900 to 1,000 in New Jersey, will complete the program. Fire marshals, engineers and construction managers have also attended the class. Local No. 22 offers this service free of charge, although its investment has weight.
“I’m hoping the program will do a couple things,” Fischbach said. “I hope it will educate the people we are trying to touch — be it the building inspectors or fire inspectors — on what we do and how we do it. In turn, hopefully, it will level the playing field and gain some contractor base in the smaller markets we’re not involved in and protect the larger contractor markets we are in.”
In July 2017, due to New Jersey HVACR Licensing, building inspectors will begin inspecting duct work as well as fire dampers. This class teaches them what they’re seeing, how to detect problems and when to contact experts to provide maintenance. Dampers prevent smoke and fire from traveling through the ventilation system, keeping it contained to the ignition point and away from occupants of the building. Properly working dampers save lives and allow for first responders to enter a building and extinguish a fire safely.
Dampers that were bolted shut during the MGM Fire in 1980 contributed to smoke inhalation cases, which was the leading cause of death during that incident. Dampers take a skilled eye and hand to inspect, and many building inspectors were never taught how to spot a faulty damper.
“Through this program, we’re finding out now the building inspectors aren’t looking at the fire dampers,” said Castner, who instructs the program. “We’re trying to raise awareness; you have to look at the fire dampers. They don’t have the knowledge of the functioning of the whole system. They look at it as cool air and heat, and that’s it.”
Fire damper inspection is only one part of the larger goal Local No. 22 is trying to accomplish with the program.
“We want to bring awareness to what the systems do,” Castner said. “We’re starting with the building inspectors, but we’re trying to get deeper into it. If these people — building inspectors, fire inspectors, fire officials — understand what they’re looking at and how to tell if they’re installed correctly, they will see what effect it has on the efficiency of the system.”
“The program is designed to make them look at all contractors a little bit closer, making them provide an efficient, functioning system where we’re more competitive,” Fischbach added. “It levels the playing field a little bit more.”
This is only the first step in a master plan of education and networking for Local No. 22.
“They’re surprised to see how little changes in design or fittings can really affect the system, and they are really interested in the fire damper inspections,” Castner said. “They come to us, and they know they’ll get the right answers. I think this is the first time in a long time we’re at the front of something, and we’re not trying to chase it.”
 

Award winning videographer Kelly Candaele documents sheet metal workers employed on the construction of the Wilshire Grand in Los Angeles, CA.  Once completed, its height will surpass the U.S. Bank Tower by 82 ft (25 m). The building will be part of a mixed-use hotel, retail, observation decks, shopping malls and office complex, expected to revitalize downtown Los Angeles and the area surrounding the building. The development of the complex is estimated to cost $1.2 billion. The plans include 67,000 square feet of retail, 677,000 square feet of Class A office space and 900 hotel rooms. InterContinental is the tower’s hotel component, comprising 900 rooms and suites occupying the 38th to the 70th floors.
Click here to watch the video.