Alliance -- An OSHA Cooperative Program << Back to Region V

  1. Alliance Background

    Date Signed

    January 17, 2006

    Alliance Overview

    During the three-year alliance, OSHA and the state of Illinois will work together to develop and communicate information to help employers and workers recognize and prevent job-related hazards and to increase access to information and training resources. The alliance will develop safety and health training and education programs to improve business awareness of OSHA regulations, safety and health management systems and cooperative programs.

    Implementation Team Members

    Nancy Quick, CAS, Aurora and Peggy Zweber, CAS, Peoria; Rita Mosley, Training Manager, Illinois Onsite Consultation Program; Mark Enstrom and Mark Petrilli, Small Business Development Centers, State of Illinois.

  2. Implementation Team Meetings

    The Implementation Team Members held two (2) meetings during the year and email contact was maintained throughout the year.

  3. Activities and Products

    Evaluation Period.

    This report covers January 17, 2006 to January 17, 2007.

    Alliance Activity.

    The Silica webcast and video conference that was held February 2006 in partnership with the Ready Mix Industry was the first project of the new Alliance. The webcast, entitled, "How to Eliminate Silica and PRCS Hazards in Chipping Operations" was received by 107 locations. As a followup, to obtain participant feedback from this program, a "surveymonkey" was used. The survey results were very positive.

    The Alliance also initiated a series of breakfast seminars at the Eigerlab in Rockford. This is the site of the Rock Valley Community College SBDC. These training seminars provided low-cost training to small businesses on OSHA inspection procedures, electrical hazards, accident investigation, conducting effective training, and Safety and Health Management Systems.

    We also conducted training at McHenry County College's SBDC site. These training sessions included machine guarding, accident investigation, and two (2) OSHA 10-hour courses. The Illinois Small Business Development Center Network provided copies of the OSHA regulations and assisted in logistics, which included classrooms and materials.

    To determine future training needs of the SBDC's an electronic survey (surveymonkey) was used to get feedback from Centers regarding topics they see as local client needs. These results will be used to determine future training plans.

    Alliance Products.

    A companion workbook was developed for the Silica Webcast training.

    Training materials were developed for each Eigerlab breakfast seminar. The training seminars were interactive, so the training materials included workshops. The materials were developed by Rita Mosley, Training and Promotions Manager, Illinois Onsite Consultation Program, with input and review conducted by Nancy Quick, CAS, Aurora Area Office and Paul Seidlitz, Consultant, Illinois Onsite Consultation Program.

  4. Results

    This Alliance provided valuable technical information to small employers. Small employers were able to receive quality, affordable training at convenient locations. The courses cost less than $35.00 to attend.

    During the evaluation period, the Alliance provided training to over 420 employers. Evaluations were consistently high, rating the handout material, speaker skills, and student involvement above 4.5 on a 5-point scale.

    Type of Activity (Conference, Training, Print and Electronic Distribution, etc.) Number of Individuals
    Reached or Trained
    Illinois Ready Mix - Silica Webcast that was held on Wednesday, February 22, 2006. 103 sites, over 200 trained
    Machine Guarding - MCC 8
    Accident Investigation - MCC 6
    OSHA Knocking - Eigerlab 25
    OSHA 10-hour - MCC 15
    Electrical - Eigerlab 65
    Accident Investigation - Eigerlab 40
    OSHA 10-hour - MCC 15
    Safety and Health Management Systems - Eigerlab 27
    Conducting Effective Training - Eigerlab 19
    TOTAL 420

  5. Upcoming Milestones

    This past month, the Alliance conducted a "Webinar" on Job Safety Analysis (JSAs). This included a live audience and attendees who logged in via the Internet. We had approximately 20 sites log in. This method of training proved very popular and we will be experimenting with other training topics in the future in order to reach a larger audience.

    Report Prepared by: Nancy M. Quick, Compliance Assistance Specialist, Aurora Area Office.