North Carolina's Department of Labor will no longer reduce penalties for safety violations that cause worker deaths, effective immediately under a new directive from Commissioner Luke Farley. This eliminates the practice of discounting fines in fatal accident cases, ensuring full penalties apply regardless of circumstances.
Jason White has been named ABC's 2026 Craft Professional of the Year, recognized for his career-long commitment to adapting, modifying, and overcoming challenges in construction. White credits his success to pushing forward and doing his best, embodying the kind of resilience and work ethic the construction industry values.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has released the first-ever occupant safety ratings for cargo vans and work trucks, helping construction companies make informed vehicle purchase decisions. These new evaluations provide critical safety data for the light commercial vehicles that contractors rely on daily.
Voltage Vessels has launched Eclipse X9, a new composite material made from recycled PETG and basalt fiber designed for large-format 3D printing applications. The material is now available in both pellet and filament forms after years of development.
Hello Robot's Stretch system has been recognized by the World Economic Forum as a technology pioneer for its mobile manipulation capabilities. The system is designed to assist older adults and people with disabilities, expanding accessibility in robotic automation.
Monopour construction, which combines footing and stemwall pouring in a single operation, requires understanding industry standards like ACI 117M-10 tolerances to execute successfully. Proper planning and adherence to concrete placement standards are critical to achieving quality results with this integrated ICF construction method.
Construction materials prices jumped 2.6% in May alone, with costs climbing nearly 10% compared to the same month last year. Despite the price surge, the construction industry added a solid number of jobs in May, showing resilience in the hiring market.
X Square Robot released XRZero-G0, an open-source framework and dataset containing 2,000 hours of robot training data that cuts real-robot training requirements by up to 20 times. This resource enables construction robotics developers to train and deploy robots more efficiently with significantly less field data collection.
Jenny Ferdinand-Stong has been named ABC's 2026 Health and Safety Professional of the Year for her work advancing construction safety. Her philosophy emphasizes that safety leadership isn't determined by job title or experience level, but rather by the commitment everyone brings to the job from day one.
Mid-sized contractors need a structured approach to adopting new technology, starting with assessing current operations and identifying high-impact areas before making significant investments. A practical roadmap prioritizes quick wins and measurable ROI while building organizational capability to implement and sustain technology changes over time.
The AGC Education & Research Foundation is providing construction students with hands-on summer internship opportunities to build practical experience in the field. These internships help develop the next generation of construction professionals and strengthen the industry's workforce pipeline.
Structured AI, a computer vision platform for quality assurance and control, has raised $5 million in total funding to advance its AI-powered construction inspection capabilities. The startup is partnering with Syska Hennessy Group to refine and expand its platform for job site use.
The House Appropriations Committee approved a fiscal year 2027 budget bill that cuts OSHA's funding by more than 8%, exceeding the Department of Labor's proposed reduction. This reduction will impact the agency's ability to enforce workplace safety standards across the construction industry.
Leica released new XR laser scanners while Xpanner secured $18M in funding to advance construction automation and data management capabilities. OpenSpace reached a milestone of 1,000 connected data centers, reflecting growing adoption of AI-powered platforms across the construction industry.
The EU's safety and health agency has launched a new webpage dedicated to occupational cancers, which kill 100,000 workers annually across the European Union. Construction professionals should review the resource as the industry faces significant exposure risks to carcinogenic materials and substances on job sites.
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Leica released new RTC laser scanners while Xpanner secured $18M in funding to advance data center and construction automation capabilities. OpenSpace reached a milestone of 1,000 supported data centers, reflecting growing adoption of technology platforms across the construction industry.
Crescent Valley and Henley high schools won Oregon OSHA's 18th annual student media competition focused on promoting young worker safety and health awareness. The Oregon Young Employee Safety Coalition (O[yes]) uses the contest to engage students in creating content that educates their peers about workplace hazards and prevention.
Enlaye, an AI-powered construction risk analysis platform, has secured $5 million in funding to expand its predictive capabilities. The platform uses artificial intelligence to help construction teams identify and mitigate project risks holistically.
NEURA Robotics is raising up to $1.4 billion in Series C funding to scale its robot learning platforms and humanoid production for industrial applications. The capital will support global expansion of manufacturing systems designed to automate physical work.
Preconstruction has evolved from manual, disconnected processes into collaborative, data-driven workflows powered by modern technology over the past decade. The industry remains in early stages of transformation, suggesting significant further advancement is possible by 2030.
True progress in construction robotics won't come from simply downloading robot policies, but from the ability to adapt them across different machines and understand what went wrong when systems fail on job sites. The real milestone is when teams can deploy shared robot policies to their own equipment and maintain visibility into failures weeks later.
Meta and the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) are partnering to create an academy that trains data center construction technicians. The initiative aims to develop skilled craft professionals and generate employment opportunities in the construction sector.
Gen Z workers are driving adoption of collaborative technologies on jobsites, including BIM, robotics, and AI tools that improve planning and coordination. This generational shift is reshaping how construction teams approach project delivery and work environments.