AGREEMENT RENEWING AN ALLIANCE
BETWEEN
NEW YORK REGIONAL OFFICE OF
THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION (OSHA)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR,
THE NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT (NJLWD),
AND
THE NEW JERSEY STATE INDUSTRIAL SAFETY COMMITTEE (NJSISC)

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) New York Regional Office, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJLWD), and the New Jersey State Industrial Safety Committee (NJSISC), referred to collectively throughout this document as the "Participants," recognize the value of renewing a collaborative relationship to foster safer and more healthful American workplaces. To that end, these organizations hereby form an Alliance to provide workplaces in New Jersey with information, guidance, and access to training resources that will help them protect the health and safety of workers, particularly by improving workplace safety and health practices, initiating or enhancing workplace safety and health programs, and understanding the rights of workers and the responsibilities of employers under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act).

This agreement provides a framework and objectives for the Alliance's activities. Alliance Participants will summarize specific activities and timeframes for completion in a written work plan.

Through the Alliance, the Participants will use various elements of occupational health and safety management system principles, and when appropriate, relevant injury, illness and hazard exposure data to help identify areas of emphasis for safety and health awareness, outreach, and communication activities. The Alliance will also explore and implement selected options to evaluate the effectiveness of the Alliance and measure the impact of its overall effort on improving workplace safety for employers and workers. In developing this Alliance, OSHA and the NJSISC recognize that OSHA's State Plan and On-site Consultation Program participants are an integral part of the OSHA national effort, and that information about the products and activities of the Alliance may be shared with these partners for the advancement of common goals.

Raising Awareness Regarding the "Safe + Sound Campaign"

The Participants intend to work together to achieve the following objectives related to raising awareness of the Safe + Sound Campaign that encourages every workplace located or based in New Jersey to have a safety and health program that includes management leadership, worker participation, and a systematic approach to finding and fixing hazards. The Participants will:

• Promote the "Safe + Sound Campaign" to the membership of NJSISC through meetings, newsletters, websites, social media, and other communication channels.
• Develop and disseminate case studies and success stories on effective safety and health programs, and publicize their results.
• Promote the Safe + Sound Week and similar awareness campaigns.

Outreach and Communication on Improving Workplace Safety and Health Practices

The Participants intend to work together to achieve the following objectives related to outreach and communication to help employers improve their "Workplace Safety and Health Practices:"

• To develop methodologies to provide subject matter experts or resources for New Jersey employers that wish to improve their workplace safety and health practices.
• To develop and disseminate information on management leadership, employee involvement, and systematic approaches to find and fix workplace hazards before they can cause injury and illness. This includes developing ways of communicating such information (e.g., print and electronic media, electronic assistance tools, the websites of NJSISC's organizational members and NJLWD) to employers and workers in New Jersey.
• To convene or participate in forums, roundtable discussions, or stakeholder meetings on safety and health programs to help forge innovative solutions in the workplace or to provide input on safety and health issues.
• To share information regarding good practices or effective approaches among OSHA personnel and industry safety and health professionals through training programs, workshops, seminars, and lectures (or any other applicable forum) developed by the Participants.

Training and Education to Assist Responsible Employers To Become Even Safer

The Participants intend to work together to achieve the following objectives related to training and education to assist committed employers in becoming even safer:

• OSHA Challenge

  • To establish new OSHA Challenge Programs in the State of New Jersey. Through OSHA Challenge, OSHA provides participating employers and workers an avenue to work with their designated Challenge Administrators to develop and/or improve their safety and health management program through mentoring, training and progress tracking.

    NOTE:
    OSHA Challenge's three stages guide challenge participants from the initial planning and development process through the implementation of an effective safety and health management program. Challenge participants do not receive exemptions from OSHA programmed inspections.

• To promote the use of free on-site consultation services available through NJLWD.
• To encourage companies with exemplary safety and health programs to participate in Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) and/or Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP).
• To design and implement a recognition program, for workplaces which do not utilize the NJLWD's On-site Consultation Program, that is in line with principles OSHA leading metrics.,
• To stimulate and maintain occupational safety and health awareness among employees and management in accordance with OSHA management system principles.

New Jersey Safety Recognition Programs

• New Jersey Governor’s Award for Safety and Health Excellence
  • Provides recognition to New Jersey workplaces with outstanding performance in the prevention of workplace injuries and illnesses,
    1. By being awarded either OSHA SHARP or VPP status, or
    2. Has been certified to meet the requirements of ISO 45001 and
    3. Have their most recent injury and illness rates less than half the latest published BLS rates for their NAICS code and,
    4. Have a Workers’ Compensation Experience Modification Rate that is 0.8 or lower and,
    5. Have demonstrated program implementation based on leading performance indicators in accordance with recent guidelines (OSHA 3970).
• New Jersey Governor's Award for Safety and Health Performance
  • Provides recognition to workplaces that utilize the NJ 21(d) On-site Consultation Program, but are not eligible for SHARP or VPP, for undertaking a voluntary effort to improve its safety and health program. To be considered for this, the workplace must the following criteria:
    1. The workplace must request and receive a full-service safety and health consultation visit from NJ 21(d) On-site Consultation within the previous twelve (12) months and,
    2. The workplace’s safety and health program was evaluated using the Consultation Form 33, and
    3. The workplace must correct all serious and other-than-serious safety and health hazards that were identified by the NJLWD On-site Consultation Program and,
    4. The workplace must have implemented leading safety and health performance indicators in accordance with recent guidelines (OSHA 3970), meeting the minimum criteria approved by the NJ Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development and,
    5. Have their most recent injury and illness rates less than half the latest published BLS rates for their NAICS code.
• New Jersey Governor’s Award for Safety and Health Achievement
  • Provides recognition to workplaces that have undertaken independent efforts to improve their safety and health program. To be considered for this, the workplace must meet the following criteria:
    1. The workplace must have implemented leading safety and health performance indicators in accordance with recent guidelines (e.g. OSHA 3970 or equivalent), meeting the minimum criteria approved by the NJ Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development and,
    2. Have their most recent injury and illness rates less than half the latest published BLS rates for their NAICS code and,
    3. Have a Workers’ Compensation Experience Modification Rate that is 0.8 or lower and,
    4. Have been evaluated for meeting or exceeding all the criteria for this award by a mechanism accepted by the NJ Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development.

OSHA's Alliances provide parties an opportunity to participate in a voluntary cooperative relationship with OSHA for purposes such as raising awareness of OSHA's rulemaking and enforcement initiatives, training and education, and outreach and communication. These Alliances have proved to be valuable tools for both OSHA and its Alliance Participants. By entering into an Alliance with a party, OSHA is not endorsing or promoting, nor does it intend to endorse or promote, any of that party's products or services.

An implementation team made up of representatives of each organization will meet to develop a work plan, determine working procedures, and identify the roles and responsibilities of the Participants. In addition, they will meet at least two times per year to track and share information on activities and results in achieving the goals of the Alliance. OSHA team members will include representatives of the New York Regional Office and any other appropriate offices.

This agreement will remain in effect for two years. Any signatory may terminate their participation in the Alliance for any reason at any time, provided the signatory gives 30 days written notice. This agreement may be modified at any time with the written concurrence of all signatories.

Signed this 16^th day of August 2022.