The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
agrees to a partnership with participating contractors at the Caterpillar
Project to enhance workplace safety and health through the strategy of
implementing fully written safety and health programs at the Caterpillar
Project, located in Seguin, TX. This partnership opportunity is also extended to
all employers on the Caterpillar Project site that would wish to join. The
overall goal of the partnership will be to reduce serious injuries and illnesses
one percent per year and to reduce the occurrence of the four major hazards in
the categories of falls, electrocutions, struck-by and caught-between ten
percent per year. Measurements will be obtained from OSHA 300 logs and self
inspections. Signatory participating contractors who are willing to accept this
program will receive OSHA assistance and annual on-site enforcement inspections
(in accordance with approved protocols) in lieu of programmed inspections.
The Caterpillar Project is to construct an 800,000 square foot diesel engine
manufacturing plant located on 150 acres in Seguin, Texas. Burton Construction
Company is the General Contractor on the site. The site will employ
approximately 350 total employees. Trades represented at the site include
electrical, mechanical, pre-cast concrete, and steel erection contractor,
roofing, waterproofing, painting and fire protection.
- BACKGROUND
The hazards associated with the construction industry are well documented.
Construction activities involving multi-employers have added complexities. The
partners’ goals are to reduce and/or eliminate these hazards. In this regard,
the partners recognize the importance and value of exerting leadership by
bringing their respective skills to bear in a cooperative, focused, voluntary
effort to ensure a safe and healthful environment for all personnel involved.
To facilitate OSHA’s goal of reducing occupational-related fatalities and
serious injuries in the construction industry, as outlined in the Agency’s
strategic plan, OSHA and contractors at the Caterpillar Project have agreed to
the joint implementation of this partnership.
- GOALS
The goals of this partnership are to develop contractor/government relationships
that will encourage contractors at the Caterpillar project to improve their
safety and health performance; to assist them in striving for the elimination of
the four major hazards (falls, electrical, caught in/between and struck-by
hazards), which account for the majority of fatalities and injuries in this
industry; to assist in minimizing and/or eliminating the hazards associated with
masonry work sites; to prevent serious accidents during this project through
implementation of Safety and Health Management Systems (SHMS) and increased
employee training and to include safety training in an employee’s primary
language for those employees working in hazardous situations such as the four
major hazards.
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Goals |
Strategies |
Measures |
1) Attain a Total Case Incidence Rate (TCIR) and Days Away Restricted,
Transfer Case Incidence Rate (DART) below the 2007 National BLS Average for
the NAICS construction code.
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a) Develop a system to track and address incidences related to falls,
electrical, caught-between and struck by hazards.
b) Implementation of SHMS |
i) Total employers and employees hours.
ii) Total case injury and illness rates.
iii) Participating members will utilize 2008 year to date data as initial
baseline for statistical purposes. |
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2) Improve SHMS |
a) Develop criteria for a model contractor SHMS
b) Provide safety and health training and educational materials to all
on-site contractors. |
i) Number of Employees trained.
ii) Number of Training sessions.
iii) Total training hours.
iv) Number of subs (per project) that implemented or improved their SHMS.
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3) Develop a program to assist Spanish speaking workers to understand and
follow SHMS requirements. |
a) Develop tools to include but not limited to: bi-lingual project signage,
bi-lingual orientation, bi-lingual tool box talks and subcontractor support
utilizing bi-lingual foreman and supervision. |
i) Number of employees safety trained in Spanish.
ii) Number of safety training sessions in Spanish.
iii) Total training hours.
iv) Summary of training evaluations prepared by sub contractors |
Selection criteria for participants:
- Executive Commitment: Participants agree to submit a letter stating
executive commitment to develop and maintain a safety and health program for
construction projects (and associated staff housing, if applicable). The
letter should be from the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or equivalent. It
should make clear such a program is a priority for the CEO and that he (or
she) will personally track programs and hold managers accountable for
administration of the program. The letter should be addressed to the OSHA
Regional Administrator and endorsed by the participating company. A similar
letter should be addressed to managers and employees and posted for two months
in the workplace. Such letters must also be translated (in writing) in the
language of the workers.
