The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the
Integrated Waste Services Association (IWSA)

I. Alliance Background

Date Signed

October 13, 2005

Evaluation Period

October 13, 2005 - October 12, 2006

Overview

The OSHA and IWSA Alliance focuses on providing the association's members and others, including small businesses, with information, guidance, and access to training resources to help them protect employees' health and safety. Through the Alliance, the organizations are focusing on reducing and preventing exposure to workplace hazards associated with the management of municipal solid waste and the generation of electricity from such solid waste, including tipping floors, lead exposure, and confined spaces.

Implementation Team Members
 

II. Implementation Team Meetings
 

III. Results

1. Events and Products
   
   Outreach and Communication Goals
    
   • Work with OSHA to provide expertise in developing information on the recognition and prevention of workplace hazards, and to provide expertise in developing ways of communicating such information (e.g. print and electronic media, electronic assistance tools and OSHA's and the IWSA's Web sites) to employers and employees in the industry.
   Products
   
   OSHA and IWSA Alliance Web Page
   
   OSHA developed an OSHA and IWSA Alliance Web page that is posted on the Agency's Web site that includes the OSHA and IWSA Alliance agreement, news releases, and activities and events. This Web page is updated on a regular basis.
   
   IWSA Web site (www.wte.org)
   
   IWSA developed a specific section for the OSHA and IWSA Alliance on its Web site. The section has information on the OSHA and IWSA Alliance and links to OSHA's cooperative programs, including the Voluntary Protection Programs and the Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program.
   
   Publications and Newsletters
   
   Information and news releases on the OSHA and IWSA Alliance signing and the activities of the Alliance have appeared in print and electronic publications such as OSHA Alliance Quarterly Review, BNA Occupational Safety and Health Reporter, BNA Daily Reporter, Industry News, OSHA Up to Date and U.S. Newswire. IWSA's Weekly Update newsletter included the following articles developed by the U.S. Department of Labor focusing on OSHA's cooperative programs and compliance assistance resources:
    
   • August 18, 2006, Weekly Update, "Workplace Violence: Training Young Workers in Preventive Strategies."
   • August 3, 2006, Weekly Update, "Hispanic Worker Outreach: OSHA Can Help!"
   • July 28, 2006, Weekly Update, "A Safe Workplace is a Drug-Free Workplace."
   • July 21, 2006, Weekly Update, "OSHA's Standard Interpretation Letters."
   • July 14, 2006, Weekly Update, "OSHA's Electronic Resources for Small Businesses."
   • July 7, 2006, Weekly Update, "Consultation Helps Small Businesses Establish Safety and Health Programs."
   For more information on the articles, see the "Alliance Program Reach" table.
   
   OSHA's Powered Industrial Truck eTool
   
   The following IWSA member is helping to develop the draft OSHA Powered Industrial Trucks eTool and will be participating on its editorial board:
    
   • • John Boutin, Covanta Haverhill Inc., Haverhill, MA
   • Speak, exhibit, or appear at OSHA's or IWSA's conferences, local meetings, or other events, such as the North American Waste to Energy Conference and the annual IWSA Health and Safety Seminar.
   Events
   
   Voluntary Protection Programs Participants' Association 22nd Annual National Conference, August 28-31, 2006, Orlando, Florida
   
   Lee Anne Jillings, Director, Office of Outreach Services and Alliances, Directorate of Cooperative and State Programs, USDOL-OSHA, and IWSA representatives spoke to 25 attendees during the workshop, "Alliance Agreements: Working Cooperatively to Better an Industry." Their workshop featured information on the Alliance Program and the activities of the OSHA and IWSA Alliance, including the Hauler Safety Campaign, at the Voluntary Protection Programs Participants' Association 22nd Annual National Conference, August 28, 2006 in Orlando, Florida.
   
   North American Waste-to-Energy Conference, May 1-2, 2006, Tampa, Florida
   
   Maria Zannes, Consultant, IWSA, developed a presentation on the OSHA and IWSA Alliance for a panel discussion titled, "The IWSA-OSHA Alliance: A Higher Level of Cooperation," at the North American Waste-to-Energy Conference May 1-2, 2006 in Tampa, Florida. The Office of Outreach Services and Alliances provided an IWSA Activities Summary document and OSHA publications for the IWSA booth during the conference.
    
   • Share information among OSHA personnel and industry safety and health professionals regarding IWSA's best practices or effective approaches and publicize results through outreach by IWSA and through OSHA- or IWSA- developed materials, training programs, workshops, seminars, and lectures (or any other applicable forum including outreach events).
   Hauler Safety Campaign - Safety: Do It For Life
   
   Through the OSHA and IWSA Alliance, the implementation team developed a Hauler Safety Campaign - Safety: Do It For Life - to educate public and private waste haulers, municipal and private owners and operators, and facility employees about health and safety best practices to ensure a safe and healthy workplace. The campaign encourages the men and women who haul and dispose of solid waste to make safety an integral part of their work.
   
   Tipping floor safety posters and pocket cards along with campaign promotional stickers which include the Alliance logo were distributed during the campaign's 2006 events and posted on the OSHA and IWSA section of the Alliance Program Web page.
   
