Purpose
The masonry industry is one of the largest users of scaffolding. As a result this Partnership will
focus on:
- Fall Hazards
- Electrocutions
- Caught-between & struck-by injuries
- Trenching and excavation operation
With the help of the participating Union, The Mason Contractors Association and
OSHA, the masonry industry will focus on its own safety concerns and strive for a zero rate of accidents.
This would allow OSHA to leverage their resources by allowing their personnel to focus on other industries
in need of their assistance.
Goal
The goal of this partnership is to reduce the injuries/illnesses reported by 10% by the end of the
third year.
Understanding
OSHA agrees to educate their staff regarding the terms of this partnership
Criteria for Qualification into the MCA/OSHA Partnership
The contractor:
- Must be a member of the Mason Contractors Association of St. Louis.
- Has established a written safety program.
- Has provided clear evidence of implementation of the program throughout the company.
- Has an Experience Modification Rate (EMR) of 1.5 or less.
- Has had no fatalities or catastrophes within the previous two years.
- Has had no willful or repeat violations within the previous two years.
- Is in compliance with applicable OSHA regulations and requirements.
- Has made safety and health an integral part of the company's training and employee awareness programs.
- Has had the effectiveness of the safety and health program confirmed by a site visit. The
contractor and its employees are not only operating safely but can serve as a model for other
contractors and their employees.
- Agree to provide injury, illness, accident records and employment data to the designated
administrator of the partnership. The administrator will then provide this information to the St.
Louis Area Office.
- Avail themselves to the free Missouri 21(d) state consultation service for one jobsite.
- Must pass an on-site inspection by their organization (see Safety Program Criteria A. 7).
- Membership will be established when all criteria is satisfied as determined by a third party
consultant, an OSHA representative and the Executive Director of the Mason Contractors Association.
- Verification inspections will be conducted in accordance with the Field Inspection Reference
Manual (reference OSHA Instruction CPL 2-103) and the focused inspection policy covering the focused
four construction hazards of falls, struck by, crushed by and electrocutions (outlined in OSHA
Memorandum for James W. Stanley, Deputy Assistant Secretary, August 22, 1994 and revised September
20, 1995).
- A minimum of two OSHA verification inspections will be conducted among all participants
annually. In the event that less than two inspections have been conducted, the necessary number of
jobsites (one or two) from participating contractors will be selected at random for verification
inspection.
Safety Program Criteria
The criteria for a sound company safety and health program will include the following:
- Management Commitment and Employee Participation:
- A written safety and health program that addresses recognized hazards.
- Training that includes safety and health awareness.
- Employee participation in company safety and health programs.
- Annual safety and health program review.
- Compliance with the occupational safety and health standards promulgated by OSHA.
- Implement a company-wide 6’ fall protection policy
- Designation of an individual by the involved organizations to conduct at least 2 jobsite visits
of each contractor for quality control:
- The individual selected shall have completed, as a minimum, the OSHA 10-Hour Construction Safety
and Health Training Course or equivalent training within three (3) years immediately prior to
appointment.
- The individual appointed shall have at least five (5) years of construction experience, or a
combination of five (5) years of experience and formal education as deemed appropriate for the size
and job hazards encountered by the contractor.
- The individual appointed shall have line authority from contractor top management to order or
otherwise direct field supervisory personnel/field employees to take prompt corrective measures to
eliminate recognized safety and health hazards.
- The individual selected shall periodically conduct safety and health audits, depending on the
hazards involved that address at a minimum fall hazards.
- It is the responsibility of each contractor on a project to enforce its own safety and health
program.
- Each contractor shall establish disciplinary rules that include discharge for willful or repeated
safety violations, and may include lesser forms of discipline for less serious types of violations.
- A contractor who is party to a collective bargaining agreement containing an established
grievance procedure may utilize such procedure for enforcement of its disciplinary rules.
- Participation in a substance abuse program according to mutually agreed guidelines.
- Any and all contractors participating in this partnership must agree to these guidelines.
- Job-Site Analysis:
- Job-site systems to recognize and abate hazards in a timely manner, with particular attention to:
- fall hazards
- electrocutions
- caught-between and struck-by injuries
- trenching and excavation operations
- Regular job-site safety inspections by line supervisors.