- Eligibility: This partnership is available to contractors working
on the Caterpillar Project in Seguin, Texas.
- Commitment to Develop a Formal Safety and Health Program. The
program will be in writing, will be shared with all employees, will be given
to OSHA within 6 months of an employer becoming a member of the partnership,
and will address the elements described below:
Element 1: Employee Involvement
Management will ensure employee involvement with the safety and health program
in each of the following methods:
- Valid ideas and/or recommendations will receive reasonable and timely
action. Identified imminent danger hazards (those immediately likely to cause
death or serious injury) which are identified by the committee will be
immediately corrected by management.
- An employee representative shall participate in any scheduled safety
inspection/audit---unless performed by independent consultants/contractors.
- Employees will be informed via posted notice of hazards and corrections of
any safety/health inspections/audits.
- Employee representatives will, as a part of their regular duties, be
allowed to accompany a compliance officer on any OSHA inspection.
- Company safety and health programs, inspections/audits, hazard
information, and informational safety and health posters will be in the
language of affected workers---as well as English.
- Employees will have the right to submit safety and health complaints or
recommendations to management. Valid complaints will be corrected within a
reasonable time.
- Employees will not be discriminated against as a result of participation
in the safety and health program, submitting complaints, or exercising their
rights under the OSH Act.
This partnership does not preclude employees and/or employers from exercising
any right provided under the OSHA Act nor does it abrogate any responsibility to
comply with rules and regulations adopted pursuant to the Act.
Element 2: Periodic Safety and Health Inspections/Audits
- Company agrees to conduct periodic workplace inspections/audits for the
purpose of identifying and correcting safety and health hazards at least
monthly.
- The company may utilize the services of a consultant or contractor to
perform these inspections/audits in addition to or in lieu of their own
inspection/audit.
- An employee representative will participate in the inspection/audit of the
workplace and staff housing, unless such inspection/audit is conducted by a
consultant or contractor.
- Company agrees to correct all hazards identified in these
inspections/audits within a reasonable time.
Element 3: Training and Education:
Participating companies agree to:
- Train their workforce (in the language of the workers) in the details of
their safety and health program.
- Train workers on fall protection and prevention of electrocutions,
caught-between and struck-by accidents
- Train select personnel in basic first aid and CPR
- Train personnel in hazard communications.
- Make material safety data sheets (MSDSs) available to any requesting
employee.
- Train workers in any other aspects that will enable them to do their jobs
safely.
- Training is to be provided either prior to or at the time of assignment to
the Caterpillar Project. New workers are also covered by the training
requirement.
Element 4: Employment of a Safety and Health Professional
Participating companies agree to have a full time safety official whose job will
be to manage the safety and health program, reduce injuries/illnesses, and
ensure compliance with OSHA standards. This official will have the authority to
affect safety and health corrections and to shut down operations that pose an
imminent danger risk.
Element 5: Recordkeeping Injury/Illness Analysis
- Company will maintain records of recordable injuries and illnesses as
required by OSHA.
- Annual summaries of injuries/illnesses will be posted for the information
of workers as required by OSHA.
- The safety and health official will analyze injury and illness trends to
identify work practice improvements or material modifications necessary to
prevent accidents.
- OSHA will collect 300 log data from each company at the time of the annual
on site enforcement visit. This data will be used to track overall reduction
of injuries and illnesses in order to measure the long term effectiveness of
the partnership.
- Other information collected or reviewed during the annual enforcement
visits.
Element 6: Safety and Health Program Analysis
- The safety and health official will prepare an annual analysis of the
company’s safety and health program. This will include a summary of all major
hazards found and corrected through inspection and safety committee efforts,
those still uncorrected, injury/illness trends, and recommendations for safety
and health improvements.
- The analysis will be submitted to the CEO or equivalent.
Element 7: Cooperation with OSHA
- Participants agree to allow OSHA to conduct an annual on site verification
enforcement inspection in accordance with this partnership agreement. These
inspections may result in citations and penalties being issued to the company.
- Participants agree to cooperate with OSHA during all inspections and to
share information on its safety and health program, program analysis,
recordkeeping data, and internal inspection/audit results.
