Partnership Agreement

• Partnership Agreement March 19, 2009

Construction Industry Partnerships
General Industry Partnerships
Amputations Emphasis Partnerships
Ergonomics Emphasis Partnerships
Federal Agencies Partnerships
Landscaping/Horticulture Partnerships
Silica and Related Disease Emphasis Partnerships

Partnership Overview:
In the early 2000s, the National Park Service experienced the highest employee injury and illness rates of all Department of Interior bureaus. Recognizing this problem, the Glacier National Park approached the Billings Area Office of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) asking for assistance in improving their employee safety and health management systems (SHMS) and reducing employee injury and illness rates. In 2003, the Glacier National Park and the Billings Area Office entered into a five year OSHA Strategic Partnership (OSP) to improve its SHMS and reduce employee injuries. In 2003, the total case incidence rate (TCIR) was 13.0 and the Days Away, Restricted or Transferred rate (DART) was 5.1. At the conclusion of the original 5-year OSP, the park reduced both its TCIR by 39% to 8.0 and its DART to 2.5, a decrease of 49%.

To continue and build on the successes of the previous OSP, Glacier National Park and the Billings Area Office agreed to enter into a new three-year agreement.

Participating Facility:

• Glacier National Park, Montana

Partnership Goals:

• Reduce the number of OSHA recordable employee injuries within the park by 15% for each year of the Partnership
• Establish an effective safety and health management system that meets the Risk Management Program Elements addressed in the National Park Service Director’s Order 50B

Partnership Objectives:
During the OSP, Glacier National Park will implement a 3-year strategic action plan to meet the standards and assess the progress through an annual self-evaluation and commit to having Park employees and supervisors attend training provided by OSHA. It will also ensure that Park supervisors and the Park Safety Department conduct safety audits with employee participation and abate all identified hazards.

2010 Partnership Results:
In 2010, the Glacier National Park built on the progress made during the previous year. The park developed a safety strategic plan addressing specific mandatory goals and actions to reduce employee injuries and increase employee safety awareness. Steps taken as part of the strategic plan as described below resulted in significant reductions to the Park’s injury and illness rates as compared to the previous year’s rates. The Total Case Incidence Rate (TCIR) reduced by 66 percent to 3.1 from 9.2 in 2009, which is now 31 percent below the BLS National Average for NAICS 712190. Also, the Days Away, Job Restricted or Transferred (DART) rate reduced by 57 percent to 1.2 from 2.8 in 2009, which is also 50 percent below the BLS National average.

To strengthen its safety and health management system, the Safety Office brought on a new seasonal employee who was specifically hired to conduct annual facility safety and health inspections in effort to improve inspection compliance requirements by OSHA and DO 50B, and to enhance safety awareness. As a result of this added position, the park experienced an 81.6% increase in the number of inspections conducted as compared to 2009. Inspections conducted include monthly safety walk-arounds by the Park management team with all hazards documented in the park’s intranet Work Order System.

During the year, the Park took numerous steps to enhance its SHMS including revisions to its chainsaw training and operating procedures, implementation of a respirator program, drafting of an excavation program, implemented a lead program among other actions. In addition to completing facility safety inspections, the Safety Office processed safety work orders which were placed into a tracking system for coordinating with Facility Management on prioritizing responses, provided guidance to supervisors and employees for completing job hazard analyses, and maintained up-to-date injury/accident reporting data in the NPS Safety Management Information System (SMIS).

Training is considered an integral part of park operations, and the Park Safety Manager conducts various types of safety and health training to shops, departments, and over 150 permanent, seasonal employees and volunteer employees to meet mandated OSHA and requested training. Worksite specific training is provided to seasonal and volunteer employees upon completion of mandated all employee OSHA training and Employee Orientation by their immediate supervisor and/or shop foreman. The safety training courses covered a wide variety of topics including confined space entry and rescue, ergonomics, job hazard analysis application and development, 24 hour HAZWOPER training, hearing conservation, and fall protection and rescue.

OSHA provided assistance including conducting a required Lead & Asbestos Awareness training for employees, participated in walk-around site visits and provided compliance assistance when necessary, attended the all-employee OSHA training session and facility management quarterly safety training meetings. Also, staff from the local OSHA area office provided the compliance assistance on a contractor excavation project.

Both employees and management have had an increased awareness of safety and health in this park, mainly due to the increased availability of the safety department and the visibility of the Park Superintendent and the Park Deputy Superintendent and added assistance from their regional safety and health management team. The safety department has shown an increase in their availability and visibility to all park employees.

