I. BACKGROUND/IDENTIFICATION OF PARTNERS
A. Background
To facilitate OSHA’s goal of reducing occupational-related fatalities and serious injuries within
the construction industry, OSHA and M. A. Mortenson Company (Mortenson) have agreed to enter into a
cooperative partnership agreement which will effectively implement all facets of jobsite safety and
achieve self-compliance through cooperative efforts from labor, management, and OSHA.
This partnership is designed to address the hazards within the construction industry, and to promote
and recognize those jobsites controlled by a contractor that has demonstrated an effective safety
and health program. The Partnership agreement is an effective tool for ensuring safety at the
Addition to the Kane County Judicial Center Construction Project. It will serve to establish a
cooperative effort in ensuring safety and maintaining an open line of communication between OSHA and
contractors on the worksite. The partnership is consistent with OSHA’s long-range efforts to develop
a contractor/government partnership approach to safety management. It allows for better use of OSHA
resources and innovation in safety management and encourages more participation in the safety
process from the construction community.
B. Partners
- M. A. Mortenson Company
- U.S. Department of Labor/OSHA – Aurora Area Office
- Onsite Safety and Health Consultation – Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity
All contractors and their subcontractors that work on this project are considered Partners. The
contract(s) between Mortenson and contractors and their subcontractors set forth a provision
requiring contractors’ and their subcontractors’ participation in this partnership.
II. PURPOSE/SCOPE
This partnering agreement was developed jointly by Mortenson and OSHA. The common objective and goal
of the agreement is to provide a safe and healthful work environment for employees involved in the
construction industry and to help prevent serious accidents and fatalities within the industry
through increased training, implementation of best work practices, enhanced safety and health
programs, and compliance with applicable OSHA standards and regulations.
This initiative represents a voluntary agreement and affords a partnership alternative to the
traditional OSHA enforcement procedures.
By focusing its efforts and utilizing the skills, knowledge and resources of OSHA and the On-site
Consultation Programs, Mortenson expects to reduce exposure to hazards and the incidence of serious
injuries and fatalities at the Addition to the Kane County Judicial Center Construction Project.
Increased communication between the stakeholders and the resultant mutual respect are additional
benefits expected to be realized from this cooperative and voluntary partnership.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that a total of 5,703 fatal work injuries were
recorded in the United States in 2004. Of these fatalities, the construction industry sector
recorded 1,224 fatal work injuries, the most of any industry sector, an increase of 8 percent over
the number reported in 2003.
The hazards associated with the construction industry are well documented. OSHA has identified the
top four causes of fatalities: falls, being struck by equipment or machinery, electrocution, and
caught -in- between equipment. On an average, OSHA has traditionally devoted 40-50% of its
compliance resources to enforcement activity in the construction industry. The goal for the
partnership is to significantly reduce and/or eliminate any accidents on this project and achieve a
total lost workday injury and illness incident rate per 100 employees for the project below the
national average of 3.4.
III. GOALS, STRATEGIES, AND MEASURES
The overall goal of the partnership is to create a working relationship that focuses on preventing
work-related fatalities, controlling or eliminating serious workplace hazards, and establishing a
foundation for the development of an effective safety and health program. This partnership will
strive to achieve that goal by establishing a foundation of proactive measures which will include:
A. Outcomes
Outcomes of this Partnership may include:
- Reduction in injuries, illnesses and fatalities at the Addition to the Kane County Judicial
Center Construction Project;
- Development of a model safety and health program;
- Creation and dissemination of new safety and health materials to all sub-contractors;
- Mentoring and training of subcontractors and their employees;
- Increased communication between stakeholders and resultant mutual respect;
- Development of a business/labor/government partnership approach to safety management; and
B. Goals
Participants of this Partnership will strive to:
- Reduce serious injuries and illnesses and provide a safe and healthful work environment for
employees at the Addition to the Kane County Judicial Center Construction Project;
- Maintain lost time injuries and illnesses at a rate 15% (2.9) below the BLS industry average (3.4);
- Increase the number and improve the quality of safety and health programs and best practices
implemented among subcontractors and lower tier subcontractors; and
- Increase the number of employees, employers and supervisors who have completed relevant safety
training.
