Partnership #325 - Annual Evaluation - 2012

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Strategic Partnership (OSP) with the Electrical Transmission and Distribution (ET&D) Construction Contractors, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), and Trade Associations (OSHA and ET&D OSP).

The Partners agree to construct a Partnership based on mutual respect and trust that leverages the resources of the partners through the systematic anticipation, identification, evaluation, and control of health and safety hazards during electrical construction transmission and distribution work, thereby continuously reducing worker fatalities, injuries, and illnesses in the Industry.

Note: The OSHA and ET&D OSP was originally signed on August 20, 2004. The OSP was renewed on August 24, 2006 and again on September 16, 2008. The current agreement was renewed on January 25, 2011 and again on December 19, 2013.

OSHA and the OSP participants will continue to collaborate to provide safe and healthful work environments for workers and contractors involved in the ET&D industry by working toward prevention and elimination of serious accidents, injuries, and fatalities through: increased supervisor, foremen/general foremen training; development and implementation of best practices; enhancement of safety and health management programs; and assuring compliance with OSHA standards and regulations for this industry.

The OSHA and ET&D OSP's Task Teams (Data, Training, Best Practices, and Communication), as well as other OSHA and signatory representatives, will analyze partner company and industry accident and incident data to identify common causes for fatalities, injuries, and illnesses experienced by linemen, apprentices, and other appropriate job classifications. Based on this analysis, the OSP Task Teams will make recommendations on and develop products and activities to address the strategies outlined in the table above.

Through the OSHA and ET&D OSP, Executive Committee, Steering Committee, and Task Teams, the partners will continue to pursue efforts to promote a safety culture change by placing value on safety and health throughout the ET&D industry. The partners will continue to share information including Best Practices documents and other OSHA and ET&D OSP successes, through the participant website http://www.neca-neis.org/powerlinesafety/.

2012 was the first year that OSHA asked the IBEW, NECA and EEI to submit their input to the annual evaluation. They were asked to fill out the applicable sections of the template document. It is hoped this information will provide a different perspective to the annual outcomes of the partnership.

December 27, 2013

Jacqueline R. Annis

OSHA National Office – Washington DC

^**Joined the OSP as signatories during 2012.

^*Four of the partners reported to be engaged in VPP-Focused Activities- Asplundh, MYR, MDU, and Michels

The Training Task Team (TT-2) coordinates the training efforts for the OSHA and ET&D OSP. Some of the duties of this Task Team include developing training courses as needed to address identified accident causal factors, tracking the training courses provided, and promoting the OSHA and ET&D OSP's training efforts throughout the industry.

During 2012, the OSP partners continued to conduct and participate in the Supervisory Leadership Skills Outreach Training (SLSOT) course. This course is designed to help foremen/general foremen create a safe work culture on the job, and course attendees receive an OSHA training card upon successfully completing the course.

SLSOT: During this evaluation period, three of the partners reported a total of 48 workers as having taken this class.

OSHA-10 Hour: During this evaluation period, six of the partners reported a total of 1,507 workers as having successfully completed the ET&D industry-specific OSHA 10-Hour Outreach Training Program course. Four of the partners provided no data: OSHA 20 Hour class: During this evaluation period, three of the partners reported a total of 168 workers having taken this class. This number includes apprentices, journeymen, and foremen/general foremen.

Train the Trainer Class: Three partners reported a total of 35 workers having taken this class.

Other training classes were reported being taken by the partners' workers. They include, but are not limited to, the following: Human Performance Improvement, 29 CFR 1910.269, 1926 Subpart V, Defensive Driving, Safe Work Methods, Best Practices, Rigging and Orientation training that includes Grounding, Hazard communication, Incident Reporting, Emergency Plans, Job Hazard Analysis, Spotter, First Aid/CPR, Bloodborne Pathogens, Personal Protective Equipment and CSP/ASP preparation classes and OSHA 500/501.

The OSP partners and OSHA continue working on implementing a pilot to conduct the ET&D industry-specific OSHA 10-Hour Outreach Training Program (10-Hour course) and ET&D Train the Trainer courses through OSHA's Education Centers. When implemented, this approach will create a nationwide network of training venues for partner and non-partner industry workers.

