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In this issue:
- COVID-19 Reporting Requirements
- Load Resistance Factor Design Short Course - Starting SOON!
- Virtual Loss Prevention Seminar - Registration open!
- UC Berkeley Short Course: Geotechnical Infrastructure Monitoring & Sensing
- Go deep with Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis in 2021
- EagleLIFT Project Spotlight: Rehab at Van Nuys Train Station
- Looking for new hires? Use CalGeo's Career Center
- What the heck is going on with our Annual Conference?
- Outstanding Project Awards: OPEN CALL FOR ENTRIES
- STUDENTS: $10k up for grabs!
- Upcoming Events - the e.Calendar
COVID-19 Reporting Requirements (AB 685, SB 1159 and Cal/OSHA), as of December 2020
(Compiled from CA Chamber of Commerce December ’20 ALERT article)
ONLY for employees who report to office or job-sites. Not applicable for staff working from home.
A. Upon learning of a SINGLE positive case of an employee, COMPANY must:
1. Within 3 business days, email or fax a notification of the case WITHOUT personal information to COMPANY’s worker compensation insurance carrier. The report must provide:
a. Date of test
b. Location(s) of worksites person was at.
c. Maximum number of workers at that site in the prior 45-days.
2. Within ONE business day COMPANY must notify in writing:
a. All employees and other workers on premises that the employee may have exposed.
b. CV-19 related benefits (local, federal, company) to which employees may be entitled.
c. COMPANY’s CV-19 related health and safety measures/plan
B. Additionally, If COMPANY experiences an OUTBREAK (defined by the State as 3 or more positive cases over a 14-day period), COMPANY must provide the following to the local health authorities (e.g. Orange County Health Care Agency):
1. Names of employees with their job titles and contact information
2. Location(s) of their work
3. COMPANY’s address and NAICS Code (consulting engineers = 54133)
4. Health status of each employee who tested positive.
From CA Chamber of Commerce Dec ’20 Monthly “Alert”
Load Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) Short Course
Presented by Jerry DiMaggio, P.E., D. GE Senior Principal Civil Engineer, ARA Associates
To assist CalGeo's membership and partners to better understand the benefits of and accept and implement a Load Resistance Factor Design approach, CalGeo has organized a webinar series on LRFD.
The presenter of this series is Mr. Jerry A DiMaggio, PE, D.GE, a leading US expert on LRFD. Jerry has presented numerous webinars and live delivery training programs on LRFD during the past decade. He is internationally known and a certified master trainer. He has worked on approximately 1000 projects, in all 50 states and internationally. His technical specialty areas include design and construction of Geotechnical Features, risk management, forensics and dispute resolution.
Beginning on Thursday January 14th, 2021 participants will have access to a live 90-minute webinar each week for four weeks. The webinar may be viewed live at the designated time or a recording watched at a more convenient time. The benefit of attending the live webinar is that participants may submit questions to the speaker for a short Q&A session at the end of the webinar. Sessions will be recorded and available to registrants for up to 60-days after the program conclusion.
The initial series, consisting of four webinars, will begin in mid-January 2021 and be presented each week. All webinars will be recorded and PDF copies of the webinar material will be available to participants for up to 60-days following the course.
The topics for the initial four webinars included in Part 1 of the series are:
- Load and Resistance Factor Design Fundamentals (Part I)
- Load and Resistance Factor Design Fundamentals (Part II)
- Best Practices for Geotechnical Site Characterization
- Design and Construction of Driven Pile Foundations
The second webinar series, Part 2, will address: cut retaining walls, ground anchors and ground anchor systems, drilled shafts, micropiles, shallow foundations and fill retaining walls. Separate registration for Part 2 required.
Cost for Part 1 (includes the 4 webinars listed above):
$300 CalGeo Members, $550 Non-members, $75 Full-time students
CalGeo Member Benefit: Want to refer this course to one of your clients or partners at a structural or civil firm? Contact Kelly Cabal for a DISCOUNT CODE you can share to give them $100 off registration (non-member price drops to $450)
Group discount: Use the code 5ORMORE if your company is registering 5 or more attendees to save $50/pp!
Details about registration and dates for Part 2 of the web series will be released in the coming weeks.
Virtual Loss Prevention Seminar - Registration Open!
CalGeo's Annual Loss Prevention Seminar is back - and now available to everyone! You are no longer limited by location, traffic and distance, everyone can attend in the comfort of their own home.
Our 2021 LPS is now an approved course registered with ICC. To certify our professional development even more, CalGeo is now an approved on-line provider with the International Code Council (ICC) and has registered the 2021 Loss Prevention Seminar with the ICC to give attendees 4-hours or 0.4 CEUs.