C. Strategies
Strategies to achieve one or all of the above goals:
- Empower each and every contractor employee to stop work immediately upon encountering a serious
safety hazard, until corrective actions are implemented.
- Implement a comprehensive job site inspection program.
- Complete job hazard analysis prior to employee exposures, identifying potential hazards to
employee safety and health.
- Conduct initial monitoring for identified inhalation hazards per section VIII-A of this
partnership agreement. Employee exposures will be assumed and respiratory protection worn until the
results of the initial monitoring studies are received and demonstrate no exposure problems.
- Correct hazards found during the project on a day-to-day basis.
- Strive for zero injuries on the job and ensure all serious hazards are controlled through safe
processes or procedures.
- Although providing mandatory fall protection at the 6’ level is not required by the current OSHA
Construction Standards and is not mandated by OSHA as a requirement for participation in any OSHA
partnership agreement, the contractors on this partnership are committed to providing a greater
level of protection to the employees working at this site and will require protection at the 6’
level and above.
- Ensure employees receive training as follows:
- 100% of Mortenson’s on-site supervisory personnel, and at least 15% of the subcontractor’s safety
designees, will complete the 30-hour OSHA construction course (or its equivalent). Subcontractors
can utilize other instructors as long as they can show a valid certification card showing completion
of the course.
- All employees will receive a site specific construction safety orientation covering jobsite
safety and health issues and procedures relative to the work being performed and the requirements
outlined in this Partnership Agreement. At least 50% of all employees working on site for more than
30 consecutive days, will receive follow-up training, as needed.
- Safety and health training to Hispanic/Latino subcontractors with non-English speaking employees
will be conducted in Spanish should the need arise. OSHA may provide Spanish speaking instructors as
needed, depending on available resources.
- Other hazard-specific training will be conducted on an as needed basis.
- Train employees in the OSHA 10-hour construction course (or its equivalent) to the extent
possible, with a goal of at least 25% of the expected average number of employees being trained.
Subcontractors can utilize other instructors as long as they can show a valid certification card
showing completion of the course. Mortenson has primary responsibility for providing this training.
OSHA will provide assistance, depending on available resources.
- Require subcontractors who have written safety and health programs to submit them to Mortenson.
Companies that do not have their own written safety and health programs have the option of adopting
the safety and health program of Mortenson or develop one by utilizing services provided by other
Partnership members.
- Require subcontractors to develop written site specific safety and health plans to address the
site specific safety and health hazard exposures pertinent to their scope of work on the Addition to
the Kane County Judicial Center Construction Project.
- Ensure health-related issues arising during the course of the construction work are adequately
addressed internally by Mortenson and/or the Onsite Consultation Service. All safety and health
related issues will be discussed quarterly during the partnership meetings.
- An effective hearing conservation program, including noise monitoring and the implementation of
engineering controls where possible, will be implemented. Contractors will ensure appropriate work
practices are followed and personal protective equipment (hearing protectors) are worn, when
required by OSHA regulations.
- An effective environmental monitoring program will be implemented to control any potential
airborne hazards and will include personal monitoring, implementation of engineering controls where
possible, and the use of respiratory protection.
- Ensure compliance with NFPA 70E when working on live electrical equipment, including training
and the availability and use of personal protective equipment. A permitting system will be
implemented to oversee the implementation of appropriate protective measures prior to exposure.
- Ensure all equipment is adequately guarded.
- Implement a Site Safety Leadership Team (safety committee) which, led by Mortenson, will meet at
least monthly with major subcontractors represented. At least 50% of this team will be comprised of
field craft employees.
- OSHA may provide benefits to participating companies that voluntarily improve their safety and
health performance. See Benefits section, below;
D. Measurement Systems
- The measurement system will use OSHA recordable injuries and illnesses to determine the total
lost workday injury and illness rate for the site compared to the average for the construction
industry nationally.
- Activity measures shall include the applicable number of employers, supervisors and employees
trained. Mortenson will maintain the records of the 30-hour and 10-hour OSHA training
certifications. All contractors will be required to conduct weekly safety toolbox talks.