- Job-site accountability for safety program enforcement.
- Hazard Prevention and Control:
- Regular investigation of accidents and serious "near miss" events to determine their causes.
Control of hazards through engineering controls, administrative and work practice controls or the
use of PPE as required.
Training:
- Job site supervisors and foreman shall have attended the OSHA 10-Hour Construction Safety and
Health Training Course, or equivalent training, within the past three (3) years. Equivalent training
would include instructions pertaining to accident prevention and investigation that have been
tailored to the scope of the supervisor or foreman's duties.
- Employee safety training programs at all levels of the company.
- Programs to make workers aware of potential health exposures.
Partnership Incentives
Partnering contractors shall be removed from OSHA programmed inspection lists for a 12-month period
following the successful completion of an OSHA verification inspection.
1. An OSHA inspection resulting from a National or Local Emphasis Program or a programmed inspection
shall serve as a verification inspection. The contractor will have successfully completed the
inspection when no willful, serious, or repeat citations are issued.
2. In the event that an OSHA verification inspection does reveal willful, serious, or repeat
violations, the inspection will not be considered successful. The partnering contractor will remain
subject to OSHA inspections. Under this circumstance, the OSHA Area Director may also remove the
contractor from the partnership program. The contractor will be eligible for reinstatement to the
partnership program in twelve months.
Contractors Participating in the MCA/OSHA Partnership:
- Will not be subject to OSHA inspections except as follows;
- OSHA receives a report of an imminent danger situation or a formal written complaint filed by a
current employee or employee representative.
- A fatality/catastrophe as defined in the OSHA FIRM (CPL 2.103) occurs.
- During OSHA verification visits set forth in the Partnership Incentives Section.
- Will not be included in OSHA inspections of non-partnership employers unless the inspector
observes that, as a result of partnership contractor actions, employees are exposed to hazards
listed in the purpose section of this agreement or other serious hazards.
- Will receive no penalties for other-than-serious violations from OSHA, provided that the
violation is abated within the prescribed period of time. The contractor reserves the right to
request an informal conference and formally contest any alleged OSHA violation/citation.
- Will receive maximum reductions allowed by the OSHA FIRM for good faith, size and history for
penalties assessed for serious OSHA violations
- May receive incentives from owners and respective insurance companies/contractors/unions and
recognition from affiliates of the partnership program.
Outreach Programs
- One of the core benefits of the Partnership Program will be to develop contractors who can serve
as models for others to emulate. The program will include the development of criteria for a "model"
company; and those companies that qualify will be asked to mentor smaller contractors, or
contractors with less effective safety and health programs. The respective contractor association
and union participating in the partnership can also provide such mentoring services.
- This mentoring can take several forms:
- Structured programs created within the scope of ongoing contractor
association/apprenticeship/union safety and health education;
- Programs developed for presentation at the MCA monthly meeting; and
- Instruction offered in conjunction with apprentice/journeyman union training programs, and other
training programs.
Measuring the Program's Success
- The success of this program will be jointly evaluated by the partnership administrator and OSHA’s
St. Louis Area Office based on the following four measures:
- Injury/Illness Incidence rates (OSHA 200/300 and employment data) as well as near misses of
participating contractors on a quarterly basis will be collected and provided to OSHA.
- Surveys of participating contractors and their employees annually.
- Downward trend in injuries due to falls and reduced near misses.
- Data will be provided for previous 3 years to determine a baseline using days away, restricted or
transferred. (DART).
Implementation
- This partnership may be terminated by any of the participating organization with a sixty-day
notice.
- The date of this MCA/OSHA partnership is March 1, 2007, and will be effective in sixty days. The
partnership will remain in effect for three years from the effective date.
- Contractors seeking participation in this partnership program have read this partnership
agreement in full and signify agreement to all the requirements herein upon application to the Mason
Contractors Association and the St. Louis Area Office-OSHA Partnership Agreement.
Bill McDonald, Area Director, OSHA |
|
Brian J. Grant, President, Mason
Contractors Association of St. Louis |
|
Ernie Brown, Business Manager, Eastern
Missouri Laborers' District Council |
|
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