Roundtable Participants – Mr. Alonge, Mr. Yehl, Mr. Garcia, & Mr. Hart

The exhibit hall, which was open both days and the first day reception was in, was alot of fun with over 25 vendors represented including Aramsco, DiVal, Grayling, Fiberlock, United Rentals, NY State Laborers Cooperation & Education Trust, Ashtead Tecchnology Rentals, and Cornerstone Training Institute, to name a few. One of the interesting items in the exhibit hall was the Liftpod by JLG that DiVal was displaying (Provides over a 360 degree range of motion, ability to work with both hands up to 14 feet, easily transports in common vehicles). DiVal has a PACNY show special on this product for $1,999. See photos from the conference and the exhibit hall, at our Picasa web album.
Unfortunately, due to the need to check-out of the hotel before 11 AM, we missed Paul Watson’s, of ATC Associates, “A Discussion about Mercury.”  That brought the conference to the main event, Christopher Alonge, PE, of New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) discussing “Code Rule 56 Update.” As in previous presentations, Mr. Alonge was nice enough to provide his presentation to the attendees at this link: http://www.pacny.org/docs/2011-ICR-56-Changes.pdf.  The attached presentation includes changes made by NY Department of State regarding the Fire/Life Safety proposed changes we have seen in Mr. Alonge’s previous presentations.  Examples include changing the requirement of a code compliance technician to a code compliance officer for notification/variance sign-off, requirements for required exists, emergency lighting, and portable fire extinguishers. NYSDOL will also be creating a code compliance course for code enforcement officials that will be 4-hours of in-service training. Mr. Alonge is anticipating a schedule of June 2011 for publishing and October 2011 for finalizing. Still not sure if there will be a adoption period. The biggest uproar and most questions during the Q&A period was regarding the proposed NYSDOL change that all asbestos has to be removed before any demolition, renovation, or remodel. This change brought about the most questions and concerns from the audience. After Mr Alonge’s presentation an industry roundtable Q&A was moderated by Mr. Sean Hart, of AECOM Environment, and consisted of Mr. Alonge; Mr. Joe Cantone, of Colden Corporation; Mr. Peter DeLucia, of AAC Contracting; Mr. Darren Yehl, of LeChase Construction Services; and Angelo Garcia, III, of FED.
I was honored to be selected on the panel again this year.  I enjoyed meeting people that I’ve met year after year and unfortunately only get to meet at this conference.  It seems to me the PACNY organization seems to be getting better and better each year, and I look forward to seeing it continue its growth well into the future.