Membership Has its Privileges

There is a lot to be said for memberships in industry organizations. Through groups such as Associated General Contractors (AGC), the Construction Owners Association of America (COAA) and Associated Specialty Contractors (ASC), to name but a few, construction professionals can network with their peers, learn about new or changing legislation, and perhaps most importantly, keep abreast of technology as it is introduced or evolving. For John Walton, owner of Mobile, AL-based John G. Walton Construction Company, speaking with colleagues at an AGC national function played a pivotal role in his company’s move to add GPS capability to its operation. Today, as they tackle a southeast Alabama road widening project, the effects of that meeting are evident in a dozer and excavator—both of which now run Topcon machine control systems accessing a reference control network. Adding that capability, they say, has paid dividends from day one and continues to do so as the job progresses.



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Revised Mine Regulation Prompts Change in Surveying Approach

New system allows surveyors to calculate stockpiles without walking on the piles.




With a new mandate from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) which said mine operators had to ensure the safety of any mine surveying personnel walking on piles of material which had reclaim tunnels beneath them. A new method of collecting the necessary data had to be implemented. Traditional surveying of a client’s material piles—many of which did, in fact, have tunnels beneath them—couldn’t be done without walking the piles.

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