The NPS and OSHA enters into this Agreement pursuant
to the authority of the NPS Organic Act of 1916, 16 USC 1-4, sections 19 and
24 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 and Executive order 12196
that allows OSHA to give help to specific sites categorized as National Parks,
National Recreation Areas, and National Seashores. This agreement describes
the scope of assistance that will be provided by the Eau Claire OSHA Area
Office to the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway that has been collaboratively
selected by NPS and OSHA.
I. BACKGROUND
In the past, the National Park Service (NPS) has experienced the highest
employee injury and illness rates of all Department of Interior (DOI) bureaus.
Recognizing this problem, the NPS approached the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) asking for help in improving the employee safety
and health management system at establishments with high lost time case rate (LTCR).
II. IDENTIFICATION OF PARTNERS
National Park Service – St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin
Occupational Safety and Health Administration – Eau Claire, Wisconsin
III. GOALS/MEASUREMENTS
- GOAL: Develop and implement an
effective comprehensive safety and health management system in accordance
with 29 CFR Part 1960 - Basic Program Elements for Federal Employee
Occupational Safety and Health Programs, and OSHA's 1989 Safety and Health
Management Guidelines.
MEASUREMENT: Program in place.
- GOAL: Reduce the total case rate
by 3% per year, while at the same time increasing the timeliness of
reporting new injuries and illnesses to ESA/OWCP for this park by 5% per
year.
MEASUREMENT: OSHA 300 form and date entered into the reporting data
base.
- GOAL: Improve the safety and
health management system to become qualified and eligible to participate in
OSHA's Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) within five (5) years.
MEASUREMENT: Park receives VPP approval.
OUTCOMES
- Identify and correct the primary
causal factors in employee injuries and illnesses.
- Improve employee productivity and
quality of life by providing safe and healthful occupational environments.
IV. Annual Evaluation
The program will be evaluated on an annual basis through the use of the
Strategic Partnership Annual Evaluation Format measurement system as specified
in Appendix C of OSHA Directive CSP 03-02-002.
It will be the responsibility of the NPS to gather required participant data
to evaluate, and track the overall results and success of the partnership
program. This data will be shared with OSHA.
It will be the responsibility of OSHA to conduct, write and submit the annual
evaluation, with input received from the partners.
V. OSP Management/Operation
OSHA and the NPS agree to work in partnership to improve the employee safety
and health at St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, St. Croix, Wisconsin.
Accordingly, they make the following commitments:
- The Eau Claire OSHA Area Office
agrees to:
- Help identify programmatic needs at this
site by reviewing the NPS Occupational Safety and Health Program and
provide practical help in implementing the program.
- Help identify the primary causal factors in
injuries and illnesses at this site and develop countermeasures for
correcting those hazards.
- Provide access to training resources
including:
- One safety management training
session for division chiefs.
- Access to OSHA Training
Institute Courses (OTI).
- Guidance to other available
sources of training.
- Seminars on specific safety and
health topics.
- Guidance on visitor safety issues.
- Help mentor NPS safety and health
professionals and offer technical assistance at this site by
arranging an Agency Technical Assistance Request (ATAR) so that NPS
safety and health professionals could accompany OSHA compliance
officer on inspections for training purposes. Technical assistance
may include:
- Practical abatement
assistance.
- Technical equipment loans.
- Air monitoring assistance.
- On-site Office Ergonomic
Review
- Assist NPS with becoming an active
member of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Field Federal Safety and Health
Council (FFSHC). As a member, NSP safety and health professionals
will have the opportunity to network with other federal agency
safety professionals, receive training, safety and health
resources, and information through the council.
- Accept the findings, if satisfactory,
of NPS investigations and inspections of complaints and referrals
that would normally be handled by OSHA. These will be conducted in
accordance with OSHA Instruction CPL 2.103: Field Inspection
Reference Manual (FIRM).
- The Superintendent of St.