- Intermediate measures will include the number of safety and health programs instituted. The
programs will be maintained on site and evaluated by Mortenson and/or the OSHA Compliance Assistance
Specialist
- Outcome measures will be gathered on an monthly basis and will incorporate data to analyze the
number of hours worked, number of injuries, illnesses and fatalities, and the number of serious
violations found as a result of onsite audits, job site inspections, and OSHA inspection activity.
- The number of documented job site inspections and total number of hazards identified and
corrected by the general contractor and by each sub-contractor. The job site inspections will
indicate the number of hazards observed and subsequent progress and improvements with their safety
and health programs.
- The number of actions of those individuals who undermine Mortenson’s Zero Injury philosophy. The
tools for tracking these actions may be re-orientation, near miss incident reporting and the safety
audits.
- Actions specific to NFPA 70E and work on live electrical, such as training records, PPE use, and
permits.
Measurement factors will be compiled monthly by Mortenson and at the end of the project.
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 Mortenson 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.
The Consultation Program managers will report the number of contractors that developed or improved
their safety and health programs through consultation.
V. BENEFITS
Participant benefits from OSHA may include:
- Maximum penalty reductions allowed in the OSHA Field Inspection Reference Manual for good faith
and history. When calculating the initial penalty reduction, OSHA may provide an additional 10%
reduction for good faith beyond the 25% reductions provided in the FIRM where the employer, in
implementing the OSP, has taken specific significant steps beyond those provided in the FIRM to
implement the Act and achieve a high level of employee protection (see FIRM, Chapter IV.C.2.i.5
[b]). This additional reduction will not apply to high gravity serious, willful, failure to abate or
repeat citations. In cases where a partner’s total penalty reduction is 100 percent or more, the
minimum penalty provisions of the FIRM will apply (see FIRM, Chapter IV.C.2.b).
- Priority consideration for compliance assistance and offsite technical assistance (phone
calls/faxes) by OnSite Consultation and OSHA as resources allow.
VI. OSHA INSPECTIONS AND VERIFICATION
OSHA will conduct one unannounced enforcement verification inspection each year for the term of the
project. These inspections will be conducted through normal enforcement inspection activity.
Inspections conducted in response to complaints, Local Emphasis Programs, or referrals will qualify
as the enforcement verification inspection if, in addition to addressing the complaint/referral
item(s), the compliance officer completes the focused inspection protocol for the worksite.
Mortenson and its subcontractors 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.
VII. 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 abrogate any responsibility to comply with rules and regulations
adopted pursuant to the Act.
VIII. PARTNERSHIP MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION
A. Mortenson:
- Implement Mortenson’s Zero Injury Safety Program and a comprehensive safety and health program,
which includes:
- Management commitment and employee involvement;
- Hazard analysis;
- Hazard control;
- Arrangement of training assistance for other stakeholders on site.
- Mentor subcontractors who have not yet developed their own safety and health program and, if
necessary, refer them to OSHA and/or Onsite Consultation for assistance
- To the extent feasible, personal air monitoring will be conducted to assess employee exposures
levels. Where the potential for health issues such as silica, carbon monoxide, lead, or large-scale
use of chemicals in the building interior (such as floor finishings) exists, Mortenson will
coordinate air monitoring to assess employee exposure levels. Sampling results will be shared with
Onsite Consultation and OSHA.
- Have the authority to enforce safety rules and regulations. This authority will include
provisions to hold contractors and employees accountable and, if necessary, remove contractor
employees from the job site.
- Enforce 100% fall protection for all fall hazards over six (6) feet. (Refer to Section C:
Strategies). This shall include roofing and leading edge work, overhand bricklaying, and installing
formwork or reinforcing steel.
- All contractors will ensure that employees are protected by the use of Ground Fault Circuit
Interrupters (GFCI).
- The Safety Director for Mortenson will be responsible for overseeing site safety and to serve as
a point of contact and to oversee the partnership goals.
- The Mortenson Project Management Team and/or Safety Coordinator will conduct daily safety audits.
Since this is a multi-employer worksite and all workers are to work together on safety issues, a
schedule of all daily site-safety audits will be developed by Mortenson and the safety committee.
