Background:

On September 26, 2008, Reinhart Construction Company and S.M. Wilson, in a joint venture, formed an OSHA Strategic Partnership (OSP) with OSHA's Region VII, Kansas City Area Office, to reduce occupational fatalities and serious injuries. The primary purpose of the OSP is to create a working relationship that will allow participants to promote safety and health during the construction of the new Boone Hospital Patient Tower Project. The goals of the OSP were: to provide a safe and healthful environment for employees involved in the project; to help prevent serious accidents and fatalities by addressing the primary four hazards in the construction industry (falls, struck-by, electrocution, and caught-in-between) through increased training; to establish a system to collect and analyze injury and illness trends by all contractors working at the site; to recognize employers that develop and implement safety and health management programs that include a jobsite inspection program; to implement a fall protection plan for work being perform above six feet; and to maintain a lost time incident rate below the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) average rate for the construction industry. The OSP is supported by the Board of Directors for the Boone County Hospital.

Success Impact:

Increased Safety Training and Improved Safety and Health Management Programs Lead to Reduced Injury and Illness Rates

Increased training was a key component of the OSP. More than 5,600 employees received approximately 6,084 hours of training on topics including: site safety orientation, occupational stress, respiratory protection, electrical hazards, excavation/trenching safety, fall protection, scaffolding safety, and crane safety. The managers on site received the OSHA 30-hour Outreach Construction course and training on supervisory accountability.

The participants developed strategies to improve for safety and health management programs. One strategy was to include workers who had been involved in a safety infraction in the development of processes and programs to eliminate similar hazardous behavior. This practice was a positive enhancement to their disciplinary program, encouraged workers to become more involved in hazardous behavior analysis, and replaced the practice of removing employees involved in safety infractions from the site. This practice also encouraged workers to report injuries and illnesses without the fear of being removed from the job site.

During the project, the site experienced six OSHA Recordable incidents for a Total Case Incident Rate (TCIR) of 2.15 (or 40% below) the 2009 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) National Average TCIR of 3.6 for NACIS 2362. The project's total Days Away, Restricted, and Transferred (DART) rate of 0.36 and the Days Away from Work (DAFW) rate of 0.36 were respectively 79% and 60% below the 2009 BLS National Average DART and DAFW for NACIS 2362.

Partnership Objectives:

The key objectives of the OSP were to: maintain a lost time incidence rate below the BLS national average, non-fatal lost time incidence rate; conduct frequent jobsite inspections and abate hazards identified, ensure all employees receive adequate safety and health training; implement a fall protection plan where work was being performed six feet or more above a lower surface; and require all contractors and subcontractors to develop and implement safety and health management systems.

Origin: Region VII, Kansas City Area Office

Partners: Reinhardt/Wilson Joint Venture, Boone County Hospital

Partnership Signed: September 26, 2008

Industry (NAICS Code): Nonresidential building construction (2362)

Employees: Average of 215 workers on site at any given point; total number of workers on site was 5628

Employers: 31

Source/Date: Jacalyn Wheeler, Safety and Health Program Manager, OSHA, Region VII