The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) have formed an alliance to cultivate safer and more healthful workplaces for workers in heavy construction.
John Henshaw, assistant secretary of labor for OSHA, and Dan Shipp, ISEA president, signed the agreement during a ceremony at the National Safety Council Congress and Expo, which was held at McCormick Place, Chicago. Under the alliance, OSHA and ISEA will promote safety and health in heavy construction workplaces by:
* Providing users in the heavy construction industry with best practice outreach materials and guidance in the selection and use of personal protective equipment; and
* Working to improve upon ways to keep workers safe by producing materials that demonstrate to workers how to perform rudimentary hazard analysis of common tasks in the heavy construction field. To keep workers safe, ISEA also will promote best practices of personal protective equipment (PPE) use.
Tangible near-term steps to achieve the program goals will include outreach through conferences, events and print and electronic media (including links from OSHA and ISEA websites), continuing dialog between the heavy construction community and PPE manufacturers and establishing avenues through which ISEA members will help OSHA personnel stay current national consensus standards for safety equipment and new types and versions of safety equipment.
OSHA and ISEA also will work together to educate users about the appropriate forms of PPE for various hazards and to communicate the value of using PPE to mitigate the hazards of heavy construction. An implementation team made up of representatives of OSHA and ISEA will meet to develop a plan of action, determine working procedures and identify the roles and responsibilities of the participants.
