NAPA Care increases benefit for families
The NAPA Research & Education Foundation Board of Trustees voted to make $10,000 immediately available to families of those involved in work zone fatalities.
Since 2012, the NAPA Research & Education Foundation has supported the families of crew members who were lost in work zone incidents through the NAPA Care Emergency Benevolent Fund.
Associate Members started the Fund to offer an immediate, tax-free cash benefit to families during their darkest days in the aftermath of a tragedy. The financial relief the NAPA Care Fund provides can be used for final expenses, but there are no strings attached to allow families to determine how the funds will be spent.
Leaders at NAPA member companies have continued to press the issue of work zone safety through coalitions and engagement with lawmakers, as well as the Watch For Us awareness campaign, but the NAPA Care Fund is one of the more solemn ways the industry looks out for its employees.
The NAPAREF Board of Trustees voted in September to raise the total amount given to recipients to $10,000, an increase of $2,500 from previous years.
The Fund relies on donations from member companies and individuals, which can be tax-deductible. NAPA members also contribute to NAPAREF, which administers the fund, though donations included in the cost of registration to select events, like the NAPA Annual Meeting.
“To work in the greatest industry in the greatest country on earth is, indeed, a blessing. Your National Asphalt Pavement Association Education and Research Foundation (NAPAREF) created the NAPA Care program to support the families of a NAPA Member worker whose life was lost. To date, we have paid out 55 payments (now at $10,000) to NAPA Families. The primary focus of NAPA Care, other than financially supporting the families of a lost one, is to create awareness for job site and plant site safety.”
– NAPA Research & Education Foundation Board of Trustees Chairman Jay Winford
Respecting the zone
NAPA is championing efforts to ensure that work zone safety factors into the nation’s next highway bill as part of a coalition promoting initiatives like the work zone contingency funds that were included in the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act.
States like Washington have been able to implement the funds into their work zones, typically in cases where a change order necessitates additional safety considerations, but NAPA and its coalition partners would like to see legislation aimed at getting these funds out sooner and making them available for contractors across the road construction industry.
NAPA also encourages the motoring public to drive safely at the beginning of each paving season via the Watch For Us campaign. Watch For Us asks drivers to see the people within the work zone and to respect all signage each April as part of National Work Zone Awareness Week.