We have an excellent program scheduled for 2021 and hope you will consider sending your field staff and technicians. Even the most experiences tech's can always use a refresher or take away a few key points each year.
The program will still be 4-hours and run 8am-12pm on Saturday January 23rd, 2021. To maintain interest and ensure attendees attention, we will be conducting short quizzes after each presentation on the subject matter along with great prizes and give-a-ways.
The seminar is geared towards field staff and technicians, inspectors and young professionals.
Program Overview:
January 23, 2021 8am - 12pm
"NICET Level 1 Certification" by NICET panel
"Understanding and Reading Site Plans" by Mary Grace Houlihan, Public Works Director, City of Emeryville
"Observation & Testing - Preparation of Field Reports" by Neal Berliner, Geocon
"Troxler E-Gauge Demonstration" by Richard Minor, Troxler(10-minutes)
"Stump the Engineer: Audience Selected Topic Q&A" Panel Discussion with Eric Swenson (Geo-Engineering Solutions), Michael Moscrop (GMU Geotechnical), Ronald Skaggs (Condor Earth) and Neal Berliner (Geocon)
Cost: Members: $75/pp
Non-members: $175/pp
Full-time student members: $40/pp
 Attendees will receive a link to register for the live webinar as well as access to CalGeo's Online Learning Library course with materials, recordings and assessments for 60-days following the live webcast.
Register Now >>
Sponsorships from $100-300 available! Please CLICK HERE for more information. Thank you to Pavement Recycling for stepping up as our 1st Sponsor!
New Technologies for Geotechnical Infrastructure Sensing and Monitoring Short Course
January 22-23 2021, the UC Berkeley Faculty of the Geosystems group are offering a 2-day short course on "New Technologies for Geotechnical Infrastructure Sensing and Monitoring". The course will provide a review of some of the latest technologies that are about to, or are already impacting the way we design, maintain, or operate geo-infrastructure and the way we manage risk. Technologies to be discussed are sensor-equipped Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (or drones), 3D model creation using optical (Structure-from-Motion) and LiDAR, infrared sensing, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), wireless sensing fundamentals, ShapeArray Accelerometers and distributed sensing using fiber optics.
The instructors have significant expertise in the technologies presented and will outline the principles of operation and the advantages and disadvantages, as well as share examples of projects where these technologies have been successfully implemented.
Due to COVID, the course will be offered this year online, but can also accommodate participants in all time zones by making the recorded lectures available online.
More information, and registration (until January 15, until capacity is reached), for this course can be found here:
Information & Registration
Looking for New Hires? Use CalGeo's Career Center
Some of our member firms are running ragged with loads of new work and struggling with employees working remotely or dealing with child-care issues. If you are in the market for some new staff, consider posting your positions on CalGeo's Career Center.
Check out our current postings plus more from ZipRecruiter here:
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FEATURED Senior Geotechnical Engineer
MatriScope Engineering Laboratories,Inc. - Sacramento, CA
Full-time
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Posted: Dec 11, 2020
Salary: $100,000.00 - $130,000.00 Annually
Application Deadline: N/A
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FEATURED Senior Geotechnical Engineer
Slate Geotechnical Consultants - Oakland, CA
Full-time
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Posted: Nov 10, 2020
Salary: null Negotiable
Application Deadline: N/A
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Go Deep with a 15-week course on PSHA in 2021
Our short 6-week PSHA course was so popular last year, we've been asked to provide a full length 40-hour version for those looking to deepen their knowledge of Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis.
This course will follow the same outline as Dr. Abrahamson's course at UC Berkeley that is held every 2-years with the following differences:
- Course will be tailored to practicing engineers and practical applications
- 45-hr professional development certificate of completion at the end for all attendees. No university course credit.
- Cost savings compared to auditing a UC Berkeley class
- Available to anyone!
- Sessions will be recorded to allow for flexible learning accommodating a work schedule
Attendees will meet via zoom twice a week on Wednesdays and Fridays starting January 20th, 2021. The course will run each week except for the week of March 22-26th for spring break. If an attendee is unable to make a live session, all lectures and Q&A will be recorded and available to registered attendees along with course materials on CalGeo's Online Learning Library. The course will conclude on May 7th, 2021.
Due to the smaller class size, attendees will be able to interact more with Dr. Abrahamson and ask questions during each class to gain a deeper knowledge of the topic.
Cost:
CalGeo Members $2500, Non-members $3000. Still not a member? Join now and also get a full year's access to our Online Learning Library of recorded webinars.
Register Now >>
Full course outline and more information available on CalGeo's Calendar here >>
EagleLIFT Rehabilitates Soils at Van Nuys Train Station
At the Van Nuys train station in Van Nuys, CA, the maintenance crews were having to deal with a ballast that was continually settling and having to be refilled and regraded. In typical situations, refilling and regrading a ballast would only have to happen every couple of years, but the Van Nuys track was having to be regraded every 4 to 5 months. After multiple regradings in a year, the maintenance company determined that something more was afoot and contacted EagleLIFT to look into their soils.
