Alliance -- An OSHA Cooperative Program<< Back to Concluded Regional Alliances - Region III

  1. Alliance Background

    Date Signed: October 17, 2007

    Date Renewed: October 14, 2009

    Alliance Overview.

    The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Graphic Arts Alliance (GAA) formed an Alliance to provide GAA members and others in the graphic arts industry, including small businesses, with information guidance, and access to training resources that will help them protect employees' health and safety, particularly in reducing and preventing exposure to ergonomic hazards and by addressing machine guarding, lockout/tagout and hazardous chemical issues. During the first two years of this Alliance topics of OSHA inspections, machine guarding, accident investigation and hazard communication had been presented. This Alliance was renewed so that the Implementation Team and the GAA participating members could begin the development of a "safety inspection checklist", which would be comprehensive in both programmatic reviews and physical hazard identification.

    Implementation Team Members.

    Scott G. Shimandle, Compliance Assistance Specialist, OSHA – Allentown Area Office
    Stephen Stankavage, Environmental, Health and Safety Manager, GAA

  2. Implementation Team Meetings
     
    October 21, 2009 Outreach – Powered Industrial Truck Safety
    December 16, 2009 Outreach – Dock Safety, Globally Harmonized System and
    Combustible Dust Hazards
    March 24, 2010 Implementation Team Meeting – Safety Inspection Checklist
    June 17, 2010 Implementation Team Meeting – Safety Inspection Checklist
    August 17, 2010 Implementation Team Meeting – Safety Inspection Checklist
    October 12, 2010 Implementation Team Meeting – OSHA Voluntary Protection
    Program Discussion and Safety Inspection Checklist

  3. Activities and Products

    Evaluation Period.

    October 14, 2009 to October 14, 2010.

    Alliance Activity.

    • Training and Education

      • See outreach below.

    • Outreach and Communication

      October 21, 2009 - Powered Industrial Truck Safety. This presentation was conducted by the GAA EHS Manager and focused on the requirements of 29 CFR 1910.178, the training requirements for operators and the most common violated conditions.

      December 16, 2009 - Dock Safety, Globally Harmonized System and a review of Combustible Dust Hazards. This presentation and general discussion was lead by the OSHA Implementation Team representative. The dock safety presentation focused on the hazards associated with loading and unloading trailers with powered industrial trucks and was a follow-up to the discussion/presentation held at the Oct. 21, 2009 meeting. A review of OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard and the Globally Harmonized System was then presented to update the participants of some of the impending changes to the labeling and Material Safety Data Sheets. Finally, a brief review of the hazards associated with combustible dusts was covered.

      March 24, June 17, and August 17, 2010 - Implementation Team Meetings were held to identify the categories and specific hazards to be included on a "Safety Inspection Checklist". One of the active members has an Access Database which is being utilized as the template to build-on, so that all graphic art hazards are incorporated into a comprehensive database in which tracking, trending, auditing and accountability can be managed.

      October 12, 2010 - Implementation Team Meeting was held with the initial objective to continue working on and developing the Safety Inspection Checklist, however, due to the limited participation the OSHA Implementation Team representative addressed questions relative to OSHA's Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) and demonstrated through "surfing" OSHA's web page where information, including the VPP application could be obtained.
     
    • Promoting the National Dialogue on Safety and Health

      No activities conducted during this time frame that promoted the national dialog on safety and health with this organization.

    Alliance Products.

    • Training and Education

      PowerPoint presentations have been created and/or modified for the specific topics/subject matter listed above. PowerPoint presentations were provided in handout format for note-taking purposes.


    • Outreach and Communication

      As noted above new PowerPoint presentations were developed/modified and used locally.


    • Promoting the National Dialogue on Safety and Health

      No products developed at this time. A Safety Inspection Checklist is still being developed for local use.

  4. Results


    5. Type of Activity (Conference, Training, Print and Electronic Distribution, etc.) Number of Individuals Reached or Trained
    Powered Industrial Truck 8
    Dock Safety 6
    Inspection Checklist Development (4 meetings) 21
    TOTAL 35


    The only notable concern of the Implementation Team is that over the last year the same few companies continue to actively participate in the Alliance efforts, yet many other members have not participated in any of the activities. One of the active members will provide the GAA with some testimonials concerning the positive impact that this Alliance has had on their organization. The GAA will use the testimonials in its promotional material in an effort to increase member participation in the Alliance meetings.

  5. Upcoming Milestones

    Efforts will continue to develop and possibly begin use of a comprehensive Safety Inspection Checklist specifically developed for the Graphics Industry.

    Additionally, at our last Implementation Meeting it was discussed that there may be some interest in conducting a General Industry OSHA 10 hour class for the GAA membership. This course could be offered by the GAA EHS Manager as he is an authorized trainer and with assistance of the Allentown Area Office CAS as a guest speaker, this program could be offered over several months and may be an activity that could be used to generate some additional interest and support for the OSHA Alliance.

    Report Prepared by: Scott G. Shimandle, Allentown Area Office

    For more information, contact the Office of Outreach Services and Alliances at 202-693-2340 or go to OSHA's web page.