ANNUAL ALLIANCE REPORT
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
and the
Association for High Technology Distribution (AHTD)
May 16, 2008

I. Alliance Background

Date Signed

November 29, 2004

Date Renewed

November 28, 2006

Overview

Through the Alliance, OSHA and AHTD are working together to provide industrial workers, supervisors and machine designers with information and guidance to raise awareness of the importance of proper selection, use, maintenance and installation of machine guarding equipment and the use of lockout/tagout procedures.

Implementation Team Members

* Rick Harris served as the Alliance coordinator until June 2007
** Bill Willson became the Alliance coordinator in June 2007

Evaluation Period

November 29, 2006 - November 28, 2007

II. Implementation Team Meetings

III. Results

1. Events and Products
   
   Outreach and Communication Goals
    
   • Work with OSHA to provide expertise in developing and disseminating information on machine guarding equipment and lockout/tagout procedures, and to provide expertise in developing ways of communicating such information (e.g. print and electronic media, electronic assistance tools and OSHA's and the AHTD's Web site to employers and employees in the industry.)
   Products
   
   OSHA and AHTD Alliance Web Page
   
   OSHA continues to maintain and update its OSHA and AHTD Alliance Web page on the Agency's Web site. The page includes the OSHA and AHTD Alliance renewal agreement and photograph of the renewal signing ceremony. In addition, it has news releases and information on the Alliance's activities and events, and milestones and successes. For more information on the number of visits to the OSHA and AHTD Alliance Web page, please see the Alliance Program Reach Table.
   
   AHTD Web Site
   
   In October 2007, AHTD updated the AHTD and OSHA Alliance Web page with links to additional safety and health resources such as:
    
   • Department of Labor's (DOL) Working Partners Web page
   • OSHA's Machine Guarding eTool
   • Machine Guarding Technology Training Seminar
   • OSHA's Guidance for Protecting Employees Against Avian Flu
   • OSHA's Compliance Assistance Web page
   AHTD also created the web page, "OSHA's Electronic Resources for Small Businesses" on its Web site which links to a number of OSHA's resources on the Agency's Web site including: eTools; Safety and Health Topics pages, Compliance Assistance QuickStart and its Hispanic Employers and Workers module as well as the Small Business Web pages.
   
   AHTD also posted a number of DOL-developed articles on its "OSHA Resources" Web page including:
    
   • "Helping Small Businesses Benefit from Being Drug-Free"
   • "Hispanic Worker Outreach: OSHA Can Help!"
   • Consultation Helps Small Businesses Establish Safety and Health Programs"
   • "A Safe Workplace is a Drug-Free Workplace"
   • "The Business Case for Safety and Health"
   In addition, AHTD posts editions of the Alliance Program's Alliance Quarterly Review newsletter on the members' only section of the association's Web site.
   
   OSHA Safety and Health Topics Pages
   
   Through the Alliance, AHTD representatives continue to serve on the editorial boards for the following OSHA Safety and Health Topics pages and provide the Agency with their expertise and feedback:
    
   • • Control of Hazardous Energy
       • Jim Norton, JHN Group, Hanover, MA
       • John Thompson, Dittman and Greer Inc., Middletown, CT
     • Machine Guarding
       • Joe Lazarra, Scientific Technologies Inc., Fremont, CA
       • Jim Norton, JHN Group, Hanover, MA
       • John Pirner, PowerMation, St. Paul, MN
       • John Thompson, Dittman and Greer Inc., Middletown, CT
     • Robotics
       • Jim Norton, JHN Group, Hanover, MA
       • John Thompson, Dittman and Greer Inc., Middletown, CT
   • Speak, exhibit, or appear at OSHA's and AHTD's conferences, meetings or other events, such as the AHDT Spring and Fall Meetings and regional safety conferences that AHTD member companies may participate in.
   Events
   
   2007 AHTD Spring Meeting, Coronado, California, April 25 - 27, 2007
   
   OSHA provided AHTD with a number of the agency's publications which were distributed by AHTD to its members during the association's Spring Meeting April 25 -27, 2007, in Coronado, California. The OSHA publications included: the OSHA and AHTD Alliance Activities Summary; Small Business Handbook and Safeguarding Equipment and Protecting Workers from Amputations Small Business Safety and Health Management Series.
   
   2007 AHTD Fall Meeting, St. Petersburg, Florida, October 10 - 13, 2007
   
   OSHA provided AHTD with a number of the agency's publications which were distributed by AHTD to its members during the association's Fall Meeting October 10 -13, 2007, in St. Petersburg, Florida. The OSHA publications included: the OSHA and AHTD Alliance Activities Summary; Small Business Handbook and Safeguarding Equipment and Protecting Workers from Amputations Small Business Safety and Health Management Series.
    
   • Encourage AHTD's members to build relationships with OSHA's Regional and Area Offices to address health and safety issues in the industrial workplace, including machine safeguarding and lockout/tagout procedures.
   OSHA Region I
   
   As a result of the relationship established with Region I's staff through their participation in the AHTD's Machine Guarding Technology Training Seminar, which is a product of the Alliance, a working relationship has been established between OSHA staff in Region I and AHTD. AHTD and Region I are working together to schedule additional seminars.
    
