Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the
Center for Business and Public Policy (CBPP), McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University

1. Alliance Background
   
   Date Signed
   
   April 10, 2003
   
   Overview
   
   The OSHA and CBPP Alliance focuses on encouraging the advancement of workplace safety and health as a topic for education in business schools' curricula and facilitating dialog on workplace safety and health issues. The Alliance's goals include:
   
   Training and Education
   • Facilitating an active dialogue on safety and health issues by supporting an annual Workplace Safety Summit held at Georgetown University.
   • Participating in the CBPP's ongoing Industry, Policy, and Safety Seminar Series.
   • Encouraging the development of sound research by business and economic scholars to investigate the economic and ethical dimensions of workplace safety and health.
   • >Exploring opportunities for educating the current executive workforce in the business value and competitive advantage associated with excellence in safety and health.
   Outreach and Communication:
    
   • Participating in working group meetings that explore workplace safety and health and other policy issues and create networks of mutual interest.
   Implementation Team Members
    

   OSHA:
   Lynda Boulos	OSHA-Salt Lake Technical Center
   Stew Burkhammer	Directorate of Construction
   Karen Heckmann	Office of Training and Education
   Lee Anne Jillings	Office of Outreach Services and Alliances (OOSA)
   Susan Salem	Office of Training and Education
   Elizabeth Sherfy	OOSA
   Nilgun Tolek	OOSA (until November 2003)
   Audie Woolsey	Office of Small Business Assistance
   CBPP
   Theresa Meyers	Associate Director (until June 2003)
   Lamar Reinsch	Director
   Lucia Almendras	Center Coordinator

Evaluation Period:

April 10, 2003 - April 9, 2004

2. Implementation Team Meetings

June 20, 2003	Kick-off meeting
September 15, 2003	Team Meeting
February 27, 2004	Team Meeting

Events and Products

Training and Education

Events:

• Third Annual Workplace Safety Summit, Georgetown University, Washington, DC
  
  CBPP hosted the Third Annual Workplace Safety Summit on April 10-11, 2003. Assistant Secretary John Henshaw and Dr. John Mayo, Dean of the Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business signed the agreement forming the OSHA-CBPP Alliance. Mr. Henshaw and Ms. Paula O. White, Director, Directorate of Cooperative and State Programs, both spoke at the summit.
   
• Health and Safety Seminar Series, Georgetown University, Washington, DC
  
  CBPP hosted a series of seminars that discussed the value of workplace safety and health from three perspectives, the academic perspective, the corporate perspective and the regulatory perspective. The series supported the Alliances' goal of educating the current executive workforce in the business value and competitive advantage associated with excellence in safety and health.
   
  • On February 13, 2004, CBPP hosted a Workplace Safety Mini Conference that provided a regulatory perspective on occupational safety and health. Frank Frodyma, Acting Director, Directorate of Evaluation and Analysis, USDOL-OSHA, gave a presentation on OSHA's perspective of workplace safety and health, entitled "Occupational Safety and Health from a Regulatory Perspective."
     
  • On November 14, 2003 CBPP hosted "Workplace Safety and Health: Corporate Perspectives."
     
  • On October 3, 2003, CBPP hosted "Workplace Safety and Health: What We Know, What We Think, and What We Wish We Knew."

Products:

The CBPP worked with Abbott Laboratories, another Alliance Program participant, and OSHA to develop a series of case studies that explain how to make the business case for safety and health in various industries, including construction, healthcare and nursing homes, and fleet safety. Each case study describes a how a company was faced with a safety and health-related challenge at work and explains the measures that the business took to address the challenge. The case studies will to be included as part of the curriculum for its Executive Program. The case studies also will be available on the OSHA Website. Promoting the National Dialogue on Workplace Safety and Health

Specific activities have not yet been planned to meet the Alliance goals of promoting the national dialogue on workplace safety and health. These goals will continue to be discussed by the Implementation Team during the Alliance's second year.

Outreach and Communication

Products:

• OSHA and CBPP Alliance Web Page
  
  The OSHA and CBPP Alliance Web page on OSHA's Web site contains information on the Alliance, products and resources, activities and events, and milestones and successes. The page is updated regularly.
   
• CBPP Webpage - Link to Alliance agreement and OSHA Alliance Web page from CBPP Web page.
   
• April 10, 2003 - OSHA distributed a news release announcing the Alliance.
   
• April 15, 2003 - OSHA included information on the OSHA/CBPP Alliance signing in its bi-weekly e-newsletter, QuickTakes.
   
• April 14, 2003 - OccupationalHazards.com published an article entitled, "Georgetown Summit: Making the Business Case for Safety," on the OSHA/CBPP Alliance.
   
• April 14, 2003 -InsideHealthPolicy.com published an article entitled, "OSHA Signs First Ever Alliance With Educational Community."
   
