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April 2003 NC Marine TradeWinds Newsletter
We
recently learned about inspections around worker safety at waterfront boat
builders and waterfront boat repair businesses. Some of these inspections were
conducted by NC safety agency (OSH) representatives and others by
representatives of the Federal safety (OSHA) agency.
I
contacted the Federal OSHA office in NC, and asked for clarification on
jurisdiction and receive the following reply from Tom Savage, with the Raleigh
Office of OSHA. His response follows:
“This
is in response to our telephone conversation earlier this week about the level
of Federal/State enforcement for private sector maritime activity in North
Carolina. Specifically, we talked about boat building and repairing
[SIC 3732] and marinas [SIC 4493]. Hopefully, the following explanation on
where the lines of jurisdiction are drawn will be helpful to your membership.
Federal
OSHA exercises enforcement authority over all boat builders and boat
repair facilities located on or immediately adjacent to the navigable waters.
The boat builders under Federal jurisdiction are typically work sites where
new vessels are constructed and then launched into the water for sea trials
and/or delivery to customers. The boat repair yards have the
capability to haul various types of vessels out of the water for
repairs. Therefore, all boat builders and boat repair operations not
located on or immediately adjacent to the navigable waters will come under North
Carolina OSH jurisdiction.
All
marinas located on the navigable waters, which include vessel
repairs as part of their operations, fall under Federal OSHA jurisdiction.
At these facilities vessels can be hauled out of the water and work
performed on them by employees of the marina. If the marina is the type
that only provides wet and dry storage for boats, sells fuel and various
supplies to their customers, then the work site will be covered by North
Carolina OSH.
Both the Federal and State OSHA offices continue to revise and update our inspection list to determine appropriate coverage of maritime activity in the State.” OSHA (Federal) Raleigh Area Office (919) 856-4770 see recreational boat building Directive Number: DIR 02-01 (CPL 2) through http://www.osha.gov/. OSH (NC) http://www.nclabor.com/tele.htm for a range of location phone numbers (type in "tele.htm" after the ".com/ - there is a problem with their site). Main number is 919-807-2860
The
2003 November NC MarineExpo, planned for Wilmington, has been canceled.
Limited Marine Trades Services manpower and budget, combined with closely allied
national and state events scheduled just prior to the November EXPO dates,
resulted in this difficult decision. IBEX-U will be conducting a two-day
training and education event in late September in Greenville NC (see below) and
the NMMA BoatBuilding 2003 trade show will closely follow in Miami the week of
October 27th to 29th. Our program will be participating in both of these events
in support of NC marine trades businesses and will be encouraging business
owners to take advantage of these associated marketing, sales, and educational
opportunities. Our EXPO effort just days later would put a burden on NC
businesses as well as on our resources. If you have questions, please call Mike
Bradley (252) 728-2144.
Greenville, North Carolina has been chosen as the site for IBEX U 2003, the traveling regional version of IBEX. The dates for IBEX U /Greenville are September 23-24, 2003 at the Greenville Convention Center. Exhibit space is limited, and organizers plans to offer a seminar platform similar to IBEX’s annual Fort Lauderdale fare, but reduced in number and honed to regional demands. A series of workshops and seminars will be geared for the boatbuilding component of the industry, with exhibit space for products and services for the industry. For more information contact Anne Dunbar. Marketing Director/Sales, at 716-662-4708 or go on the Internet to www.ibexshow.com.
For information: http://www.nmma.org/abc/ or call Kelly Rote-Bobek (202) 721-1608.
Follow
the track from a number of national and regional media articles, Wanchese has a
lot of boat building movement going on. Egg Harbor Yachts of NJ purchased Davis
Boatworks with molds, boats, name and equipment and moved to New Jersey.
Sculley Boatbuilders, also of Wanchese, is expanding its operations with the
initial Harbor Road multiple-building plant formerly owned by Davis Boatworks
Inc. The first yacht construction there under the new owners will be the Sculley
64 Sportfisherman. The five buildings of construction space will allow Sculley
Boatbuilders to increase its staff of 30 employees. The company builds 48-, 58-,
60- and 64-foot sportfishing yachts. And, to complete the shifting builder
picture, it appears that Buddy Davis is back in boatbuilding with the purchase
of one of the former Davis buildings in the new facility near Broad Creek
Marina.
NCMA
recently held a luncheon for members and guests of its boat building component.
At this meeting, NCMA president, Jim Bell, provide information on the
Association's efforts to inform and lobby the General Assembly on behalf of
manufacturing - including boat building. The following is a representative
list of specific pending legislation of importance to manufacturers:
Taxes
<
S99/H44 . This initiative is designed to collect significant lost state
revenue from catalog and internet retail sales, but manufacturers must
ensure that their beneficial sales tax caps remain in place.
<
S680. This initiative will allow manufacturers to take a tax credit on
workplace safety expenditures.
<
S674. This initiative will introduce a graduated corporate income tax
rate so that the first $30,000 of income is taxed below the current 6.9%.
<
S944. This bill is entitled “The 21st Century Jobs Act” and will
be designed to encourage manufacturing expansion.
<
S326. This bill was carefully amended so that State Unemployment Tax
Avoidance dumping cannot occur in the future, but companies will not be
penalized for previous legal tax planning which lowered their Unemployment
Taxes.
Environmental
& Regulatory
<
S945. This initiative is designed to encourage manufacturing expansion
and expedite environmental permit processing.
<
H1041. This initiative is aimed at ensuring that most state
regulations are no more stringent than corresponding federal regulations.
<
H868, H849, S909, et. al. These bills would significantly increase
environmental penalties and reporting requirements.
<
S829, S809, S980. These bills affect the environmental laws and
regulations concerning Stormwater and Groundwater.
<
S782, H822, et. al. These bills would mandate benefits in employee
health plans.
Workers
Compensation & Labor Law
<
S481, S513, et.al. These bills would increase the awards in W/C cases.
<
S713, H1131. These bills would improve the W/C system by ensuring that
only deserving claims within the intent of the Act are paid.
<
S921. This bill would give employers legal rights to stop third
parties from harassing or otherwise stalking employees at their place of
work.
< S798. This bill would establish “little EEOC” agencies at the local level and provide for lawsuits against employers.
< H1181. This bill would require OSHA re-inspections under certain circumstances.
For additional information on the NC Manufacturing Association Boat Builders division, or the above issues, contact Jim Bell, president, at (919) 782-8416 or by e-Mail: NCMA@nc.rr.com.
The SBTDC is a business development service of The University of North Carolina operated in partnership with the US Small Business Administration. This website and newsletters are a product of the Marine Trades Services of the Small Business and Technology Development Center and are in part funded by the SBA. For additional information, contact Mike Bradley (252) 728-2144 or MBradley@SBTDC.org.
| This material is based on work supported by the US Small Business Administration (SBA). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA. |