Our Blog

Introduction:

Living in a hot tropical climate like Hawaii comes with its own set of challenges, especially when it comes to maintaining your property. One common issue property managers face is dealing with oil stains on asphalt, which can be particularly stubborn in the heat and humidity. In this blog post, we will explore the best solutions for removing oil stains from asphalt, with a focus on addressing the unique problems property managers may encounter in a hot tropical climate like Hawaii.

12/27/2022 UPDATE: On December 23, 2022, the ANSI/ASSP Z359 Committee approved a second 6-month extension to the effective date of ANSI/ASSP Z359.14-2021 standard. The standard will now go into effect on August 1st, 2023.

The ANSI Z359.14 standards were designed to:

1. Simplify types and classes of SRDs so end users can quickly identify a compliant product's capabilities.
2. Increase factors of safety on multiple components and tests.
3. Introduce a new testing regime for personal SRDs or SRL-P's (those worn on the back, connected to the full body harness), including specific tests to address product issues that led to a manufacturer recall.
4. Further standardize labels and markings to make clear an ANSI compliant product’s capability.

New ANSI Z3593.14-2021 SRD types and classes:

While the other guys are scrambling to offer you an SRD that complies with this new standard, FallTech is ready NOW! All thedevices FallTech sells now are compliant with the new standard!

To learn about the new ANSI standard that will go into effect 8/1/2023 and how Falltech will manage the recertification, repair of your SRD, and what ANSI Z359.14-2021 compliant SRDs we will be offering, visit https://blog.falltech.com/what-you-should-know-to-comply-with-the-updated-srd-standard#Section4.

We would like to recognize June as Trench Safety Month with this article from GME Trenching. GME Trenching has been a leader in trench shields & shoring equipment since 1960. They monitor trenching accidents to get insight into the industry and monitor regulatory activity in the wake of excavation mishaps. Not all accidents can be avoided, but here are the most common mistakes seen on the job site.

Avoid these 4 mistakes to prevent trenching accidents:

1. Not Doing the Homework – dig through regulations and guidelines before starting project so you have the right knowledge & equipment.
2. Underestimating or Misjudging Ground Conditions – They will dictate how you treat a job and what to be wary of for potential dangers.
3. Utilizing the Wrong Equipment or the Right Equipment the Wrong Way – Using equipment the way it was designed will help minimize risks.
4. Ignoring the Risks – Going into the job with a healthy mindset will help you remain incident free.

By Brad Tom

To read the complete article visit the GME Trenching blog

By Brad Tom

We have been paving roads in the US since the late 1800s and we have had deal with repairing potholes in them ever since. Repairing a hole in asphalt is not difficult but making sure it stays repaired for years can take a bit of planning. Because Hawaii has hot humid weather that can often include rain almost daily in some parts of the island, repairing asphalt is critical. Since we are owned by a local paving company in Hawaii, we found it important to advise local home owners how to care for your property. We will go over the basics of asphalt pothole repair but as with anything, read labels for all products to ensure your products are applied correctly.

Why Is There a Pothole?

Potholes form when enough asphalt material gets dislodged from your pavement to form a hole. It usually starts off as an alligator crack (series of interconnected surface cracks) in the pavement. Once water gets between the aggregate that is “glued” together by asphalt, you will start to lose material and cracks develop. Eventually vehicle traffic will loosen and dislodge chunks of pavement and result in a pothole. If water gets into the subbase, you risk the integrity of the foundation that your asphalt is built upon. Therefore, it is critically important to ensure your asphalt pavement is repelling water to keep it intact. Routine sealcoating will help maintain waterproof integrity of your asphalt. A well maintained asphalt drive way may last beyond 30 years.

What is the Best Asphalt Patch and Pothole Filler for My Driveway?

Unless you have access to asphalt road paving equipment you have to rule out hot mix asphalt (what roads are created with). There are many brands of asphalt patching material called “Cold Patch” out there. Cold pothole patch has been around for many years. Traditional cold patch is aggregate mixed with an oil bitumen-like binder that hardens over time like hot mix asphalt. Hot asphalt oils start to harden when its temperature cools down from around 185°F. Cold patch on the other hand cures over time. Most municipalities use it for quick pothole fixes because it is cheap and easy to install. Installing properly is one of the keys to making sure this doesn’t turn into a recurring job whenever it rains.