NECA provided training data and although their training numbers do not directly reflect partner workers being trained, the data does reflect their ongoing commitment to the safety and health of electrical contractors. NECA reported the following training information: A survey of the nine area-wide Joint Apprenticeship and Training Centers (AJATC) by the National Joint Apprenticeship and Training (NJATC) reports: 33 instructors were sent to the ET&D Supervisory and Leadership (SLSOT) class; Seven AJATCs reported that their instructors have taken the ET&D 10 Hour Train the Trainer course; and there were 123 ET&D 10 Hour classes conducted in 2012 training 1,771 apprentices, 605 Journey level Linemen, and issuing 2,618 completion cards. Lastly, eight AJATCs are teaching all eight of the ET&D Best Practices as developed and implemented by the ET&D Partnership.

Due to the size of their companies the partners in this OSP would not traditionally be eligible for OSHA's On-Site Consultation Services. However, during this evaluation period, Henkels & McCoy participated in a voluntary OSHA audit that was conducted at one of their Illinois project sites in August of 2012.

This information is not required to be tracked as part of the OSP agreement but the partners are asked to provide information if relevant to their operations.

Six partners reported that their Safety and Health Management Systems (SHMS) were improved during this evaluation period.

Henkels & McCoy reports the following improvements to their SHMS:

1. Completed a multi-year engagement with DuPont Sustainable Solutions.
2. Conducted a company-wide Employee Perception Survey. Results of which indicate significant improvements in all elements of their SHMS. Through these efforts, they report seeing overall safety performance improve by more than 25% over the last three years, equating to 884 injuries prevented.

MasTec reports the following improvements to their SHMS:

1. Completed a re-write of their safety program.
2. Developed a SHMS with 7 elements and based on the guidelines of the ANSI Z10 program,
3. Developed or modified new Safe Work Procedures (SWPs) and Safe Work Instructions (SWIs),
4. Created a JHA library (electronic) to complement their existing Pre-Job Briefing program.

MDU reports the following improvements to their SHMS:

1. Improved knowledge and participation of the workers in the safety processes.
2. Improved management involvement in training, inspecting, and investigating.
3. Enhanced jobsite inspection processes as is the hazard analysis process.
4. Will begin tracking leading indicators including the primary components of SHMS.
5. Will begin tracking reductions in events with unwanted outcomes, increased self-inspection numbers, improved investigations and reductions in vehicle crashes.

Michels Power reports implementing the following improvements to their SHMS:

1. Thorough review and updating of the Michels Power Rule Book - Incorporated all ET&D Best Practices, Added LIFTING EQUIPMENT, CRANES, AND BOOM TRUCKS, RIGGING EQUIPMENT, HAZARD COMMUNICATION, LADDER SAFETY, PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT, TRENCHING AND EXCAVATION SAFETY, MANUAL LIFTING, VEHICLE SAFETY (DOT), Work Zone Safety, and WORKING ALONE/LONE WORKER SAFETY.

   Provided this information in a pocket sized guide to all employees for reference while they work. The document will be reviewed on an annual basis and updated as necessary.

2. A behavior based program was implemented to put push a cultural change within the Power Division. This program stress on the importance of keeping your mind on task and identifying and correcting unsafe conditions and behaviors. As behavior based programs are sometimes hard to evaluate. Over a period of 7 months the power group's middle and top management have embraced the program by incorporating the philosophy of the program into their daily meetings showing that this is an effective program. To ensure that the program continues to be effective weekly safety topics continually stress the philosophies of the program.
3. A pre-job hazard assessment was initiated be senior management. The assessment is conducted prior to the start of a job and before new phases of the project begin.. This improves the planning for each job by identifying potential hazards and prior to the start of the tasks. This process will be reviewed yearly to included updated the form associated with this preplanning process.
4. The daily JSA/Daily Briefing form was updated to include more specific hazards and mitigation methods for the crews. The new form gives the crews and crew leaders within the group the ability to conduct and more thorough pre-task hazard assessment. This form will be reviewed on a yearly basis and any deficiencies found will be updated.
5. Michels Power started writing Standard Operating Procedures to give field management a standard method to conduct tasks in the field. These Standard Operating Procedures will give general guidance and safety procedures that will be reviewed prior to starting these tasks in the field. This also gives field management the ability effectively plan their work not only for production, but also and importantly to ensure the crews can conduct the task safely. These procedures will be reviewed annually for effectiveness.