   • Work with other Alliance participants on projects to address safety and health issues in the industrial workplace including machine safeguarding and lockout/tagout procedures.
   Product
   
   Safety Light Curtain Checklist
   
   Developed through the OSHA and AHTD Alliance, the AHTD's draft Safety Light Curtain Checklist is in final review and will be posted to the AHTD and OSHA Alliance Web page on the association's Web site when finalized. In addition, the checklist, which will be available to the industry free-of-charge, will be linked to from the OSHA & AHTD Alliance Web Page and Alliance Program Participants Developed Products Web pages on the agency's Web site.
    
   • Share information among OSHA personnel and industry safety and health professionals regarding AHTD best practices or effective approaches and publicize the results through outreach by AHTD and through OSHA-or AHTD-developed training programs, workshops, seminars and lectures (or any other applicable forum).
   Product
   
   Machine Guarding Devices and Robotics Training Seminars
   
   Developed through the OSHA and AHTD Alliance and incorporating the slide presentation, "Machine Guarding Devices" which AHTD developed through the Alliance during a previous reporting period, the AHTD's Machine Guarding Devices and Robotics Training Seminar provides OSHA staff with technical information about the use of machine guarding devices and robotics in the workplace. The slide presentation is posted on the AHTD and OSHA Alliance Web page on the association's Web site and is available to the machine guarding industry and the general public free-of-charge.
   
   Promoting the National Dialogue Goals:
    
   • Develop and disseminate case studies illustrating the business value of safety and health and publicize their results.
   The OSHA and AHTD Alliance Implementation Team began development of a Success Story on press brakes, based on Laser Safe machine guarding equipment. The project is currently on hold awaiting future documentation of the equipment's impact addressing machine guarding hazards.
    
   • Participate in stakeholder and other forums for providing input on machine safeguarding and lockout/tagout issues in the workplace.
     
     The OSHA and AHTD Alliance Implementation Team has not started work on programs or projects to address this goal.
2. Executive Summary
   
   Through the OSHA and AHTD Alliance, the organizations have continued their excellent working relationship which developed during the first two years of the Alliance. The organizations have continued their efforts to raise awareness about high technology machine guarding devices and robotics through sharing information and participating in outreach opportunities.
   
   For example, OSHA continues to maintain the OSHA and AHTD Alliance Web page on the Agency's Web site. During 2007, the page averaged about 721 visitors per month. In addition, AHTD members continue to serve on the editorial boards for OSHA's Safety and Health Topics pages for Robotics, Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout), and Machine Guarding. The OSHA and AHTD Alliance team continues to work on finalizing the AHTD's draft Safety Light Curtain Checklist.
   
   In addition, AHTD revised and updated the AHTD and OSHA Alliance Web page on the association's Web site which highlights the OSHA and AHTD Alliance. The revised page includes links to:
    
   • Department of Labor's (DOL) Working Partners Web page
   • OSHA's Machine Guarding eTool
   • Machine Guarding Technology Training Seminar
   • DOL-developed Articles
   AHTD also distributed a number of OSHA's publications at AHTD's 2007 Spring Meeting in Coronado, California and at AHTD's Fall Meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida.
    
3. Alliance Program Reach

IV. Upcoming Milestones

In the next year of the Alliance, OSHA and AHTD will continue to work together to identify opportunities for promoting safety and health and the OSHA and AHTD Alliance through presentations and exhibiting opportunities at AHTD events such as the AHTD 2008 Spring Meeting in Key West, Florida and the AHTD Fall Meeting in Vail, Colorado.

Building on the success of the earlier presentation of the Machine Guarding Technology Training Seminar for OSHA staff in Region I and Washington, DC, the OSHA and AHTD Alliance implementation team plans to deliver the Machine Guarding Technology Training Seminar for OSHA staff in OSHA Regions I, III, VII and IX during 2008. Training has been scheduled for OSHA staff in:

• Wethersfield, CT, May 21, 2008
• Montpellier, VT, May 29, 2008
• Kansas City, MO, August 20, 2008
• Harrisburg, PA, September 17, 2008

AHTD will publish its newsletter, AHTD Newsletter, in the first quarter of 2008 and would like to include an article by OSHA's Assistant Secretary Edwin G. Foulke, Jr. in 2008.

Through the Alliance, AHTD will be working to complete its draft Safety Light Curtain Checklist and begin to develop:

• Robotics Checklist
• Safety Tips on Safety Switches

Further, AHTD members will continue to serve on the OSHA Safety and Health Topics pages' editorial boards for Robotics, Machine Guarding, and Control of Hazardous Energy.

Lastly, OSHA and the AHTD will begin discussing the potential renewal of the OSHA and AHTD Alliance.

Report prepared by: Bill Willson, Alliance Coordinator, Office of Outreach Services Alliances, May 28, 2008.