Hispanic Contractors of America Alliance Close-out Report

On March 5, 2002, OSHA and the Hispanic Contractors of America (HCA) formed an Alliance to help Hispanic construction contractors (employers) reduce the number of Hispanic construction workers injured or killed by work-related accidents through improving their knowledge of safe and healthful work practices and achieving compliance with safety and health standards and other regulations. When the original one-year term of the agreement was concluded, the HCA choose to postpone renewing the Alliance as a single signatory. Rather, its leadership believes that the Alliance built a foundation of cooperation upon which to build a broader Alliance that includes several similar associations across the country.

The accomplishments of the Alliance include:

• Marketed the Consultation Program to HCA members to raise awareness of available assistance.
   
• Identified and trained bilingual individuals in the OSHA 30-hourConstruction course so that they can deliver training to member employers and their employees.
   
• Participated in several conferences to raise awareness of Hispanic fatalities in the construction industry and the Alliance’s role in trying to prevent them. These include the Texas Association of Mexican American Chambers of Commerce Annual Convention, the South Texas Construction Conference, and the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Convention.
   
• The Alliance coordinator addressed the annual meeting of the HCA, covering OSHA programs, the latest BLS statistics, the progress of the Alliance, and plans to address members’ needs in training and outreach materials. She also received valuable input on ways that OSHA can help contractors get started on the right foot in regard to workplace safety and health.
   
• The implementation team provided input to the translation into Spanish of the Construction eTool. The Spanish version will be posted to the public Web site as soon as it passes internal clearance.

As of March 12, 2003