Dive Brief:

• The California State Licensing Board has moved to revoke the license of the contractor in a deadly 2015 Berkeley balcony collapse that killed six and inured seven, NBC Bay Area reported.
• The CSLB said Segue Construction's balcony installation was not in accordance with plans and specifications. The licensing board also said the deviation was made without obtaining owner approval.
• The board said Segue did not act in a "good and workmanlike" manner when it did not perform its work according to accepted trade practices.

Dive Insight:

Officials said the plans specified rot-resisting pressure-treated joists, but that Segue used an engineered wood product called "oriented strand board" instead, a non-pressure-treated product not meant to be installed as decking floor material. Experts have said that water infiltrated the balcony assembly due to improper or inadequate waterproofing, rotting out and weakening the strand board. If constructed properly, the licensing board said, the balcony would have been able to bear the weight of the 13 people that fell.

Even though the board claims Segue might be guilty of shoddy work, area prosecutors brought no criminal charges against the contractor, citing no cause. However, families of those killed and injured have filed their own civil lawsuits against Segue, other contractors involved with the project and apartment complex owner Blackrock.

As those civil actions make their way through the court, the pressure is still on authorities to hold guilty parties responsible and prevent another accident like the Berkeley collapse from happening again. After public hearings and industry input, the state enacted state Senate Bill 465, which requires:

• Contractors to self-report construction-related criminal convictions to the CSLB
• The CSLB to determine whether information about prior defect claim settlement data would help protect the public
• The California Building Standards Commission to determine if balcony and outdoor structure building codes should be revised

Tom Holsman, CEO of the Associated General Contractors of California, told Construction Dive in August that state officials and industry leaders worked together to develop a bill that didn't cast too wide of a net and that made sense for the broader industry.

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