PPG Expands its Presence in The Home Depot
PPG has announced an expanded relationship with The Home Depot and its subsidiary HD Supply to offer an extensive lineup of professional PPG paint products and services designed exclusively for professional customers. The program began in the fourth quarter of 2021 and the product lineup will be available at all Home Depot Locations. The agreement includes brands such as Speedhide Interior, Break-Through, Multi-Pro, Perma-Crete, Permanizer Exterior, Pitt Glaze, Copper Armor, and more.
PPG states that pros shopping The Home Depot and HD Supply will be able to take advantage of its network of knowledgeable sales representatives, same or next-day delivery, free professional color rendering services, color tools, and other services.
Vaccination Still an Issue in the Construction Trade
The reinstatement of OSHA’s emergency temporary standard requiring companies with at least 100 workers to mandate that employees get vaccinated or submit to weekly testing (now with a deadline of February 9) has further inflamed tensions between the vaccinated and unvaccinated workers in the construction industry, often forcing the employers and crew leaders to referee the conflicts.
While many employers are doing their best to maintain social distancing and other COVID protocols, the rift between the vaxxed and unvaxxed often spills over to disputes on the job site where the two groups of workers no longer get along. One employer stated that workers have “unyielding” attitudes towards those with opposing views.
Some employers are using cash incentives to encourage vaccination. One California drywalling company is offering $250 to employees who get vaccinated, then entering them into a random drawing where they can win up to $5,000. In total this company has spent about $125,000 in efforts to vaccinate its employees. In the end, however, the company acknowledged that office workers will need to be vaccinated to return to work, and that many of their clients already have a vaccination clause in their contracts, leaving unvaccinated workers with less opportunity for employment.
Construction workers still lag behind in vaccination, with approximately 60% of workers having taken the jab as compared to 80% in other occupations.
Customer Gives Painter a New Nose for Christmas
A New York area painter with a rare nose deformity, had the good fortune to land a job on a crew doing some work for a charitable plastic surgeon. Conrado Estrada had a condition called rhinophyma, a type of skin inflammation which caused a growth on the painter’s nose that hung down over his mouth, making both breathing and eating difficult. He’d been to various doctors and specialists over the past several years, but nothing seemed to work, and Estrada had taken to wearing a face mask everywhere he went to avoid stares and crude remarks.
Dr. Thomas Romo, the surgeon who hired the painting crew, noticed the problem and pulled Estrada aside, offering to provide surgery for free. Dr. Romo, who is involved in the Little Baby Face Foundation that helping children in underserved communities with facial deformities, acknowledged that this was a condition that very few people might know how to treat. He stated that left unchecked, the problem would only get worse. A few weeks after their first meeting, Romo performed the operation with outstanding results.
Estrada smiles a lot more, telling the New York Post that he felt Dr. Romo was heaven sent.