A Greener Way to Patch Asphalt

Traditional cold patch asphalt will include petroleum-based solvents such as diesel, toluene, kerosene and naphthalene. Because of the harmful chemicals of these older cold patch mixes it can produce volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that will affect the air for consumers and workers installing it. A new product by Seaboard called Bond-X Green doesn’t utilize these harmful chemicals as binders.

Bond-X Green High-Performance Cold Patch is a high quality, pre-mixed, all weather, permanent asphalt “cold patch” compound. Combining a carefully selected aggregate with a special bitumen formula using a biodegradable, renewable, organic solution to replace petroleum derivatives normally found in conventional cold mix asphalt.

Using Bond-X Green is considered an Environmentally Preference Purchase. This product and your distributor meet the EPP product purchasing guidelines. Seaboard Asphalt is a member of the National Asphalt Paving Association. Bond-X Green is approved for use where low VOC requirements are in place.

Benefits of Bond-X Green Over Water Activated Cold Patch

Other water activated cold patch mixes use rapeseed oil in their bitumen formula. Rapeseed oil is toxic to humans because it contains appreciable amounts of toxic erucic acid.

Homeowners Asphalt Pothole Repair Instructions

Prepare hole to be filled. Clear away all loose rock and debris from the area to be patched. Make sure the patch has solid sides that it can adhere to. Remove any crumbling sides to ensure the patchwill stay in place. If the hole is deep, your patch should be applied in 2” layers. If the pothole goes farther down than the original asphalt layer, you may have to fill the hole with rock or dirt and tamp down to ensure a solid foundation to place your patch upon.

Fill with patch mix. For cold mix, follow bag instructions. You should just be able to fill hole directly with mix from bag. If it is a large hole, fill in sections at a time in 2” layers, tamping down to compact the mix. For other rapid curing patch mixes you may need to mix with water or other liquid before filling. Follow container instructions carefully, as water mixed patch formula may be toxic.

With all mixes, fill so that you have a peak in the middle of the hole that is about 1” or for larger holes 2” above the level of the surrounding asphalt. This will allow for spreading during compaction. Compact the mix with a pothole tamper to begin pounding out the asphalt aggregate to flatten it out. Driving over the hole with a vehicle will help the compaction if you do not have a vibrating plate compactor. The better you can compact the mix before it completely cured, the better chances of the patch lasting.

If you have questions about pothole patching or any other asphalt maintenance items visit our site or contact us and we will be happy to walk you through the process.

Learn about the NEW simple & quick to install wireless Intelligent Beacons from TraffiCalm for crosswalks, road hazard and traffic alert systems. Completely tested and designed in house, Intelligent Beacons boost a legacy application into a recognizable, but entirely new solution. We have sourced the best beacon hardware in the industry, mated it to our own Controllers and Collaborators to produce a wireless environment ready to make installation a breeze.

Every year we ask you to show support by wearing orange on Wednesday,4/22, the Go Orange Day for National Work Zone Awareness Week. NWZAW is an annual spring campaign held at the start of construction season encouraging safe driving through highway work zones. The key message is for drivers to use extra caution in work zones.

We at Grace Pacific and G P Roadway Solutions are grateful to all who participated. It shows how much you appreciate the hard-working members of our Ohana who are out on the roadways during this time. This year we had the greatest number of photos submitted. Because we could not gather in groups, almost all photos were taken individually. It was interesting seeing you outside of the work environment since many of you are working from home. It was nice that you could bring family members and pets to support as well. We also had several photos taken during Teams meetings reflecting on how business is conducted in this new environment.

Again, we really appreciate the support you have shown.

Brad Tom
IMarketing Coordinator
G P Roadway Solutions

By Brad Tom

Are you ready to be OSHA-compliant prior to the December 1 deadline for USP 800? If you are a healthcare professional, veterinary professional, home healthcare worker, this chapter may apply to you. It applies to all personnel who handle hazardous drug preparations, and all entities that store, prepare, transport or administer hazardous drugs, such as pharmacies, hospitals, patient treatment clinics, or veterinarians’ offices.

