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Date Signed: October 15, 2004
Date Concluded: October 15, 2007
Contact Information: Directorate of Cooperative and State Programs, (202) 693-2213
  OSHA/Department of Army Training.

 		 OSHA/Department of Army Training.

Front row (l-r) Janet Dorothy, Paul Inman, Anne Marie Allred, William Alcarese, Christopher Sollers, Rudolph Spencer, Dolores Nix, Amanda Hiatt

Second row (l-r) James Gibson, David Prenctic, Rudy Davis, David Darling, Alex Bender, Ronald Heath, Kenneth Broughton, Dale Sullivan, Mora Harris, Lewis Ligon, Russell Jones

Back row (l-r) Carla Slaughter, John Allmer, Danita Fowler, Scott Miller, Gray Scott, Clyde McCorkle, Bryan Lorge, Jerry Roach, Stephen Redman, Katheryn LaFrenz, Anna Gibbs, Kenneth Daniels, Robert Bessette
 
  Signing from left to right is: John L. Henshaw, former Assistant Secretary of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Geoffrey G. Prosch, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations and Environment) Designated Agency Safety and Health Official (DASHO)
  Signing from left to right is:

John L. Henshaw, former Assistant Secretary of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Geoffrey G. Prosch, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations and Environment) Designated Agency Safety and Health Official (DASHO)
 

 		 Department of the Army Partnership signing attendees were, from left to right: Major General Joseph Webb, Deputy Surgeon General of the Army; Mr. Phillip Sakowitz, Deputy Director, Installation Management Agency; John L. Henshaw, former Assistant Secretary of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration; Geoffrey G. Prosch, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations and Environment) Designated Agency Safety and Health Official (DASHO); Alex A. Beehler, Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, Environment, Safety and Occupational Health; and Mr. Raymond J. Fatz, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army, Environment, Safety and Occupational Health
  Department of the Army Partnership signing attendees were, from left to right:

Major General Joseph Webb, Deputy Surgeon General of the Army; Mr. Phillip Sakowitz, Deputy Director, Installation Management Agency; John L. Henshaw, former Assistant Secretary of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration; Geoffrey G. Prosch, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations and Environment) Designated Agency Safety and Health Official (DASHO); Alex A. Beehler, Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, Environment, Safety and Occupational Health; and Mr. Raymond J. Fatz, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army, Environment, Safety and Occupational Health
Partnering Agencies:
United States Army
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Partnership Overview:

In the fall of 2003, the Army approached OSHA with a desire to use a proactive approach to aggressively improve Army civilian workforce safety and health at their installations. The Army recognized that OSHA had valuable expertise in workplace safety and health, and could offer useful tools, such as the Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP), to help achieve that goal.

This partnership formalizes the partners’ commitment to improving civilian workforce safety and health and reducing injuries and illnesses. This Agreement supports the goals of the President’s Safety, Health, and Return-to-Employment (SHARE) Initiative.

Goals:

The primary goal of the Partnership is to reduce the number of fatalities, injuries, and illnesses at participating Army installations/sites by at least 3% each year. Additionally, the Partnership will aim to:
  • Expand awareness of the value of effective safety and health management systems at participating installations/sites
  • Reduce total case rates and severity rates related to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
  • Share best practices and successes with other Army installations/sites and similar worksites in other industries
  • Expand the Army’s participation in VPP
  • Convey civilian workforce safety and health best practices and injury/illness reduction lessons learned to Army military personnel where appropriate
Partnership Objectives:

Partnership goals will be achieved through strategies and objectives that include:
  • Identifying top injury, illness and fatality causal factors at each participating installation through review of injury and illness data and other supporting documentation and developing a protocol to address and abate the hazards
  • Completing a baseline assessment for each installation using Army safety and occupational health policy and Army Innovative Safety Management Program, and OSHA’s Challenge tools
  • Conducting employee awareness surveys during baseline and again after one year of Partnership participation
  • Developing communication tools to promote safety and health (i.e. web site, newsletter, VPP meetings, weekly updates) and using these tools to highlight best practices and successes with the public
  • Leveraging strategies and results with other OSHA National partners where opportunities allow
  • Implementing Army’s established comprehensive Safety and Health program based on the OSHA’s 1989 Safety and Health Program Management Guidelines
  • Providing tools to help promote contractor safety and health at participating installations
  • Using illness and injury data at participating installations to identify key tasks or processes that result in high rates of MSD’s, developing guidance that address those hazards for identified jobs or processes, and implementing the guidelines at all participating installations with similar jobs or processes
  • Developing an internal method for Army to share best practices and successes with non-participating ARMY installations
  • Facilitating the use of mentors and Special Government Employees to help participating sites apply for and achieve VPP
  • Using the OSHA Challenge tools to identify areas for improvement at participating sites and tracking progress toward achieving VPP
Partnership Results

During the week of October 24, 2005, OSHA hosted a training event for more than 30 Army representatives from installations participating in the National Army/OSHA Partnership. The representatives came to learn about OSHA’s cooperative programs, especially the Strategic Partnership Program and VPP. Installations will be working with OSHA Area Offices to reduce illnesses and injuries and work toward VPP participation.