Partnership Overview

This Partnership between OSHA, Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA), The International Union of United Auto, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers (UAW), the Ford Motor Company, and ACH-LLC will reduce injuries and illnesses at participating Ford and ACH-LLC locations through the creation of a proactive health and safety culture and a cooperative, non-adversarial relationship that optimizes the resources of all parties. Systematic anticipation, identification, evaluation and control of health and safety hazards are objectives designed to continuously reduce worker injury and illness rates.

Participating Facilities

Partnership Goal

The primary goal of this Partnership is to reduce injuries and illnesses year-over-year from baseline OSHA log summary data at each Ford Motor Company and ACH-LLC location through the creation of a pro-active health and safety culture and a cooperative non-adversarial relationship that optimizes the resources of all parties.

Partnership Objectives

The partners agree to carry out the Partnership based on mutual respect and trust that leverages the resources of all the parties through the systematic anticipation, identification, evaluation and control of health and safety hazards at participating Ford locations, thereby continuously reducing worker injury and illnesses.

Partnership Results

In 2010, the UAW, Ford and ACH continued to improve and enhance their safety and health management efforts at the 12 participating sites with the implementation of a comprehensive health and safety management system called Safety Operating System (SOS). The SOS expanded and built upon Ford's previous Safety and Health Management Systems (SHMS), known as Safety and Health Assessment Review Process (SHARP), by enhancing roles and responsibilities for key positions in the Ford plants, providing clarity on safety policies and standards, and improving safety training. This effort adds focus on leadership engagement and enhances the employer's processes to assess competency and adherence to safety policies.

To enhance senior joint leadership support of its safety and health policies, Ford, with the UAW and Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), developed a Joint Safety Charter. This effort put into place bimonthly manufacturing safety council meetings with company and union leadership in attendance to review safety trends, processes, and upcoming safety initiatives to ensure support by all stakeholders and streamline the dissemination of safety information and processes to all of its plants.

In 2010, Ford implemented several initiatives and standards that have an impact on their safety performance:

• Ford updated and implemented its Energy Control and Power Lockout (ECPL) and Confined Space Entry training programs.
• Ford developed a comprehensive Walking Working Surface Global Standard requiring all facilities to take action to minimize trip, slip or fall hazards through housekeeping, elevation changes, and snow and ice removal.
• Ford updated its electrical safety policies to align with the latest version of the NFPA 70E Standard (2009), and conducts training for all electrical Senior Authorized Persons on updated tools for compliance.

With its safety and health efforts, the OSP was able to demonstrate improvements with the injury and illnesses rates of the partnering sites:

• The Total Case Incident Rate (TCIR), of the OSP participating sites decreased by nine percent, from 13.9 in 2009 to 12.6 in 2010.
• The overall Days Away and Restricted Activity and Job Transfer (DART) rate, of the OSP participating sites decreased by 15 percent, from 3.3 in 2009 to 2.8 in 2010.
• Seventy-five percent (75%) of the sites had their DART rate below the 2009 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) average for their respective industry.
• Fifty percent (50%) of the sites reduced their individual TCIR.
• Fifty-eight percent (58%) of the sites reduced their individual DART rate in 2010.

Training continued to be an integral component of the OSP in 2010, helping the sites work toward the OSP goals. Electronic training is offered on more than 25 different safety-related topics including Confined Spaces, Ergonomics, and Hexavalent Chromium.