PLH Group, Inc. reports the following improvements to their SHMS:

1. Management Commitment and Employee involvement: During 2012 management commitment was re-enforced by increased safety stand-downs, performance of job safety audit process, behavior based observation program, safety teleconference with their specific divisions. These proactive accountability tools increased visibility and access to employees. Employee involvement has improved by assigning the behavior based safety observer during work operations. Keeping employees engaged in the will be increased by implementing the use of safety committees and participation in incident reviews, Best practice method development, etc.
2. Work site analysis: JHA training occurs with all employees during new hire orientation, frontline supervision also receive additional training during SLSOT and Foreman orientation training. Job site safety audit/ Behavior observation data is gathered and analyzed in order to identify areas for improvement. JHAs will be evaluated for effectiveness by Safety personnel with results being communicated to management and supervisory personnel.
3. Hazard Prevention and Control: Hazard prevention and Control has been included in the new hire orientation. Employees have received additional training, participation in JHA in the field have also increased hazard identification and prevention. Emergency plan review at the orientation and continuing on the project/job site has also facilitated additional knowledge and skills training.
4. Safety and Health Training: Training has expanded to include defensive driving, and grounding and bonding training. New supervisory personnel and crew lead positions receive an orientation of company administrative requirements, human resource policies and processes as well as investigation training, and partnership SLSOT training.

Quanta Services reports the following improvements to their SHMS:

Introduced and implemented QPM (Quanta Performance Management) program initiative in January, 2012. Operational presidents, senior executives, construction managers, operation's managers and over 18,000 employees have received training on this program. The program is focused and driven by management to reduce injuries. The program implemented safety training, addressing injuries in six areas, hand injuries, sprain/strains, vehicle safety, caught between, struck by, and energized work zones. Since implementation they have experienced a 20% reduction in injuries related to the six areas. Quanta continues to work with DuPont to enhance and benchmark safety system and the culture of our workforce within the Electric Transmission and Distribution industry.

OSHA and the partners continued their collaboration and outreach activities during the evaluation period. OSP partners reported their representatives provided, attended and/or participated in the following training, seminars and conferences:

EEI:

Partnership updates were provided at the spring and fall EEI Occupational Safety and Health Committee meetings. Each meeting was attended by approximately 165 safety and health utility industry professionals. Partnership accident data was highlighted as a target for industry to achieve.

Henkels & McCoy, Inc. (H&M):

Workers attended and/or participated in the 2012 National Safety Congress and Exposition, ASSE local chapter meetings, and the EEI spring and fall S&H Committee meetings.

In May of 2012 Henkels & McCoy participated in a nationwide Electrical Safety Stand Down. Henkels & McCoy had crews from across the country participate in ET&D Best Practice Education exercises, and training materials were distributed to all power crew leaders. This same information was also shared with interested customers, and they in turn took the information and shared it with their employees.

Nearly 800 H&M employees participated in the Electrical Safety Stand Down, at 46 separate locations across the United States. Task Team 4 indicated that approximately 9,500 as being the total partnership participation.

IBEW:

1. IBEW Safety Caucus – April 18 & 19, 2012 – Madison, WI -presentations to IBEW group on Partnership and VPP programs – 125 attendees
2. IBEW Construction Conference – April 26, 2012 – Washington DC – presentation on current OSHA activities (enforcement and rulemaking effecting electrical industries) – 210 attendees
3. EEI Safety & Health Conference – April 30 –May 2, 2012 – Albuquerque, NM – presentation on Partnership activity – 175 attendees
4. IBEW Broadcasting, Manufacturing, & Telecommunications Conference – May 9 & 10, 2012 – San Diego, CA - presentation on VPP and Partnerships – 300 attendees
5. NECA Safety Professionals Conference – May 21 – 23, 2012 – St. Louis, MO – presentation on current Partnership activity – 225 attendees
6. NJATC National Training Institute – July 30 – Aug 3, 2012 – Ann Arbor, MI - detailed workshop on Partnership activity (purpose, structure, data collection, best practices, future work activities, Q&A/feedback from group – 60 attendees (training directors/trainers from IBEW AJACT's around the USA)
7. NECA Convention/Safety forum – September 29 & 30, 2012 – Las Vegas, NV - participated on panel presenting current Partnership activities – 75 attendees
8. IBEW Safety caucus – October 18, 2012 – Lake Buena Vista, FL – presentation on Partnership data collection and Best Practices – 135 attendees

MasTec:

S&H professionals attended the 2012 National ASSE Conference, the 2012 National Safety Congress and Exposition, and the IP Utility Safety Conference & CUSP preparation classes. In December 2012 MasTec presented an overview of the OSP at the FP&L Distribution Contractor safety meeting.