• April 17, 2003 - Occupational Safety and Health Reporter published an article entitled, "Georgetown University Joins With OSHA To Promote Workplace Safety and Health."

3. Results
   
   CBPP is the first educational institution to form an Alliance with OSHA. The Alliance focuses on raising the profile of workplace safety and health in business school curricula through the development of case studies and the hosting of seminars.
   
   During the first year the Alliance focused on addressing the training and education goals of facilitating an active dialogue on safety and health issues by supporting an annual Workplace Safety Summit held at Georgetown University and participating in CBPP's ongoing Industry.  
   
   Policy and Safety Seminar Series. CBPP hosted the Third Annual Workplace Safety Summit on April 10-11, 2003. Assistant Secretary John Henshaw and Dr. John Mayo, Dean of the Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business signed the agreement forming the OSHA-CBPP Alliance. Mr. Henshaw and Ms. Paula O. White, Director, Directorate of Cooperative and State Programs, both spoke at the summit. The CBPP also hosted a series of safety and health seminars. Attendees varied from seminar to seminar but included representatives from industry and government. OSHA promoted the seminars to Alliance Program participants. Additionally, representatives from OSHA attended each of the seminars.
   
   The first seminar, entitled "Workplace Safety and Health: What We Know, What We Think, and What We Wish We Knew," which was held October 3, 2003, brought together experts in safety and health and related topics from the University of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of North Carolina, Georgetown University and the State University of New York Institute of Technology. Approximately 30 people attended the seminar.
   
   The second seminar, entitled "Workplace Safety and Health: Corporate Perspectives," which was held November 17, 2003, featured presentations by Kenny Construction Company and ExxonMobil. Daniel Zarletti, Vice President and Chief Risk Officer at Kenny Construction gave a presentation on Kenny Construction's safety experience. Frank Sprow, VP Corporate Safety, Health and Environment at ExxonMobil gave a presentation entitled, "Driving Performance Improvements in Safety, Health and Environment." Approximately 30 people attended the presentation.
   
   Finally, on February 13, 2004, CBPP hosted a Workplace Safety Mini Conference that provided a regulatory perspective on occupational safety and health. As a result of the Alliance, OSHA's Frank Frodyma, Acting Director, Directorate of Evaluation and Analysis, USDOL-OSHA, gave a presentation on OSHA's perspective of workplace safety and health, entitled "Occupational Safety and Health from a Regulatory Perspective." Approximately 30 people attended.
   
   The Alliance also addressed the goal of exploring opportunities for educating the current executive workforce in the business value and competitive advantage associated with excellence in safety and health by working with Abbott Laboratories, another Alliance Program participant, and OSHA to develop a series of case studies that explain how to make the business case for safety and health in various industries, including construction, healthcare and nursing homes, and fleet safety. Each case study describes a how a company was faced with a safety and health-related challenge at work and explains the measures that the business took to address the challenge. The CBPP, Abbott Laboratories and OSHA also are working on a related PowerPoint presentation for use with the case studies.
   
   OSHA has valued the opportunity to discuss workplace safety and health with members of the academic community through this Alliance. As discussed above, early on, the implementation worked on several projects, including the Annual Workplace Safety Summit and the Health and Safety Seminar Series. However, the Alliance did not address the training and education goal of encouraging the development of sound research by business and economic scholars to investigate the economic and ethical dimensions of workplace safety and health. It also did not address the outreach and communication goal of participating in working group meetings that explore workplace safety and health and other policy issues and create networks of mutual interest. Finally, limited funding forced CBPP to cancel its plans to host the Fourth Annual Workplace Safety Summit in the spring of 2004, and CBPP has not hosted any seminars since the one in February 2004.

4. Upcoming Milestones
   
   Given CBPP's limited resources and the fact that it had to cancel its Fourth Annual Workplace Safety Summit, the Alliance will have to explore alternative avenues to achieve the goals of the agreement. CBPP would like to work with other Alliances on the development of a Safety and Health Topics page on the Business Case for Safety and Health should the Agency fund this project. The implementation team agreed to explore the possibility of holding a meeting of Alliance Program participants interested in the Business Case for Safety and Health in conjunction with the launch of the case studies.  
   
   Additionally, Jim Murphy, Director of Global Crisis Management and Business Continuity Planning at Abbott Laboratories in Abbott Park, IL, will present the case studies, developed in conjunction with CBPP and OSHA at the 2004 OSHA Compliance Assistance Training Sessions. CBPP also plans to work with the Abbott Laboratories Alliance to plan a safety and health seminar to formally launch the case studies that the two Alliances developed together. They have discussed possible dates but have been unable to identify ones convenient for the speakers from Abbott Laboratories and OSHA to attend.

Report prepared by: Elizabeth Sherfy, Alliance Coordinator, Office of Outreach Services and Alliances, September 2, 2004