Here's what you need to know — and do — now:

• Think about the journey of a hazardous drug though your organization, and its interaction points, from receipt through disposal. This is what USP 800 covers.
• Because the healthcare industry can't "eliminate the hazard" as other industries would in a compliance initiative, it's essential to make handling hazardous drugs as safe as possible for all pharmacists, technicians, nurses, physicians, physician assistants, home healthcare workers, veterinarians, and veterinary technicians.
• This involves personal protection, engineering controls, and work practices that may need to be upgraded.
• Patient safety and employee safety are equally critical, because your employees are the ones caring for the patients.
• It's a federal standard, and everyone must be on board for compliance.

More than eight million US healthcare workers are exposed to hazardous drugs each year. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) considers a drug to be hazardous if it is known to cause cancer, reproductive harm (such as infertility), birth defects, organ toxicity at low doses, or exhibits characteristics in humans or animals that mimic existing hazardous drugs.

Having the right hazardous drug kits on hand before the new standard takes effect is essential.

The Spill Hero Hazardous Drug Kit, a new drug waste cleanup and disposal kit for compounding and non-compounding pharmacies, provides a completely safe and compliant method to handle hazardous drugs, such as Fentanyl, chemotherapy drugs, waste from compounding, returned unused medicines, and biohazard waste.

We offer both a Spill Hero Hazardous Drug Basic Personal Protection Kit and a Spill Hero Hazardous Drug Deluxe Compounding Kit. The features and benefits of the Spill Hero Hazardous Drug Kits include:

• Personal protection equipment (PPE) and tools to keep your employees safe and protected during hazardous drug interactions
• All necessary supplies for spill clean-up and disposal of hazardous drugs
• Rx Destroyer media and XSORB Plus absorbent
• Simplified step-by step directions for quick and easy set-up.

Most important of all, our new Hazardous Drug Kits meet USP 800 standards for compliance.

Change is never easy, but safety is paramount. We're pleased to contribute to keeping your employees, patients, and organization safer, healthier, and in compliance with the new standard.

3M Fall Protection has determined that the 3M™ PROTECTA® Cobra Mobile/Manual Rope Grab AC202D is incorrectly stamped for use with 1/2 to 3/4 inch diameter rope on the exterior body of the unit. This Cobra Rope Grab is certified for use ONLY with 5/8 inch diameter polyester or polypropylene rope. All marketing information and the Instructions for Use (IFU) for this rope grab correctly identify the size of rope to be used as 5/8 inch polyester/polypropylene rope.

In the event of a fall from height, a Cobra Rope Grab used with 1/2 inch diameter rope may not arrest the fall and could result in serious injury or death to the worker. To remedy this situation, 3M is launching a Stop Use & Product Recall to replace all AC202D and related Cobra Rope Grabs that are stamped 1/2"-3/4" Dia.

Owners/users of AC202D Cobra Rope Grabs can choose one of the following options for each affected rope grab they own:

Option 1
Free, new, properly marked replacement AC202 Cobra Rope Grab

OR

Option 2
$100 USD refund

Distributors with affected Cobra Rope Grabs in stock can choose to receive credit for the amount of their original purchase(s) or free replacements.

Go to 3M recall website to file claim or for further information.

Slideshow presented by Scott Sevadjian at the Hawaii Building Facilities & Property Management Expo 3/7/2019

This slideshow was presented with building owners and property management group in mind. It goes over the things like:

• storm water discharges, oil & hazardous material storage, spills and what groups govern this in the state of Hawaii.
• What regulations to be aware of when you have potential contaminates on your property.
• The SPCC Rules, creating a plan and upcoming changes.
• Oil spills reporting thresholds and clean up.
• The Lead RRP Rule and fines associated with it.
• HEPCRA How to plan and where to go for help
• Solid & universal waste
• Hazardous waste and the RCRA

03/16/2019

We are very pleased to announce the promotion of Austin Jones to Oahu sales manager effective March 16th. Austin has been a dedicated employee of Peterson Sign Company for the past couple of years where he was our outside sales representative. Austin graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing. Prior to joining us at Peterson Sign Company, Austin came to us with over 8 years of experience as a branch/sales manager at Enterprise. As the Oahu sales manager, Austin will be reporting directly to Ben Bauer, our general manager.

In assuming his new duties as Oahu sales manager, Austin will oversee and lead the dedicated sales team we already have in place (G P Roadway Solutions outside sales, inside sales, and Peterson Sign sales). We are confident with Austin’s background, his passion to excel, he will lead our sales team to the next level of achievement.

By Bradley Tom