MDU-CSG:

• Week of April 30 EEI Spring Safety Conference
• Week of May 21, NECA Safety & Health Conference in St Louis, MO
• Week of July 30, NTI in Ann Arbor, MI
• Week of October 1 NECA Convention in Las Vegas, NV
• Week of October 8 EEI Fall Safety Conference Birmingham, AL

Michels Power:

Workers attended the NECA Safety Professionals Conference ; St Louis, MO, May 21-23, 2012

MYR:

1. Provided an OSP Best Practices presentation at the International Lineman's Rodeo in Kansas City, KS
2. Provided a Safety at Heights Best Practice presentation at the NJATC conference in Austin, TX

NECA

1. April 23, 2012; NECA District 10 (for only Transmission and Distribution NECA members – Line Contractors) meeting, Albuquerque, NM; 100 T&D Employers, Chapter Managers, Training Directors and NECA Staff; OSHA Update by NECA Partner; 30 minutes.
2. April 24, 2012; NECA District 10 meeting, Albuquerque, NM; 100 Employers, Chapter Managers, Training Directors and NECA Staff; OSHA Partnership Update and Best Practices by NECA and QUANTA Partners; 30 minutes with 15 minutes for questions.
3. May 2012; NECA Safety Professionals Conference, St. Louis, MO; 200 safety professionals (80 from T&D contractors and ET&D Partners); 12 hours.
4. May 2012; ET&D Partnership Safety Week; national exposure; distributed Best Practice Wallet Cards through 7 NECA Line Chapters to 217 NECA members for 29,025 employees.
5. August 2012; NJATC National Training Institute (NTI), Ann Arbor, MI; Task Team meetings with Training Directors; 13 persons.
6. September 28-29, 2012; NECA Convention Pre-convention Workshop, Las Vegas, NV; ET&D 10 Hour Safety Course Train the Trainer; for 10 attendees (NECA and non-NECA contractors) by NECA and QUANTA Partnership Trainers.

PLH Group, Inc.

Workers attended an EEI Safety Conference

Quanta Services:

1. March 22-24, 2012, NECA District 10 meeting in Arizona: panel discussion with partnership members, providing update information on the partnership. Information provided an updated on the work of each Task Team.
2. April 3-5, 2012, delivered update information to National Construction Safety Executive in Charleston, SC. Information given to the group contained and focused on the work of Task Team II & III.
3. May 21-23 2012, attended the NECA Safety Professional Conference in St. Louis, MO. Discussed partnership update with attendees.
4. August 24-29, 2012, delivered a presentation to Quants Controllers conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Provided information on OSHA partnership and improvements and reduction of injuries related to partnership initiatives.
5. October 1-3, 2012, attended the NECA National Convention in Vegas participated on a panel to discuss the progress of the partnership.

OSHA:

Various Dates: OSHA has representatives on each of the OSP functional teams.

The Executive Team, Steering Team, and Task Teams met on several occasions. During these meetings, the participating OSHA representatives shared expertise on a variety of topics, including OSHA recordkeeping requirements and cooperative programs policy related to the OSP.

The OSP has no requirement for the partners to engage in VPP activities.

The 2012 Evaluations reported that four partner employers were performing VPP-related activities Asplundh, MYR, MDU, and Michels Power

This section includes information regarding inspections conducted for the signatory construction contractors and their subsidiaries.

• During 2012, the OSP participating employers experienced five fatalities: three were related to electrical contact, one was the result of a helicopter accident, and one resulted from weather-related conditions (struck by lightning). All workplace fatalities were investigated by OSHA.
• Fifty-six violations were issued in 2012, an increase when compared to the 47 citations issued in 2011.
• The OSP is reviewing accident causal factors, developing new Best -Practices documents for implementation to address these, and discussing ways to expand training to address issues identified during enforcement inspections.

^* Some of the citation/violation numbers and classifications may change over time due to case settlements and the completion of a data migration project by OSHA. Data related to open inspections is not publicly releasable.

Not required

MYR conducted 167 Best Practices Jobsite safety reviews during the evaluation period

While the OSP does not require the participants to conduct self-inspections at their worksites, OSP participating companies do conduct self-inspections. For this evaluation, six participants provided information and numerical data about their self-inspections and two employers provided narrative information.

