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Department of the Air Force |
Printing Instructions
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Department of the Air Force (#586) |
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Edwin G. Foulke, Jr., Assistant Secretary of Labor, OSHA (left) and William C. Anderson, Assistant
Secretary of the Air Force, Installations, Environment and Logistics, sign a partnership agreement
between the Air Force and Occupational Safety and Health Administration on August 27, 2007 in
Washington, D.C. at the annual Voluntary Protection Programs Participants' Association Conference. |
Partners:
- Department of the Defense, Department of the Air Force
- Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Partnership Purpose/Scope:
In the spring of 2006, the Air Force approached OSHA with a desire to improve their proactive
approach to safety and health at their installations. The Air Force recognized that OSHA had
valuable expertise in workplace safety and health, and could offer useful tools, such as the
Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) and OSHA Challenge, to help achieve that goal.
In return, OSHA recognizes that a partnership with the Air Force covers a diverse spectrum of
hazards, challenges, best practices and overall safety and health management systems. OSHA will
share the knowledge gained both with their own staff, and with other employers and industries.
Additionally, lessons learned from participating sites will benefit employee safety and health at
all Air Force installations. By entering into this Agreement, the Air Force and OSHA formalize their
commitment to improve safety and health and reduce injuries and illnesses. This agreement supports
the goals of the President’s Safety, Health, and Return-to-Employment (SHARE) Initiative.
Partnership Goals:
The Air Force and OSHA will work in partnership to accomplish three key goals:
- Reduce civilian and military workforce injuries, and illnesses at each participating Air Force
installation by at least 3% per year consistent with SHARE goals
- Expand Air Force participation in VPP and increase awareness of the value of effective safety and
health management systems
- Provide mechanisms for promoting contractor safety and health.
Partnership Objectives:
Partnership goals will be achieved through strategies and objectives that include:
- Identifying top injury and illness causal factors at each installation through review of injury
and illness data and other supporting documentation.
- Developing protocols to address top causal factors and abate hazards
- Developing a system for tracking, reporting and recording near misses.
- Completing a baseline assessment for each installation using OSHA’s Challenge tools
- Conducting employee awareness surveys (baseline and after one year)
- Expanding and improving tools to promote safety and health and share best practices
- Increasing training/events to promote safety and health
- Facilitating the use of mentors and Special Government Employees to help participating sites
apply for and achieve VPP status
- Providing guidance to contractors to improve their safety and health performance
- Requiring contract work statements to address safety and health requirements and training as
appropriate
- Tracking contractor safety and health performance
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