Safety Awards Finalists

Results from the judging of the 2009 Safety Awards sponsored by ATCO Gas and ATCO Electric are in. The finalists for the Safety Award for the Large Employer Builder Member category are: Daytona Homes Master Builder of Edmonton, Morrison Homes of Calgary and Spring Creek Mountain Village of Canmore and the finalists for the Large Employer General Member category are: Dyand Mechanical Systems of Edmonton, KB Heating and Air Conditioning of Lethbridge and Keystone Excavating of Calgary. Winners will be announced at the Industry Leader Awards Breakfast at BUILD 2009 in Jasper Saturday, September 19.

New Canadian Electrical Code

The new Canadian Electrical Code has been adopted under the Electrical Code Regulation (Alberta Regulation 178/2009) and comes into force on September 1, 2009 under the Safety Codes Act. To order a copy of the new Code and for more information, please click here.

STANDATA on 10 Minute Rule Exemption

The amendments to the 2006 Alberta Building Code addressing high-intensity residential fires (HIRF) included clarification on how to calculate the 10-minute fire department response time performance objective. It has been brought to the attention of Alberta Municipal Affairs (AMA) that some subdivision developments that have already begun work and have already installed the service mains and water lines are unable to meet the requirements of the HIRF-related amendments without significant hardship. With that in mind, AMA has issued an exemption to the 10 minute rule which can be downloaded by clicking here.

Radon Requirements in the NBC

There will be a public consultation starting in September on proposed changes to the National Building Code to be published in 2010. The proposal is to have a single set of radon-related requirements regardless of location and risk level. Provinces may then adopt this approach or introduce more onerous requirements in areas of high radon risk. For more information please click here.

Housing Recovery

A recent Globe and Mail article reported five signs indicating the housing market is on its way to recovery. The article highlights five signs that the housing market is improving.

WHMIS Information

Workplace Health & Safety has recently issued two informational bulletins regarding the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) for reference by employers and workers.

Comparison of 2006 & 2009 OHS Codes

The 2009 Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Code replaces the previous 2006 edition and had an effective date of July 1, 2009. The 2009 OHS Code adds new requirements where necessary, clarifies several existing requirements and corrects typographical errors that appeared in the 2006 OHS Code . Workplace Health and Safety have created a comparison document that outlines the many significant changes, which can be downloaded by clicking here.

PHBIA Courses

Professional Home Builders Institute of Alberta (PHBIA) is beginning its Fall 2009 training year! There are many exciting courses coming up in Calgary and Edmonton. Please visit www.phbia.com for the course schedules and to register.

BUILD Speakers

CHBA - Alberta is pleased to announce this year's speakers for the Jasper conference. Friday morning Angus Watt from National Bank Financial will provide economic information about the economy and its recovery. Watt has over 20 years of financial experience and can be heard on the radio over 62 times a week.

Saturday morning's keynote is Cameron Herold of 1-800-GOT-JUNK? sponsored by All Weather Windows. Herold has been coaching, speaking to and helping entrepreneurs build companies for over 20 years. Attendees are sure to take away important information and tools to use in their everyday lives.

There is still time to register for BUILD 2009. Click here to register.