Industry Advocacy

CONCRETE FOUNDATIONS ASSOCIATION ADVOCATES FOR YOUR COMPANY

The original mission and purpose for CFA was to provide advocacy for contractor organizations at a national level, giving voice to smaller companies that could not achieve a platform of influence. As an industry trade organization, a primary benefit of becoming a member is participating in this advocacy work, or helping to ensure CFA is working on your behalf. Whether as a singular entity or a collection of distinct organizations, the prospect of effecting change, establishing standards, promoting awareness, and endorsing safe and intelligent practices is exceedingly challenging. Therefore, we stand in the face of that challenge and continually work toward the improved conditions, regulations and prescriptive requirements that impact your business.

CFA staff has participated in meetings and advocacy for the Advisory Council for Construction Safety and Health (ACCSH). This council, established by OSHA as a way of investigating issues that may lead to or change regulations related to construction safety practices or health concerns, has been instrumental in the efforts to increase safety regulations for issues such as fall protection and crane operator certification. CFA has helped to defend and shape these regulations as well as stepping into the application gap by researching and advising on the best practices to balance worker safety and company risk. Through these efforts, the industry has become more knowledgeable and safer while participating companies have become market leaders for adapting to the standards. CFA continues to teach, train, organize certifications and weigh in on development issues, advising the industry of pending regulatory action and providing statistics to support or refute proposed development.

In 2023, CFA joined in to support the American Concrete Pumping Association (ACPA) who launched a safety campaign to bring heightened awareness of ASME B30.27, Material Placement Systems—which when followed, elevates safety on concrete pump job sites. To be effective, the B30.27 standard requires accountability and cooperation among all trades on a concrete pumping site. ACPA saw an industry need for a one-stop resource to help both pumpers and contractors understand their responsibilities prescribed by the standard. When trades partner for safety, with each doing their part to prevent accidents, we can better protect every person on a job site from injuries and fatalities.

INDUSTRY CODE DEVELOPMENT AND REGULATION

CFA Staff are part of the founding and contributing members for the Alliance for Concrete Codes and Standards (ACCS). This important industry alliance brings together the major associations and related interests with focus on concrete to share the responsibility for oversight and development of major industry codes and standards. Through the efforts of ACCS, CFA is held as part of a strategic collaborative alliance that shapes and defends the state of the most important industry building codes and standards from such organizations as ACI, ICC, ANSI, ASHRAE and ASCE as well as a variety of other major industry bodies.

CFA is a member of the North American Concrete Alliance (NACA). Formed in 2004, NACA is a coalition of the major concrete and cement-related associations dedicated to addressing industry-wide priorities in the areas of research, safety, education and government affairs. Cement and concrete product manufacturing directly or indirectly employs nearly half a million people, and our collective industries contribute approximately $70 billion to the U.S. economy.