H&M:

Henkels & McCoy continues ongoing efforts focusing on documented self-inspections. Their Safety Professionals use a computer based Worksite Auditing system that allows for direct data entry with assigned corrective actions and ability to track completion. Additionally, Managers perform Safety Coaching Observations with their crews, and the data collected is also used for hazard trending purposes.

MDU-CSG: 1842 Self inspections reported

Michels Power:

At this point Michels Power is unable provide an exact count of how many audits were conducted. On average, each of their 20 Safety Coordinators conducts an audit at their respective crew sites. This may range from 2 to 10 per week. Additionally, Michels Power is unable to track the total amount of violations found and corrected.

Michels is in the process of reviewing auditing software that will be able to produce this data.

MYR: 1307 Self Inspections reported

PLH Group, Inc.: 2,513 Self Inspections Reported with 894 hazards identified and corrected

Job Site Safety audits are performed by senior management, frontline supervision and safety personnel. Areas of focus are Housekeeping, PPE, Energized equipment, Grounding, Work Clearances, MUTCD: Work Zone Protection, Equipment, Substation, Rigging and Excavations, training and environmental concerns associated with power line construction. Job site safety audits are submitted and findings are tabulated and communicated to company personnel.

Quanta Services: 5000 Self Inspections reported

^***While the specific numbers of hazards corrected/abated as a result of OSP participating employer work site self-inspections are not required to be tracked by the OSP, the partners agree to correct all serious hazards observed during any routine site audits.

Michels Power: Michels joined the Partnership in February 2011 and has developed safety policies and procedures to maintain compliance with Partnership best management practices.

MYR: The Pivot Tables used by Task Team 1 to analyze OSHA 300 data were re-purposed for use with MYR's injury and illness data.

PLH Group, Inc.: Behavior Based Observation program which is designed to identify at risk behaviors and provide immediate feedback and corrective action. The program is peer based. BBS observers are assigned as part of the job JHA.

The Data Task Team (TT-1) reviewed all industry fatality information and updated the baseline data accordingly; TT-1 also compiled TCIR, DART rate, and fatality information for the participating companies.

OSP participating employer participants, as a group, achieved a TCIR of 2.59 and a DART rate of 1.38 in 2012. These figures represent a slight decrease from the 2011 TCIR of 2.58 and DART of 1.40.

The injury and illness rates reported by the OSP participating employer participants, as a group, continue on their downward trend when viewed over the course of the OSP.

The average TCIR and DART rates for the OSP in 2012, as a whole are well below the 2011 BLS TCIR and DART rates for the electrical transmission and distribution industry.

Data Collection: Collection of "near miss" data is an accepted "leading indicator" but can deal with complex issues – e.g. employee discipline, anonymity, data centralization, etc. The Partnership could be exploring/pursuing a method to accomplish this as means to capture data, analyze occurrences, and develop means to "fix" deficiencies. [See Goal 1.e. of the Agreement signed 12/19/13]

Employee Involvement: One of the essential components of a successful Safety and Health Management Program, and also included in OSHA's proposed I2P2 approach, is employee involvement. It is a required element of the OSP and the partnership should consider assessing the effectiveness of what has been developed and implemented to date. The Partnership utilized "focus group" meetings several years ago. This may be an effective method to gain the feedback from the field workers. Individual surveys are another method to utilize in gaining feedback, but the face-to-face could yield better results. [See Goal 2.c. of the Agreement signed 12/19/13]

In General: In 2012 TT-1 continued collecting OSHA Form 300 data from the partnering contractors. Each year the partners will provide information from their OSHA Form 300s to TT-1 for the purposes of analysis. The team will perform a detailed analysis of all partner injuries and illnesses for each calendar year (starting with 2011). The resulting data will be used to identify causal and contributing factors of all injuries and illnesses, not just fatal accidents. This will allow the OSP to identify causal factors of non-fatal injuries and illnesses and develop new or apply the use of existing Best Practices documents to address these incidents. [See Goal 1.a – 1.d of the Agreement signed 12/19/13]

The OSHA 300 log data provides an indication where to focus future safety and health efforts. For example, preliminary results from the OSHA 300 data analysis in 2012 revealed that approximately a large percentage of the non-fatal injuries occur on the ground. This analysis led the Task Team to recommend the development of on-site safety briefings to address the on the ground hazards.

