The vigilance of two UBC millwrights working at Sequoyah Nuclear Plant near Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, prevented an emergency shutdown of a unit at the plant, which supplies electricity to approximately 1.3 million homes.

Employed by Siemens Energy in spring 2023, millwrights John Wolfe and Joe Bailess were part of a team inspecting and maintaining a low-pressure turbine during a scheduled outage at the Tennessee Valley Authority plant when they reported significant corrosion and a leak on equipment adjacent to the work area. Read more about the project.

Dustin Bell of Atkins, Arkansas, joined Local 216 in 2015 and worked as a foreman for University Plant Services. “My specialty was reciprocating compressors, and I always enjoyed working on them,” he says.

In April, Bell began teaching at the Russellville, Arkansas, training center. He is now a full-time instructor. Learn more about him in the Q&A here.

The Central South Carpenters & Millwrights Training Trust Fund is seeking applications for a millwright training director. For more information, click here.

We encourage apprentices and recent apprenticeship graduates ages 16-24 to participate in the U.S. Labor Department's Apprentice Trailblazer Initiative. The new program will create a national network of apprentices and apprenticeship graduates from all walks of life and give them a platform to feature their stories, share their experiences on registered apprenticeship, and show how apprenticeships increase opportunities.

The application deadline for the first cohort is Sept. 30, and DOL will announce the first class of trailblazers during National Apprenticeship Week, Nov. 13-19. Learn more and apply.

The SSMRC recognizes members who go above and beyond in their communities. Members selected for the Community Service Challenge Award receive gifts including a lunch cooler, T-shirt, and $250 gift card. If you know someone who should be honored with the Community Service Challenge Award, please send a text to 855-577-7672.

Kudos to our members who worked with contractor Automatic Systems Inc.(ASI) to install equipment at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport in South Carolina. Read an article about the project in Airport Improvement magazine.

Active SSMRC members can now opt-in to receive text notifications for training qualifications or certifications due to expire in 90 days, 60 days, and 30 days.

To subscribe to the training text notifications, text “TRAIN” to (844) 949-2702. We encourage all members to take advantage of this new service from the Carpenters International Training Fund.

The SSMRC will send you a free T-shirt after you complete the online course "101 Constitution: U.S. Government and Labor Law," which is hosted in the United Brotherhood of Carpenters Department of Education and Training's Learning Management System. Learn more about the course here.

Submit a question by clicking here.

To provide adequate protection, PPE must properly fit your body. Improperly fitting PPE might not provide any protection at all and could present additional hazards. For instance, safety gloves that are too big can become dangerous if they are loose or get caught in machinery. Respirators that don't fit could expose you to chemical hazards, and ill-fitting safety harnesses could result in falls.

Your employer should provide you with properly fitting PPE. Let your employer, job steward, and/or business agent know if your PPE does not fit.