Fire Prevention for Heavy Equipment 

We lead off this week's Super Six, which focuses on the construction industry, with a must-read article from Equipment World magazine on keeping your heavy equipment safe from fire.

• As a global tire manufacturer that serves the construction industry with our Galaxy brand, we paid special attention to the article's discussion on tires. The rubber used in today’s heavy equipment tires is not a source of ignition, but, the article notes, that poor maintenance and tire changing practices sometimes leave small shards of metal inside of a tire. If the air inside the tire becomes overheated due to under inflation, too much load or too much speed it can cause these small bits of metal to catch fire and in turn the burning metal can start the rubber burning. Not good! 

• Let's take a look at how the construction industry is performing in the U.S. According to the New York Times, construction spending slipped in February, pulled down by a drop in single-family home building.

• If you're in the roads and bridges sector, however, you have to hope that more funds will be targeted for bridge repair. Construction Equipment magazine reports on the recently-released 2014 U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) National Bridge Inventory database which finds that more than 61,000 structurally deficient bridges are still in need of significant repair.

• In a related article, Construction Equipment reports that the Obama administration sent Congress a revamped $478-billion, six-year transportation reauthorization bill. The proposed legislation would bump annual federal spending by nearly $25 billion over the $50 billion a year the government currently spends.

• Construction Executive magazine reports on how contractors are leveraging contemporary construction software and mobile technology to effectively collaborate, speed up processes, increase cash flow, minimize risk, improve productivity and deliver successful projects to satisfied clients for maximum profitability.

• Equipment World magazine published a positive review on the Bobcat S650 skid steer, giving it an overall 8.2 score. 

Speaking of skid steers, you might be interested in this Hub story on how the tread patterns for skid steer tires have become much more specialized to address very specific working environments and applications.