This schedule will be posted near the site safety station for easy access.
- Conduct and document job site safety meetings/toolbox talks on a weekly basis.
- Submit monthly accident reports to the partners, including first aid, injury, property damage
and near miss reports.
- The Mortenson led Site Safety Leadership Team will coordinate and conduct a comprehensive site
audit on a monthly basis. Partnership Committee Members will participate in the site safety audit,
as resources permit. If non-compliant activity or hazards are discovered, immediate correction is
required. Mortenson will document the corrective action taken and share this information during the
quarterly update meetings.
- Allow OSHA access to the site during inspection activities (monitoring and unprogrammed
activities such as fatalities and employee complaints).
- Audit the partnership and make recommendations for improvement.
- Job Site inspections and select Near Misses will be shared and made available to all workers.
Select Near Misses and daily safety audits will be discussed during stretching exercises.
- May request the services from Onsite Safety and Health Consultation Program, IL DCEO.
- When health-related issues arise during the course of the work, which are beyond the scope of
Mortenson, referrals will be made through Mortenson to the Onsite Consultation Service.
- No employee will be allowed to work directly below a suspended load except for: employees
engaged in the initial connection of steel. Controlled load lowering shall be used whenever the load
is over the connectors.
- Require the use of appropriate personal protective equipment. Hardhats and eye protection, as a
minimum, will be worn at all times on the worksite. Employees working at night, in low-light
conditions, and/or around heavy equipment will be required to wear high-visibility reflective vests
or clothing.
B. OSHA:
- Participate in the quarterly Partnership Committee meetings, but not participate in the
walkaround inspection.
- The Compliance Assistance Specialist from the North Aurora Area Office may be used as a resource
for technical issues, and will be available to assist with safety and health training/tool box
meetings.
- Give priority to the Addition to the Kane County Judicial Center Construction Project when
technical assistance is needed.
- Conduct inspections in accordance with section VI of this partnership.
- Review Mortenson safety and health self-audits.
C. OnSite Safety and Health Consultation Programs:
- Provide assistance as necessary to attain the training goals outlined in paragraph III.
- Participate in the quarterly Partnership Committee meetings.
- Schedule quarterly consultation visits to the Addition to the Kane County Judicial Center
construction worksite.
- Make recommendations for partnership onsite safety and health improvements.
D. Subcontractors:
- Appoint an on-site Partnership Committee member to resolve job site safety matters and be the
liaison to Mortenson’s Site Safety Coordinator.
- Conduct job site safety inspections. If non-compliant activity or hazards are discovered,
immediate correction is required. Documentation of abatement methods and verification must be
submitted to the Mortenson’s Site Safety Coordinator.
- Participate in the quarterly Partnership Committee meetings and on safety audits. If
non-compliant activity or hazards are discovered, immediate correction is required. Abatement
methods and verification must be submitted to Mortenson’s Site Safety Coordinator who will document
the correction taken and share this information during the monthly update meetings.
- Each major subcontractor will be required to participate in the site safety committee.
- Jobsite inspections will be shared and made available to all workers in the project office.
- Request services from Onsite Consultation as needed.
All subcontractors, including their lower tiers, are participants of the partnership.
IX. TERMINATION
This agreement shall be in effect until completion of construction activities. Should any
"signatory" stakeholder choose to withdraw prior to project completion, a written notice shall be
given stating the reason(s) and providing 30 days notice to the other party(s).
If OSHA chooses to withdraw its participation in the partnership, the entire agreement is
terminated. Either party may also propose modification or amendment of the agreement.
Changes to the Partnership Agreement may be implemented if all parties are in agreement that it is
in the best interest of all members involved.
X. SIGNATURES
The date of this Mortenson/OSHA Partnership Agreement is_______________, 2006.
Kathy O’Connell, Area Director
North Aurora Area Office |
Troy Tilford, Sr., Project Manager
M. A. Mortenson Company |
Paul Penzkover, Safety Director
M. A. Mortenson Company |
David Kramer
Program Manager
Onsite Safety and Health Consultation
Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity |
Larry Arndt, Construction Executive
M.A. Mortenson Company |
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