ALLIANCE ANNUAL REPORT
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
HARRISBURG AREA OFFICE
AND
THE PENNSYLVANIA CHAMBER OF BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY
August 20, 2007

I. Alliance Background

Renewal Agreement, August 10, 2005

Overview

Cooperative initiative to assist PA Chamber members with information and outreach assistance in a effort become fully compliant with OSHA Standards and Regulations.

Implementation Team Members

OSHA Members: Robert M. Fink, Area Director; David Roccasecca, Assistant Area Director; Dale Glacken, Compliance Assistance Specialist

PA Chamber Members: Susan Smith, Director, Customer Learning; David Kreider, VP of Operations

Evaluation Period

August 10, 2006 thru August 10, 2007.

II. Implementation Team Meetings

August 2006 through August 2007 – Numerous contacts (telephone conference calls and e-mail exchanges) were made to prepare for each of the sessions.

III. Events and Products

Training and Education

• Events
   
  1. September 14, 2006: Half day, "Ask OSHA roundtable", Session 1 was presented to 70 Chamber members. The HAO AD spoke at the PA Chamber of Business and Industry’s, "Ask OSHA roundtable" in Grantville, PA and provided updates to the current standards. Session was also attended by Steven High who presented information about Walking and Working Surfaces. It was also attended by Jodi Plavner, Partner who discussed the OSHA Recordkeeping standard from a lawyer’s perspective. Session ended with a question and answer session.
  2. March, 22 2007: Half day, "Ask OSHA Roundtable", Session 2, CAS spoke to 172 attendees at the Pa Chamber of Business and Industries, "Ask OSHA Roundtable" in Grantville PA. CAS spoke about recent OSHA updates and our current focus areas. Following the CAS, Colin Brigham, VP of Creating Positive Emotions spoke about avoiding ergonomic injuries/hazards and Doctor Richard Donze, Medical Director at the Occupational Health Center at the Chester County Hospital spoke about an Occupational Physician’s Approach to Work-Related Low Back Pain.
  3. May 24, 2007: A full day OSHA & Workplace Safety Conference was presented to 140 members. 7 Sessions were put on by OSHA and local consultants, topics included: OSHA Update, OSHA 101, How to survive an OSHA inspection from a businesses perspective, Lockout/Tagout, Machine Guarding requirements, Hazard Communication, Respiratory Protection Compliance, Employee Training Requirements and Powered Industrial Trucks.
• Products
  
  The Chamber prepared an "OSHA Handbook", 2007/2008 Edition for their members with input from OSHA as part of this Alliance. The document is 472 pages in length, has 12 chapters and covers a range of safety topics starting with Understanding OSHA and ending with Ergonomics in the Workplace.

Outreach and Communication

• Events
  
  N/A
   
• Products
  
  N/A

Promoting the National Dialogue on Workplace Safety and Health

• Events
  
  N/A
   
• Products
  
  N/A

IV. Results

The third year of the Alliance has been devoted to presenting information to the Chamber’s members at three different "Ask OSHA Roundtable" sessions. Similar activities will occur during the fourth year of the Alliance, however, we will also develop more materials for the Chamber’s 10,000 members.

V. Upcoming Milestones

1. Two Roundtables will be conducted this coming year with a full day OSHA/Chamber Roundtable being planned for 2008. We will continue to have meetings with the Chamber to work out the details for each. The Pennsylvania Chamber is currently the second largest state Chamber in the United States. They have over 10,000 members; 82% are considered small employers with less than 100 employees and 1/3 of their members have less than 10 employees.

2. Sept 12, 2007: A half day "Ask OSHA Roundtable" presentation has been set up to provide an OSHA update and to review OSHA involvement with workplace violence issues.