Region 2 News Release: 10-1353-NEW/BOS 2010-407
Oct. 6, 2010
Contact: Ted Fitzgerald
Phone: 617-565-2074
E-mail: fitzgerald.edmund@dol.gov

US Labor Department's OSHA and the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras
Campus renew workplace safety and health alliance

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has renewed a successful alliance with the Rio Piedras Campus of the University of Puerto Rico to promote safe and healthy employment for workers in Puerto Rico. In addition, the Puerto Rico Occupational Safety and Health Administration joined the alliance.

"Over the past several years, this alliance has provided training and vital information to hundreds of workers and employers in Puerto Rico," said José A. Carpena, OSHA's area director in Puerto Rico. "We welcome the participation of the Puerto Rico Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which will enhance our efforts to educate and protect workers."

"This alliance provides workers with the most valuable and useful tool they can carry. That tool is knowledge," said Robert Kulick, OSHA's regional administrator in New York. "With it, workers can identify and eliminate work-related hazards before they cause injury or illness, and understand their right to have a safe and healthful workplace."

Through the alliance, OSHA, the university's Division of Continuing Education and Professional Studies and its Environmental Protection and Occupational Safety Office have created and conducted training, education and outreach programs for employers and employees in a variety of industries. They also have developed workplace safety and health curricula for the Division of Continuing Education and Professional Studies' Certificate in Occupational Safety and Health program. Those activities will continue.

The alliance was first signed in 2004 and has been renewed every two years. The signatories are OSHA's Carpena and Kulick, University of Puerto Rico Acting Chancellor Ana R. Guadalupe and Puerto Rico OSHA Assistant Secretary Gladys Cruz Mercado.

Through the Alliance Program, OSHA works with groups committed to worker safety and health to prevent workplace fatalities, injuries and illnesses. These groups include unions, consulates, trade or professional organizations, faith- and community-based organizations, businesses and educational institutions. OSHA and the groups work together to develop compliance assistance tools and resources, share information with workers and employers, and educate workers and employers about their rights and responsibilities. Alliance Program participants do not receive exemptions from OSHA programmed inspections.

Employers and employees in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands with questions about this or other OSHA alliances or partnerships may call OSHA's Puerto Rico Area Office at 787-277-1560.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to assure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

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U.S. Department of Labor releases are accessible on the Internet at http://www.dol.gov. The information in this news release will be made available in alternate format (large print, Braille, audiotape or disc) from the COAST office upon request. Please specify which news release when placing your request at 202-693-7828 or TTY 202-693-7755. The Labor Department is committed to providing America's employers and employees with easy access to understandable information on how to comply with its laws and regulations. For more information, please visit http://www.dol.gov/compliance.