SPI - Alliance Annual Report - December 13, 2005

ALLIANCE ANNUAL REPORT
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
and the
Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. (SPI)
December 13, 2005

  1. Alliance Background

    Date Signed

    September 19, 2002

    Date Renewed

    March 4, 2004

    Overview

    The OSHA and SPI Alliance continues to focus on providing SPI's members and others with information, guidance and access to training resources to promote machine safety and ergonomic awareness. OSHA and SPI are identifying machinery hazards and potential solutions to reduce injuries (e.g., lacerations, burns, and amputations) and ergonomic problems.

    Implementation Team Members

    OSHA:

    Brett Besser
    Salt Lake Technical Center (SLTC)
    Cathy Cronin
    Office of Training and Education (OTE)
    John Hermanson
    Region VIII
    Chuck Lorish
    Michigan OSHA
    Lisa Ramber
    Office of Outreach Services and Alliances
    Tom Ripberger
    Indiana OSHA
    Doug Simon
    OTE
    Jack Standard
    OTE
    Jim Washam
    Region V, Cincinnati Area Office

    SPI:

    Sue Babler
    Placon
    Susan Howe
    Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc.
    Marie Martinko
    Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc.
    Suzanne Riney
    Spartech Corporation
    Brian Schell
    Buckell Plastics Company
    Wayne Wilson
    United Southern Industries, Inc

    Contributors

    *Paul Murphy
    OSHA Contractor for SLTC
    **Kym Pond
    OSHA Contractor for SLTC

    * member of the Implementation Team until May 2005
    ** joined the Implementation Team in June 2005

    Evaluation Period

    September 19, 2004 - September 18, 2005

  2. Implementation Team Meetings

    December 13, 2004
    Team Meeting, Conference Call
    February 6-9, 2005
    Tour of Buckell Plastics Company to begin development of Thermoforming eTool
    February 16-17, 2005
    Team Meeting, OSHA Training Institute
    April 20, 2005
    Team Meeting, Conference Call with SLTC to discuss Plastics Industry Safety and Health Topics page
    September 15, 2005
    eTool Development meeting

  3. Results

    1. Events and Products

      Training and Education Goal

      • Develop and deliver training addressing machine safety, to be delivered in conferences, meetings, OSHA Training Institute (OTI) Ed Centers, and through distance learning.

      OSHA 10-Hour Course for the Plastics Industry

      The SPI members of the Alliance implementation team began developing an outline for an OSHA 10-hour Course for the Plastics Industry that could be presented at OSHA's Ed Centers and plastics industry employers could use in their workplaces to help educate their workers.

      Outreach and Communication Goals

      • Speak, exhibit, or appear at SPI conferences, including Plastics USA 2004, local meetings, or other industry events.

      Events

      Plastics USA 2004, McCormick Place East, Chicago, Illinois, September 28-30, 2004

      During Plastics USA 2004, September 28 - 30, the Alliance was a part of SPI's exhibit booth and members of the OSHA and SPI Alliance implementation team distributed OSHA safety and health information, including a Plastics Industry CD on machine safety that was developed by the Alliance.

      • Develop and disseminate information through print and electronic media, including electronic assistance tools and links from OSHA's and SPI's Web sites.

      Products

      OSHA Assistance for the Plastics Industry; OSHA Safety and Health Topics Page

      The OSHA and SPI implementation team members continued to review and share comments with OSHA's SLTC regarding the content of the Agency's Safety and Health Topics page; OSHA Assistance for the Plastics Industry. The following OSHA staff and SPI members and staff are on the page's editorial board:

      • Susan R. Howe, SPI, Senior Technical Director, Worker and Product Safety; Washington, DC
      • Loren Mills, Manager, Product Safety, Demag Plastics Group; Strongsville, OH
      • Bob Monteith, Milacron Inc.; Batavia, OH
      • Lisa Ramber, OSHA Directorate of Cooperative and State Programs, Office of Outreach Services and Alliances; Washington, DC
      • Dana Root, Ergonomist, OSHA Region 5; Chicago, IL
      • James Washam, Lockout and Machine Guarding Coordinator, OSHA Region 5, Cincinnati Area Office; Cincinnati, OH

      • Wayne Wilson, Corporate Director of Safety/Training, United Southern Industries; Forest City, NC

      Thermoforming Module of OSHA's Machine Guarding eTool

      The OSHA and SPI Alliance began developing a thermoforming module for OSHA's Machine Guarding eTool. On February 6-9, 2005, members of the implementation team visited Buckell Plastics in Lewistown, Pennsylvania to photograph thermoforming machinery for the 360-degree tour that will be a part of the module.