When EagleLIFT got onsite, they conducted Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP) tests at every 10' on center to test the soil's stability and find the competent soil. The test results were that 320' of track needed stabilization, with blow counts in the center being less than 1 per 10 cm.
Many issues can lead to loss of support soils underneath a rail structure, such as settlement, soil loss into sewer infrastructure, sinkholes, or geological events. In these instances, the only way to have long-term repair is to address the soil issues. What EagleLIFT proposed was to use its EL-077 polyurethane to densify and restore the soils' load-bearing capacity at depth. Read more here >>
What the heck is going on with our Annual Conference?
 2020 was a tumultuous year for all of us, not to mention the sad cancellation of CalGeo's 50th Anniversary and conference in Squaw Valley.
We are currently under contract with the Hyatt Resort & Spa Indian Wells for April 28-30th, 2021. We are hoping for a miracle to get back to in-person meetings. If it is still unsafe to do so, we will be holding the BEST virtual conference you could possibly imagine.
Please save the date for April 28-30, 2021 to meet with us, either virtually or in-person. Registration will most likely be released in early March depending on the path we must take considering public health advisories at the time.
Thank you for your patience and support of CalGeo. We hope to get back to in-person events in 2021 as soon as possible and will be first to create a fun golf-tournament, reception or event to connect you with your peers.
Read on below for info on our Outstanding Project Awards. We still want to recognize all your hard work so please submit those projects!!
Outstanding Project Awards - OPEN CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
We are now accepting applications for our Outstanding Project Awards for 2020. These awards will be presented at our Annual Conference April 28-30, 2021 (Virtually or in-person).
We can't let a year pass without recognizing all the hard work you put in each day on these amazing projects across California. I promise its not too much work... plus you get a big crystal trophy!
The deadline for submission is February 27th!
Winners will be able to present their outstanding projects to conference attendees and accept their medal and award. Winning projects will also be featured in our e.Geo newsletter with a short article and photo - OR submit your video presentation for a little more pizazz.
This is a great marketing opportunity to show your clients that you have been recognized by a committee of your peers for the outstanding work you performed.
Any projects conducted in the past 5-years are eligible. Three size categories (based on budget) are available in both PUBLIC and PRIVATE sectors.
Affiliate members can submit under our new Geo-Contractor Project Category!
Projects will be scored on:
- Innovation
- Difficulty of Investigation
- Design Team Interaction
- Social Impact
- Quality of Report
Download the rules and requirements here >>
Submit your application and fee online here >>
Documents and report can be e-mailed or uploaded to Dropbox by the deadline of February 27th, 2021. Please contact Kelly Cabal for more information.
Student Scholarships: $10k up for grabs, APPLY NOW!
 We are giving out $10,000 in scholarship money this year. The MAIN CRITERIA is that you are a CalGeo student chapter member and involved! No official transcripts or huge application form - just a letter from your student chapter officer and some short questions. Here is the application form. Applications are due by February 28th and we will award the winners during our Annual Conference April 28-30, 2021 (Virtually or in-person).
This e-mail is also being sent to Student Chapter liaisons and advisors. Please aid your new chapter President in getting this information to us as soon as possible. Questions may be directed to: [email protected]
CalGeo's New Career Center Don't forget to visit our new Career Center for a list of current job postings in California. You can also post your resume on the site!
Get into Geotech! Want to hear from young professionals that chose Geotechnical Engineering? Visit our Career video site for testimonial videos and interviews. Share these videos on your chapter websites or with friends.
The e.Calendar & Online Learning Events - The Geo-Calendar
All in-person events are cancelled for the immediate future due to COVID-19. We will notify you when we plan to hold an in-person event.
January 14, 2021 11am-12:30pm: LRFD 4-week Short Course w/Jerry DiMaggio
January 20, 2021 11am-12:30pm: PSHA Full length course, 1st session w/Dr. Norm Abrahamson
January 23, 2021: Virtual Loss Prevention Seminar - Training for technicians, inspectors & field staff. Now available on-line for everyone (BYOB: Bring your own bacon)
January 22-23, 2021: Berkeley Short Course on New Technologies for Geotechnical Infrastructure Sensing and Monitoring Short Course
February 27, 2021: Outstanding Project Award Deadline for entries
February 28, 2021: Deadline for Student Scholarship Applications
April 28-30, 2021: Save the date for CalGeo's Annual Conference! We are waiting and hoping for conditions to improve for an in-person event and are therefore delaying registration until February/March
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