Croix National Scenic Riverway agrees to:
- Provide a written policy statement
from the Superintendent as a part of the introduction to the NPS
Occupational Safety and Health Program that identifies safety as
the first priority for every job.
- Post copies of this signed agreement
and the written safety policy at key locations.
- Have top management officials,
including division heads and union leadership; attend a program
presented by OSHA on basic safety management.
- Begin a comprehensive training
program designed to achieve the goal of educating all employees
on the current safety record and need for improvement.
- Commit to implementing the NPS
Occupational Safety and Health Program and achieving the
objectives of this agreement.
- Encourage employee participation in
developing and managing the safety and health management system
through:
- Hazard identification and
abatement;
- Employee training;
- Participation in
implementing a comprehensive safety and health management
system at the establishment;
- Employee attendance at all
related meetings; and
- Support of existing safety
and health committees.
- Implement a system of
accountability for safety that includes rewards, consequences,
behavior modification, and inclusion of safety in all
performance standards.
- Improve safety and health related
communications within the establishment and with other similar
sites, including sharing safety programs, accident
investigation results, risk management information, and
methods of abatement.
- Provide adequate resources to
effectively implement the safety and health management system.
However, nothing contained in this Agreement will be construed
as obligating either OSHA or the park unit to expend in any
one fiscal year any sum in excess of appropriations made by
Congress.
- Implement a system of internal
safety and health self audits including action items and
follow-up.
VI. EMPLOYEE/EMPLOYER RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
This partnership does not preclude employees and/or employers from exercising
any right provided under the OSH Act, nor does it abrogates any responsibility
to comply with rules and regulations adopted pursuant to the Act.
VII. OSHA INSPECTIONS AND VERIFICATION
Partnership verification will be conducted. NPS will remain subject to OSHA
inspections and investigations in accordance with agency procedures. OSHA will
continue to investigate fatalities and catastrophes that occur at member
companies.
VIII. BENEFITS
Participant benefits from OSHA may include:
- Priority consideration for
compliance assistance and offsite technical assistance
(phone calls/faxes) by OSHA as resources allow.
IX. TERM OF AGREEMENT
This agreement will become effective 90 days after signing and continue for a
period of five (5) years. The partners may modify this agreement at anytime by
simple letter signed by signatories. The partners may renew this agreement at
the end of the term by simple letter of renewal signed by the signatories.
X. PARTNERSHIP MANAGEMENT TEAM
A Partnership Management Team (PMT) will oversee and coordinate this
partnership. The PMT will include the Eau Claire Area Office Area Director and
the Superintendent of the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway and/or their
respective representative(s). The team will determine partnership procedures,
which will include measures to be used and data to be collected, hold
quarterly conference calls and meet at least annually to evaluate the
effectiveness of the agreement.
XI. FUNDS
It is not anticipated that any funding will be transferred between OSHA and
the NPS. However, should there be a need for transfer of funds to accomplish
the objectives of this agreement it will be done according to the policies of
the agencies and the respective departments of which these agencies are a
part.
XII. TERMINATION
This Partnership shall remain in effect as indicated in Section IX unless NPS
or OSHA notifies the other partner in writing of its intent to withdraw from
the partnership, in which case the Partnership will terminate in thirty (30)
days following the receipt of such written withdrawal notice.
SIGNATURES
For OSHA:
_______________________________
Mark W. Hysell
Eau Claire Area OSHA Area Director
Date:___________________________
For NPS:
_______________________________
Christopher Stein
Superintendent
St. Croix National Scenic Riverway
Date:___________________________
APPENDIX I
Frequently Used OSHA Terms
Agency: The highest operational level of an organization. For example, the
Department of Labor is an agency.
Agency safety and health official: The agency or sub agency safety and health
manager (not the Designated Agency Safety and Health Official).
Agency Technical Assistance Request (ATAR): A request by a Federal agency for
onsite assistance, which may include hazard abatement advice, training, a
partial or comprehensive inspection, and program assistance.
