Home Builders Association (HBA) of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri Partnership Promotes Safety and Health in the Residential Construction Industry
Background:
In a continued effort to promote safety and health for employees working in the residential construction industry, the Home Builders Association (HBA) of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri and OSHA's St. Louis Area Office and Kansas City Area Office, in conjunction with the Carpenters' Union, renewed their OSHA Strategic Partnership (OSP) on August 21, 2006. The OSP is scheduled to close in August of 2009.
Success Impact:
Increased Safety and Health Training Leads to More Attention to Potential Hazards Onsite
Increasing the number of safety and health training sessions offered has been a key focus of the OSP. During this evaluation period, over 32,000 hours of training were conducted and approximately 3,152 employees were trained. The majority of training consisted of the OSHA 10-hour course.
As a result of the increase in safety and health training, more employees were able to identify and abate hazards while performing site self inspections. Close to 800 self-inspections were conducted resulting in over 1,207 hazards being identified and abated.
Injury and Illness Rates Below National Average - Days Away, Restricted, and Transferred (DART) Rate, Total Case Incident Rate (TCIR)
Another key focus of the OSP is to reduce injuries and illnesses and the recent injury and illness data demonstrates this success. So far to date, the OSP's average injury and illness rates is declining, however only the DART rate is below the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) national average for construction. The table below is representative of the injury and illness data collected during the 2006 and 2007 evaluation periods.
| Years | Hours Worked | Total Classes | TCIR | # of Days Away, Restricted, and Transferred | DART |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 (2006) | 6,375,383 | 184 | 5.7 | 28 | .88 |
| Year 2 (2007) | 6,278,894 | 157 | 5.0 | 23 | .73 |
| Total | 12,654,277 | 341 | 51 | ||
| OSP 2-Year Average Rate | 5.3 | .81 | |||
| 2007 BLS National Average | 4.8 | 2.1 |
As shown above, the OSP's TCIR and DART two-year average rate are 12 percent above and 68 percent below the 2007 Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) national average for residential construction. With a TCIR rate that is only 12 percent above the national average, the OSP participants hopes to attain a TCIR that will be below the national average before the expiration of the OSP.
Partnership Objectives:
The OSP's key objective is to reduce the number and severity of injuries, illnesses, and fatalities affecting participating contractors due to identified key industry hazards (e.g., falls, struck-by, caught-in or between, and electrocutions). Partners believe that this key objective will be accomplished by increasing the number of members/employers who provide safety and health training.
- Origin: Region VII, St. Louis Area Office and Kansas City Area Office
- Partners: Home Builders Association of St. Louis and Eastern Missouri and Carpenters' District Council
- Partnership Signed: August 21, 2006 (the first OSP was signed on February 8, 2005)
- Industry (NAICS Code): Construction (23321, 23332, 23551, 23552, 23561, 23811, 238140 and 423330)
- Workers: Approximately 3,583
- Employers: Approximately 35
- Source (Date): Jacalyn Wheeler, OSHA Region VII, Partnership Coordinator (March 2009)