1. Alliance Background
Date Signed
October 9, 2003
Overview
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and The Safety Council of the Ozarks (SCO)
recognize the value of establishing a collaborative relationship to foster safer and more healthful
American workplaces. OSHA and the SCO formed an Alliance to provide members and others with
information, guidance, and access to training resources. Through the Alliance, the organizations
have worked to improve health and safety in the workplace by helping businesses, small businesses in
particular, in their efforts to implement effective safety and health management systems.
Activities
OSHA and SCO have worked together to achieve the following training and education goals:
- Developed and delivered training and education programs regarding comprehensive safety and health
management systems along with a fundamental understanding of to how to implement such a management
system. These programs were developed primarily to assist small businesses. The "Basics of Safety
Performance for Small Businesses" classes were coordinated through local Chambers of Commerce and
conducted as follows:
- Joplin, Mo on 2/8/05
- Monett, Mo on 3/15/05
- A total of 26 of the Basics of Safety Performance Courses were scheduled to be held though out the
larger cities and towns in Missouri by the end of the Alliance’s two year term. However, due to
"jurisdictional boundary" issues between the three local NSC Councils in Missouri, coupled with a
loss of resources at the OSC, these training sessions have been delayed and in some cases cancelled.
The Director of the OSC assures OSHA that when resources become available the courses will continued
to be conducted in the other cities and towns.
- The "Basics of Safety Performance Course was also conducted with of the "Safety Council of Western
Missouri and Kansas" (also a NSC affiliate) during their annual conference in Kansas City on
7/15/2005. The course instructor for this session was from the Kansas City Safety Council instead of
the instructor from the OSC, due again to "territorial disputes" between the local NSC Councils.
OSHA and SCO also worked together to achieve the following outreach and communication goals:
- Developed and disseminated information, including information on safety and health management
systems, through print and electronic media, including electronic assistance tools and links from
OSHA's and SCO's Web sites.
- Contacts were established with numerous OSC member companies, who repeatedly have made requests
for assistance from the CAS in the KCAO and SLAO.
- OSC staff have repeatedly used the KCAO and SLAO CASs as a resource for answering questions from
their constituents
- Spoke, exhibited, or appeared at the annual SCO Safety & Health Conference of the Ozarks, local
meetings, or other events such as the annual SCO awards ceremony to promote awareness of an
effective safety and health management system.
- OSHA has participated in both the 10/04 and 10/05 annual OSC Safety Conferences as follows:
- Manning a booth in the vender area
- Delivering 4 different training sessions
- Participating in delivering the OSHA 10-Hour Courses for both construction and general industry at
both conferences
- An Alliance signing ceremony was held at the 10/04 Conference that added the St. Louis Area Office
to the program.
- OSHA CAS in the KCAO has also participated in delivering speeches at the following local OSC
sub-section meetings:
- 10/12/04 in Joplin, Mo
- 1/11/05 in Joplin, Mo
- 2/8/05 in Joplin, Mo
- 2/22/05 in Springfield, Mo
- 3/9/05 in West Plaines, Mo
- 3/15/05 in Monett, Mo
- 3/22/05 in Springfield, Mo
- 8/23/05 in Springfield, Mo
- Note that the above speeches have been well received and have resulted in the greatest number of
participants to the local OSHAC meetings, compared to other meetings though the year.
- Participating in these meetings has been a very valuable "networking" opportunity.
- Promoted and encouraged SCO member’s participation in OSHA's cooperative programs such as
compliance assistance, the Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP), Consultation and its Safety and
Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP), Partnerships, and Alliances.
- VPP Activity
- Through direct contact during speeches and/referrals of companies through the OSC staff, four
companies are being "mentored" through the VPP application/approval process.
- Partnerships and Alliances
- Again, through direct contacts or through OSC staff referral, two construction-related
Associations negotiations are currently underway to develop an OSHA Partnership:
- Springfield Contractor’s Association
- Springfield Home Builder’s Association.
2. Alliance Action Plans
As mentioned above, two issues arose during the first year of this Alliance which placed constraints
on the effectiveness and progress being initially made. The following actions are planned to address
these constraints:
- NSC Local Chapter Territorialism
- NSC Local Territories have been defined. Based upon these definitions, the three other NSC locals
within Missouri will be contacted about entering into a similar Alliance. This will then serve our
ability to schedule and deliver the "Basics of Safety Performance for Small Business" course in
other key local cities and towns throughout Missouri.
- Loss of key OSC Safety and Health Personnel
- The loss of a key person at the OSC has resulted in activities under this Alliance to wane since
July, 2005. The Director of OSC has assured me that new personnel will be hired to replace the loss
and that activities under the Alliance will again resume.
- To assure that the Alliance moves forward, a more formal implementation team made up of
representatives of both organizations will meet to develop a plan of action, determine working
procedures, and identify the roles and responsibilities of the participants. In addition, we will
meet at least quarterly to track and share information on activities and results in achieving the
goals of the Alliance. Team members will include representatives from OSHA's Kansas City and St.
Louis Area Offices and SCO.
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