Baseline Questionnaire: A comprehensive questionnaire prepared to assess an
agency/sub agency compliance with 29 CFR 1960, Basic Program Elements for
Federal Employee Occupational Safety and Health Programs and Related Matters.
Catastrophe: The hospitalization of three or more employees resulting from a
work-related incident.
Complaint: Notice of an alleged hazard over which OSHA has jurisdiction, a
violation of the Act or 29 CFR Part 1960, Basic Program Elements for Federal
Employee Occupational Safety and Health Programs and Related Matters, reported
by a past or present employee, employee representative, or any other
individual knowledgeable of the alleged hazardous condition.
- Complaint Inspection:
A complaint inspection is an inspection that is initiated
primarily as a result of a complaint, is conducted by an
OSHA compliance officer at the agency's worksite, and
meets at least one of the criteria listed below.
- The complaint was reduced to
writing, is signed by a current employee or employee
representative, and states the reason for the inspection
request with reasonable particularity. In addition,
there are reasonable grounds to believe that a violation
of a safety or health standard or danger exists.
- The complaint alleges that
physical harm, such as disabling injuries or illnesses,
has occurred as a result of the complained of hazard(s)
and there is reason to believe that the hazard or
related hazards still exist.
- The complaint is based on an
allegation of an imminent danger situation.
- The complaint identifies an
establishment or an alleged hazard covered by a local or
national emphasis program.
- The employer fails to provide
an adequate response to a complaint investigation, or
the complainant provides evidence that the agency's
response is false or does not adequately address the
hazard(s).
- The establishment that is the
subject of the complaint has a history of egregious,
willful, or failure-to-abate notices, within area office
jurisdiction and within the last three years. The Area
Director may determine not to inspect a facility when
good quality abatement evidence has been provided and
programs have been implemented to prevent a recurrence
of hazards.
- Complaint
Investigation: A complaint investigation is conducted
for other complaints that do not meet one of the above
complaint inspection criteria. It does not include an
on-site-inspection of the workplace.
Establishment: A single physical location where business
is conducted or where services or operations are
performed. Typically, an establishment refers to a field
activity, regional office, area office, installation, or
facility.
Establishment parties: The senior local union
official(s) and the superintendent or his/her designee at the establishment
level.
Fatality: An employee death resulting from a work-related incident or exposure
in general from an accident or illness caused by or related to a workplace
hazard.
Follow-up Inspection: An inspection conducted primarily to determine if the
previously cited violations have been corrected.
High gravity serious: A greater probability of death or injury involving
permanent disability or chronic, irreversible illness.
Monitoring Inspection: An inspection conducted to ensure that hazards are
being corrected and employees are being protected whenever a long period of
time is needed for an establishment to come into compliance or to verify
compliance with the terms of granted alternate standards.
OSHA Policy: Guidance given by OSHA Instruction CPL2.103, dated September 26,
1994, "Field Inspection Reference Manual"; OSHA Instruction FAP 1.3, May 17,
1996, "Federal Agency Safety and Health Programs"; or information in these
documents as superseded by more current guidance given in OSHA Notices, memos,
etc.
Referral: Notice to OSHA of an alleged hazard, a violation of the Act, or a
violation of 29 CFR Part 1960, Basic Program Elements for Federal Employee
Occupational Safety and Health Programs and Related Matters, given by any
source not listed for complaints. Referrals include media reports and cross
referrals between an OSHA safety compliance officer to a health compliance
officer and vice versa.
Signing Ceremony: A ceremony held by the Assistant Secretary for OSHA or his
representative attended by the signatories to the agreement.
Sub agency: The operational level below the agency level. For example, the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration is a sub agency of the
Department of Labor.
Sub agency parties: The senior local union official(s) and top-level
management at the sub agency level.
Three top causes: The three top injuries and illnesses at the sub agency level
will be identified by OSHA's Office of Federal Agency Programs and their
causes will be identified by working cooperatively with top agency/sub agency
safety and health officials and through workers' compensation (OWCP) data.
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