2009 Partnership Results:
In 2009, Glacier National Park made multiple enhancements and improvements to its SHMS. A total of 10 specific programs were developed and implemented. Programs developed include confined space, excavations, incident investigations, and hazard communications.

During this evaluation period, SHMS management was enhanced with the hiring of a safety manager who now has greater involvement in the park’s operations. The safety office now participates in contracting actions such as pre-construction activities, site visits and provides input for all work orders. The office also works with the contractors on the safety aspects of their job activities.

Also, its inspection procedures were improved upon. For example, a fire alarm team was established to review the park’s structural fire alarm systems and brought in a contractor to ensure all alarms were in working order. The inspections now performed on a regular basis include audiometric testing, incident investigations, radon, fire extinguishers, and walk-arounds.

Employee involvement as a SHMS element improved in 2009 as employees and first line supervisors are becoming more involved in the park-wide safety and health issues, improving the safety culture. Also, the employees are required to attend an 8 hour safety and health orientation class and also, when needed, receive hands-on training by their immediate supervisors prior to performing any new tasks. Each department conducts regular safety meetings with the employees having an opportunity to lead the session.

Partnership Agreement

• Partnership Agreement July 27, 2010

Construction Industry Partnerships
Blast Furnaces and Basic Steel Products Partnerships
Concrete, Gypsum and Plaster Products Partnerships
Lead Exposure Emphasis Partnerships
Silica and Related Disease Emphasis Partnerships

Partnership Overview:
The common objective and goal of this OSHA Strategic Partnership (OSP) is to provide a safe and healthful workplace for all employees engaged in construction activities and to help prevent serious injuries and illnesses within the industry through increased training and implementation & monitoring of enhanced safety & health training programs. This initiative represents a voluntary agreement and affords an OSP for voluntary compliance alternatives to the traditional OSHA enforcement activities. Associated General Contractors – Colorado Chapter (AGC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) believe that maintaining a focus on safety saves lives, time and dollars. The outcome of this focus can result in a reduction of employee injuries, illnesses, deaths, equipment damage, worker’s compensation and insurance cost, down times and monetary penalties.

The Construction Health and Safety Excellence (CHASE) model utilizes a 3-step program designed to assist general contractors with the implementation of their safety and health management systems. In CHASE, there are 3 tiers of safety and health performance, Red, White, and Blue. To achieve White or Blue-level status, contractors must implement practices that go above and beyond what OSHA requires. In return for meeting the various criteria, OSHA, after making a verification inspection will not target the site for a planned inspection within the following 12 months, among other benefits. This frees scarce OSHA resources from inspecting safe sites and lets contractors show owners that they are among the best in terms of health and safety.

Partnership Goals:

• To reduce by 3% annually the rate of injuries, illnesses, and fatalities affecting participant employers, with an emphasis on reducing injuries and fatalities resulting from those hazards that are the four leading causes of death on construction sites (falls, struck-by, caught in/between and electrocutions)
• To increase the number of general and specialty contractors who implement effective safety and health programs and provide effective safety and health training for management, supervisors and employees
• To recognize those contractors with exemplary safety and health programs and effective site-specific safety and health plans

Participating Facility:

• Calcon Constructors, Englewood, Colorado
• Encore Electric, Englewood, Colorado
• Greiner Electric, Littleton, Colorado
• Haselden Construction, Centennial, Colorado
• Hyder Construction, Denver, Colorado
• Kenny Electric Service, Colorado Springs, Colorado
• M-Tech, Denver, Colorado
• PCL Constructors, Denver, Colorado
• Quality Contracting, Longmont, Colorado
• RK Mechanical, Denver, Colorado
• Saunders Construction, Centennial, Colorado
• Total Plumbing, Denver, Colorado
• Twin Peaks Utilities and Infrastructure, Westminster, Colorado
• West Electric Group, Englewood, Colorado

Partnership Results:
This OSP covers 14 employers and their 4,479 employees and subcontractors. During the 2010 evaluation period, the participating employers made progress. The total number of Blue Level contractors grew to nine, with four at the White level, and one at the Red level.

The participating contractors all provided training for its employees and management per the OSP’s requirements, and OSHA provided training on a variety of subjects such as dust, arc flash, and silica in addition to an annual review of most frequently cited standards for both in the state of Colorado and nationwide. Also, the safety council of the AGC chapter provided training on a monthly basis.

As a part of OSP verification requirements, all nine Blue partnering employers received enforcement inspections and all were in compliance with no citations issued.

In 2010, the aggregate Total Case Incidence Rate and Days Away, Job Restricted or Transferred rate of the participating employers at all levels were 68% and 76% below the industry average as determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for NAICS code 238.