   To kick-off the campaign, Covanta Energy held an event at its Southeastern Connecticut Regional Resource Recovery Authority waste-to-energy plant in Preston, CT on June 7, 2006. Over 100 people, including the OSHA Region I Hartford Area Director Bill Freeman, attended the Hauler Safety Campaign kick-off event.
   
   In addition, Covanta Energy hosted federal, state and local officials and haulers at campaign kick-off events on June 7, 2006 at is facilities in Bristol, Connecticut; Wallingford, Connecticut; Haverhill, Massachusetts; West Wareham, Massachusetts; Niagara Falls, New York and Syracuse, New York.
   
   Wheelabrator Technologies' also hosted a Hauler Safety Campaign Kick-off event June 28, 2006 at its Bridgeport, CT waste-to-energy facility. The event was attended by an OSHA Region I Voluntary Protection Programs representative and state representatives.
    
   • Promote and encourage IWSA's members' or worksites' participation in OSHA's cooperative programs such as compliance assistance, the Voluntary Protection Programs, and the Consultation Program and its Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program.
     
     IWSA's Weekly Update newsletter included the following article developed by the U.S. Department of Labor focusing on OSHA's cooperative programs and compliance assistance resources:
      
   • July 7, 2006, Weekly Update, "Consultation Helps Small Businesses Establish Safety and Health Programs."
   Promoting the National Dialogue on Workplace Safety and Health Goals
    
   • Convene or participate in forums, round table discussions, or stakeholder meetings on waste-to-energy worker safety and health issues, waste hauler health and safety issues, and contractor health and safety issue, to help forge innovative solutions in the workplace or to provide input on safety and health issues.
     
     The OSHA and IWSA Alliance Implementation Team has not started work on programs or projects to address this goal.
2. Executive Summary
   
   During the OSHA and IWSA Alliance's first year a very productive working relationship was established between the organizations. OSHA learned more about the solid waste industry and IWSA learned more about the compliance assistance resources and cooperative programs that the Agency has developed. This positive relationship resulted in the development of the many programs and projects that the team is currently working on or has produced. For example, the OSHA and IWSA implementation team developed a Hauler Safety Campaign - Safety: Do It For Life - that informs public and private waste haulers, municipal and private owners and operators, and facility employees about best practices for waste-to-energy plant tipping-floor safety where haulers dump loads of waste materials that will be turned into sources of energy. The implementation team also developed campaign posters, pocket cards and stickers that were distributed at the Kick-off events that were held on June 7 and 28, 2006 throughout the Northeast.
   
   In addition, OSHA and IWSA representatives are sharing their expertise through participation on OSHA's electronic assistance tools' editorial boards and speaking opportunities, including:
    
   • An IWSA member is assisting in the development of the OSHA Powered Industrial Truck eTool and will be serving on its editorial board.
      
   • Lee Anne Jillings, Director, Office of Outreach Services and Alliances, Directorate of Cooperative and State Programs, USDOL-OSHA and IWSA representatives, gave a presentation on the Alliance Program and the activities of the OSHA and IWSA Alliance, including the Hauler Safety Campaign, to 25 attendees at the Voluntary Protection Program Participants' Association 22nd Annual National Conference.
      
   • Maria Zannes, Consultant, IWSA, developed a presentation on the OSHA and IWSA Alliance for a panel discussion titled, "The IWSA-OSHA Alliance: A Higher Level of Cooperation," during the North American Waste-to-Energy Conference.
   IWSA also promoted the activities of the OSHA and IWSA Alliance and OSHA's compliance assistance resources and cooperative programs through US Department of Labor developed articles in its weekly e-newsletter, IWSA Weekly Update. The articles focused on a number of topics such as OSHA's On-site Consultation Program and drug free workplace.
    
3. Alliance Program Reach

IV. Upcoming Milestones

The OSHA and IWSA Alliance Implementation Team has discussed a number of activities that will be undertaken in the upcoming year. For example, IWSA members agreed to hold Hauler Safety Campaign events at their facilities nationwide in June 2007. IWSA will identify facilities to host the campaign events and OSHA and IWSA will work together to promote the events.

In addition, IWSA will continue to participate in the development of OSHA's Powered Industrial Truck eTool and will identify members to serve on the Lead and Confined Spaces Safety and Health Topics page's editorial boards. IWSA will also consider developing lead and confined space best practices fact sheets.

IWSA will invite an OSHA representative to make a presentation as part of a health and safety panel at the IWSA Annual Meeting, which will be held in conjunction with the North American Waste-to-Energy Conference, May 21-23, 2007 in Miami, Florida. IWSA will also submit a proposal for a workshop on the Hauler Safety Campaign, that includes OSHA representatives as speakers, for the National Safety Council's 2007 Congress & Expo.

Further, IWSA will continue to promote OSHA compliance assistance materials and outreach resources and the OSHA and IWSA Alliance through its weekly e-newsletter, Weekly Update. Finally, OSHA will also promote the products the Alliance produces in the Alliance Quarterly Review and through sending information on the resource to OSHA's Regional, Area Office, On-site Consultation Program and State Plan State representatives.


Report prepared by: Jess McCluer, Alliance Coordinator, Office of Outreach Services and Alliances, December 6, 2006