Data collection and tracking can also identify new opportunities for training activities. Improved tracking of students who have completed the ET&D industry-specific OSHA 10 Hour Outreach Training Program Line Construction course and the SLSOT course will help to eliminate the duplication of training provided. During the reporting period, the partners continued to explore ways to accurately track and disseminate OSP training information. [See Goal 3.a-3.b of the Agreement signed 12/19/13]

As the OSP continues to increase its membership, the size of the Executive and Steering Teams grow. This may impact decision making and problem solving.

Three partners provided opinions about areas for improvement on some key partnership elements.

IMPROVE DATA COLLECTION – as mentioned above, a near miss data collection process should be evaluated by the Partnership.

CONDUCT MORE TRAINING – Many issues identified in the OSHA 300 Log data collected and analyzed by the Partnership can be addressed through training. This training can be delivered in several ways, e.g. standardized training programs, or weekly/monthly safety meetings, and daily job briefings. Issues such as slips/trips/falls, cuts/punctures, and caught between can be discussed at regularly scheduled meetings and identified during job briefing procedures, specifically identifying causal factors for these injury occurrences at specific job sites.

Michels Power specifically provided the following two examples of steps they are taking as an employer to incorporate some of the OSP elements into their SHMS.

Michels Power:

1. Michels Power has started to collect incident data to identify trends and to focus training and awareness efforts.
2. Michels Power has initiated and general orientation for all new hires. This purpose of this training is to layout Michels' requirements from the beginning. Additionally, a management orientation is being developed for 2013.

H&M reports that for all of reasons listed above, the OSP is beneficial.

IBEW

Partnership activities continue to bring about a sense of safety awareness amongst IBEW members working in the ET&D construction and utility industries. Even though utility employers are not mandated to implement any of the Partnership activities, the utility employees know about them. Knowing and hearing about these activities – by default – seems to at a minimum stimulate Q&A.

The fact that the IBEW is an integral participant of the Partnership continues to lend credibility and a better sense of working together with the IBEW and OSHA at both the federal and state/local level.

There is an improved relationship between the IBEW and employers in the ET&D construction industry. It is difficult at time to trust one another that labor and management are in this business for the same reasons, and this partnership has allowed both sides to accept that safety is a key component in not only labor management relations, but also in sustaining a successful business.

I trust my employer counterparts with the Partnership share my views on the success of the relationships. The IBEW membership in the ET&D industry has never been as involved/informed of safety activities affecting their daily activities. While change sometimes is very difficult to accept from a workers point of view, I believe there is a sense of willingness to cooperate, including a sense of gratitude that the Partnership is actually making a difference.

MasTec reports all but one of the benefits listed above is applicable. The one benefit they listed as not being applicable is having an improved relationship with OSHA.

Michels Power reports all items above have one main benefit which is a safer industry across the nation. The partnership gives contractors, OSHA, and Unions a common ground to from and the ability to work together when creating best practices and training.

MYR reports Safety and health awareness are increased by the 5 year 10 hr. class renewal, and continuing to provide 20 hr. training to new and potential supervisors. With a higher level of partnership interaction new contacts and relationships with OSHA, Union and Association personnel have begun that would not have otherwise happened. We now are at ‘full representative' level on the Partnership.

PLH Group, Inc.

1. Increased safety and health awareness: Employees are receiving the training and it has definitely help improve safe work practices across the OSP.
2. Improved relationship with OSHA: Both the groups have benefited from the Partnership i.e. Increase knowledge of work practices for OSHA, interaction between the Partnership members and the regulatory community.
3. Improved relationship with employers: Sharing Best Practices, providing points of contact
4. Increased number of participants: Increase in the standardization of the training, safe work practices is resulting in the consistent application of those work practice from company to company.

Communication between the industry partners and OSHA demonstrates commitment to the OSP and raised safety and health awareness for the ET&D industry. The partners' willingness to renew the OSP demonstrates their commitment to safety and health for their industry. The OSP encourages OSHA, industry safety professionals, workers, and labor representatives to participate in the occupational safety and health process.

OSHA and the OSP partners continued their work together in 2012 to promote occupational safety and health through a number of various safety and health outreach and promotion activities specifically focusing on the ET&D industry.

By working on common goals, analyzing accident and injury data for causal factors, and implementing Best Practices, the OSP participating employers' injury and illness rates have been reduced over the eight year history of the OSP and continued to trend downward in 2012.

In addition, the number of OSP participants increased during 2012 with the addition of signatory companies Michels Power, Inc and Davis H. Elliot, Inc.