- Participants agree to allow an employee representative to participate on
OSHA inspections and to allow private interviews with workers.
- Participants will post notices of imminent danger, when issued by OSHA,
and then will immediately correct the hazards or voluntarily remove workers
from exposure.
OSHA Commitment and Partnership Benefits
- So long as the company is meeting the intent of the partnership, OSHA
verification inspections will be limited in scope to a review and evaluation
of the safety and health program, analysis of injuries, interviews of select
employees to verify quality, and then a focused inspection to verify
compliance. Obvious hazards will be cited.
- OSHA will endeavor to support the company in reasonable requested
training.
- OSHA will furnish technical advice, publications and training material to
the employer upon request. Such requests will not cause an OSHA inspection.
- Informal complaints (unsigned) ---participant will have an opportunity to
resolve such complaints; however, if corrections are inadequate, an inspection
may be made to compel compliance.
- OSHA will arrange quarterly conference calls amount all active
participants in the partnership.
Partnership Limitations
It is stipulated that partnering employers remain subject to OSHA inspections
and investigations in accordance with established Agency procedures.
- OSHA will conduct accident investigations.
- OSHA will conduct investigations of formal (signed) complaints and
informal (unsigned) complaints that do not result in voluntary and adequate
corrections by the employer.
Partnership Review: Partnership agreement will be reviewed in the
event of a fatality, catastrophic event, or poor performance identified in an
OSHA evaluation. The review will determine whether the agreement will continue.
Partnership Evaluation: The partnership evaluated by the OSHA Area office
on an annual basis, in accordance with established Agency procedures. OSHA may
ask that the following information be provided by the company during the on-site
verification inspection, for review or collection by OSHA.
- number of and type of safety analysis conducted
- exposure assessment data
- number of employee complaints, number of training sessions held, and
number of employees and supervisors/managers trained
- results of safety /health audits and inspections, which may include
hazards identified and corrected.
- documentation of employee involvement, including minutes of safety meeting
- documentation of communication between management and employees (may
include computer memos, feedback on each suggestion, or other appropriate
documentation
- consultation visits received
- participation in health or safety seminars
Partnership Management: The individual partnership establishments will
be responsible for providing the required data to the OSHA Compliance Assistance
Specialist who is working with them on a quarterly basis. Annual evaluations
will be completed and submitted in a timely manner to DCSP. Conference calls
will be held on a regular basis and face-to-face meetings will be held annually
as resources permit.
Partnership Termination
This partnership will expire two years from the date of signing, or upon
completion of the project, whichever is sooner.
If any signatory of this agreement wishes to terminate their participation prior
to the established termination date, written notice of the intent to withdraw
must be provided to all other signatories.
If OSHA chooses to withdraw its participation in the partnership, the entire
agreement is terminated. Any signatory may also propose modification or
amendment of the agreement. For non-signatory participants of the strategic
partnership, OSHA may terminate the participant’s membership at any time with
written notice. Additionally, the participant may withdraw from the strategic
partnership at any time with a written notice to OSHA.
OSHA will terminate the agreement for any sustained willful violation or any
sustained failure-to-abate situations.
OSHA will terminate the agreement for any major identified program discrepancy
that is not improved within a reasonable and agreed upon time frame.
OSHA will terminate the agreement in the event of proven and unresolved
discrimination against employees who exercise their protected safety and health
rights under the OSH Act.
Signatures
Elizabeth Slatten
Assistant Area Director |
Brad Burton
PresidentOSHA |
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Burton Construction |
SELF INSPECTION
Name of Project Lonestar Data Center
Inspection Date(s): ____________________________
Total number of employee’s on-site _______________
Accident Information:
Number of lost time cases __________
Number of restricted cases __________
Hazards identified and corrected:
Falls _____________
(floors, platforms, roofs)
Electrical _____________
(overhead power lines, power tools and cords, outlets, temporary wiring)
Struck By _____________
(falling objects and vehicles)
Caught-in/Between _____________
(cave-ins, unguarded machinery, equipment)
Other hazards _____________
Inspection Conducted by: ________________________________
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