Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto recently signed an executive order to fight construction fraud, promote worker safety, and protect city tax revenue.
The city recently experienced incidents involving unreported cash payments by subcontractors on construction projects. The Construction Fraud Executive Order cracks down on construction companies that commit tax, insurance, and workers’ compensation fraud.
It also aims to stop companies from paying workers in cash to avoid taxes. These practices allow corrupt firms to outbid honest ones and contribute to lost wages, decreased tax revenue, and unsafe and hazardous work sites, according to a news release from the mayor’s office.
The city’s department of Permits, Licenses and Inspections, and its Finance Department, will form a committee with several local building trade groups to examine city code and to create more accountable and transparent construction development processes. The executive order requires that contractors or developers receiving city subsidies must report all workers on the project site.
Related Stories
| Jun 27, 2013
AGC urges Congress, Obama to reject caps on construction workers in immigration legislation
The unemployment rate in the construction sector in May was the lowest it has been in five years, which could signal a coming worker shortage, according to the Associated General Contractors of America.
| Jun 27, 2013
California legislators make push for prevailing wage law
California lawmakers introduced new legislation that would cut off state construction funds from charter cities that don’t mandate the equivalent of union-scale wages on public-works projects. Of the 482 cities in California, 121 are charter cities.
| Jun 27, 2013
Thermal, solar control designs can impact cooling loads by 200%, heating loads by 30%
Underestimating thermal bridging can greatly undermine a building’s performance contributing to heating load variances of up to 30% and cooling load variances of up to 200%, says the MMM Group.
| Jun 27, 2013
U.S. Conference of Mayors passes new sustainability resolutions
The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) passed a slate of sustainability resolutions that renew its commitment to local green building and clean energy efforts.
| Jun 19, 2013
NSF Sustainability begins verifying EPDs that can be used for LEED V4
NSF Sustainability has verified Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for nylon carpet styles and colors manufactured by Mannington Commercial and for J+J Flooring Group’s Kinetex® flooring product and Invision brand modular styles that use eKo® backing.
| Jun 19, 2013
Florida is latest battleground over LEED standards centered on certified wood
A nationwide battle over forest certification standards continues to be played out nationally and in Florida with legislation passed this month.
| Jun 19, 2013
Construction site safety improved in 2011
On-the-job construction fatalities dropped from 802 in 2010 to 781 in 2011, and recordable injuries fell from 4.7 per 100 workers in 2008 to 3.9 per 100 in 2011, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
| Jun 19, 2013
New York City considers new construction standards for hospitals, multifamily buildings
Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration has proposed new building codes for hospitals and multifamily dwellings in New York City to help them be more resilient in the event of severe weather resulting from climate change.
| Jun 12, 2013
Green Globes update complies with federal sustainability standards
The Green Building Initiative has updated its green building certification program to comply with the U.S. government’s standards for sustainability in federal buildings.
| Jun 12, 2013
Green Globes update complies with sustainability standards
The Green Building Initiative has updated its green building certification program to comply with the U.S. government’s standards for sustainability in federal buildings.
