Partnership Agreement

• Partnership Agreement July 26, 2012

Construction

Partnership Overview:
Barr & Barr, Inc. and the United States Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Springfield Area Office (SAO) mutually recognize the importance of ensuring a safe and healthful work environment in the construction industry in the State of Massachusetts. To advance this mutual goal, the Partnership between Barr & Barr, Inc. and SAO has been established to formalize a cooperative effort between these entities which are committed to encouraging companies to improve their safety and health performance voluntarily; providing methods to assist them in their efforts; and recognizing companies with exemplary safety and health programs.

This Partnership, which will be limited to Barr & Barr, Inc., involves a 175,000 square foot academic building at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (the Project).  Barr & Barr, Inc. will request sub-contractors to participate in achieving the goals set forth in the Partnership when they begin working on the site. The Partnership will provide benefits to Barr & Barr, Inc. and the subcontractors including recognition from OSHA and priority in compliance assistance programs.

The Project consists of a 5 story building with a mix of department office space and classrooms. There will be specialized rooms for TV and broadcasting production studios, editing rooms, film screening classrooms, computer rooms and speech perception and auditory phonetics labs. The classroom space will consist of 13-17 high technology classrooms and lecture halls with a total capacity of 2,000 seats.

The expected completion date for the $71 million dollar Project is December 2013.

Partnership Goals:
Goals of the Partnership include:

• Develop a contractor/government partnership that will encourage involvement of the general and sub-contractors in the improvement of safety and health performance
• Implement innovative strategies to eliminate serious accidents caused by the four primary construction hazards (falls, struck-by, caught in, and electrical).
• Identify opportunities for enhancing safety and health practices related to the operation and maintenance of material handling equipment involved in the project.
• Reduce workforce fatalities, serious injuries and illnesses and provide a safe work environment for employees at the Project.
• Ensure that all serious hazards are eliminated or controlled through controls, safe processes and/or procedures, and PPE.