      OSHA and SPI Alliance Web Site

      OSHA continues to update, on a regular basis, its OSHA and SPI Alliance Web site on its Web page. The Web site includes the OSHA and SPI Alliance agreement, renewal agreement, news releases, milestones and successes and information on meetings, conferences and training courses.

      SPI Worker Safety and Health Web Site

      The SPI's Web site has a Worker Health and Safety section that includes information on the Alliance and its accomplishments, including inks to the training tools and electronic assistance products developed by the Alliance.

      • Work with other Alliance participants on projects on ergonomics that are addressed and developed through the Alliance Program.

        The OSHA and SPI Alliance continues to look for and evaluate opportunities to work with other Alliance participants to address ergonomics.

      • Promote and encourage SPI members' participation in OSHA's cooperative programs such as compliance assistance, the Voluntary Protection Programs, and Consultation and its the Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program, and Consultation.

        During this reporting period, OSHA and SPI did not work on projects to address this goal.

    2. Executive Summary

      During 2004-2005, OSHA and SPI continued to work together through the Alliance to address machine safety hazards in the plastics manufacturing workplace. For example, the OSHA and SPI Alliance implementation team began the development of a thermoforming module for OSHA's Machine Guarding eTool. The module will discuss the potential hazards associated with the thermoforming process and identify possible solutions. In addition, it will include a 360-degree tour of a thermoforming machine that will identify its machine guarding and lockout/tagout locations. The Alliance also began the development of an OSHA-10-hour Course for the Plastics Industry. After the course is completed, it will be given to OSHA's Ed Centers to add to their course offerings. In addition, plastics industry employers could present the course in their workplaces to help educate their workers.

      OSHA and SPI also promoted the Alliance and the products it has developed at Plastics USA 2004, September 28 – 30 in Chicago, Illinois. During the event, the Alliance was a part of SPI's exhibit booth and members of the OSHA and SPI Alliance implementation team distributed OSHA safety and health information, including a Plastics Industry CD on machine safety that was developed by the Alliance. The CD contains the Alliance's machine guarding and lockout/tagout training courses for injection molding, thermoforming and extrusion machinery and the OSHA Assistance for the Plastics Industry Safety and Health Topics page. Through the Alliance, SPI and OSHA experts are also continuing to use their expertise to review and provide ongoing comments on the Topics page.

    3. Alliance Program Reach

      Type of Activity (Conference, Training, Print and Electronic Distribution, etc.) Number of Individuals Reached or Trained
      September 28-30, 2004, Plastics USA 2004, McCormick Place East, Chicago, Illinois

      OSHA Exhibited      		 1,000
      OSHA Assistance for the Plastics Industry, OSHA Safety and Health Topics Page 18,000
      Machine Guarding eTool, Horizontal Injection Molding Machines Module 8,074
      OSHA and SPI Alliance Web page on OSHA's Web site 3,618
      SPI Alliance Web page on SPI's Web site Data Not Available
      TOTAL 30,692

  4. Upcoming Milestones

    During the upcoming year, OSHA and SPI will work together to develop an Alliance renewal agreement. In addition, OSHA and SPI will continue its training and outreach efforts and the development of compliance assistance tools and resources. For example, the Alliance will be part of the SPI exhibit booth NPE 2006: The International Plastics Showcase, June 19 - 23 at the McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. In addition, the Alliance will hold workshops in conjunction with the show. The Alliance implementation team also plans to complete the thermoforming machinery module for OSHA's Machine Guarding eTool. The tool will address thermoforming machinery hazard areas and possible solutions to the hazards and it will include a 360-degree tour of a thermoforming machine.

    The Alliance will also begin developing a blow molding machine guarding and lockout/tagout course. In a addition, a number of opportunities for presenting the machine guarding and lockout/tagout train-the-trainer courses (injection molding, extrusion, thermoforming and blow molding) will be explored in the upcoming year, including presenting the courses in OSHA's Region I or Region II, California (a State Plan State) or the southern region of the United States. The OSHA and SPI Alliance will also be completing the development of a 10-hour OSHA Course for the Plastics Industry.

Report prepared by: Lisa Ramber, OSHA and SPI Alliance Coordinator (until November 3, 2005), December 13, 2005