AGREEMENT ESTABLISHING AN ALLIANCE
BETWEEN
BILLINGS AREA OFFICE
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
AND
MONTANA LOGGING ASSOCIATION

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Billings Area Office and the Montana Logging Association (MLA) recognize the value of maintaining a collaborative relationship to foster safer and more healthful American workplaces. To that end, OSHA and the MLA hereby form an Alliance to provide the MLA members and others with information, guidance, and access to training resources that will help them protect the health and safety of workers, particularly by reducing and preventing exposure to the hazards associated with logging operations and understand the rights of workers and the responsibilities of employers under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act). The hazards that will be focused on are:

• Moving or falling trees, logs, and branches
• Contact with dangerous moving and rotating machinery or equipment parts
• Repetitive motion, overexertion, awkward postures, heavy lifting, and other physical stressors
• Vehicles and heavy equipment
• Heat and other adverse environmental conditions
• Noise

This agreement provides a framework and objectives for the Alliance's activities. Alliance participants also agree that activities associated with this Alliance will meet the "Fundamental Requirements for OSHA Alliance Program Participants” and the “Guidelines for OSHA's Alliance Program Participants: Alliance Products and Other Alliance Projects."

Through the Alliance, the organizations will use relevant injury, illness, and hazard exposure data when appropriate to help identify areas of emphasis for Alliance awareness, outreach, and communication activities. The Alliance will also explore and implement selected options to evaluate the effectiveness of the Alliance and measure the impact of its overall effort on improving workplace safety for employers and workers. In developing this Alliance, OSHA and the MLA recognize that OSHA's State Plan and On-site Consultation Project partners are an integral part of the OSHA national effort, and that information about the products and activities of the Alliance may be shared with these partners for the advancement of common goals.

Raising Awareness: Outreach and Communication

The Participants intend to work together to achieve the following objectives related to raising awareness of OSHA's rulemaking and enforcement initiatives:

• Share information on OSHA's National/Regional/Local Initiatives (Emphasis Programs, Regulatory Agenda, Outreach), and provide opportunities to participate in initiatives and the rulemaking process.
• Share information on occupational safety and health laws and standards, including the rights and responsibilities of workers and employers.
• Convene or participate in forums, roundtable discussions, or stakeholder meetings on addressing the hazards associated with logging and log transportation operations, to help forge innovative solutions in the workplace or to provide input on safety and health issues such as:
  • adequate Personal Protective Equipment,
  • falling, rolling, and sliding trees and logs,
  • uneven, unstable, and rough terrain,
  • inclement weather,
  • remote and isolated work sites where health care facilities are not immediately accessible,
  • moving trees and logs from the stump to the point of delivery,
  • transporting machines, equipment, and personnel to and from and between logging sites,
  • hazards associated with marking danger trees and,
  • felling, limbing, bucking, debarking, chipping, yarding, loading, unloading, and storing logs.
• Encourage worker participation in workplace safety and health by participating in annual conferences, National Safety Stand-Downs, and Workers Memorial Day.
• Develop information on the recognition and prevention of workplace hazards and identify and implement ways of communicating such information (e.g., print and electronic media, electronic assistance tools, and OSHA's and the MLA's websites) to employers and workers in the industry.
• Speak, exhibit, or appear at OSHA's or MLA's conferences, local meetings, or other National Safety Stand-Down events.

Training and Education

The Participants intend to work together to achieve the following training and education objectives:

• Develop effective training and education programs for loggers and Compliance Safety and Health Officers regarding the recognition and prevention of workplace hazards associated with logging and log transportation.
• Develop effective training and education programs for small employers to promote understanding of workers' rights, including the use of the OSHA complaint process, and the responsibilities of employers and to communicate such information to workers and employers.

OSHA's Alliances provide organizations an opportunity to participate in a voluntary cooperative relationship with OSHA for purposes such as raising awareness of OSHA's rulemaking and enforcement initiatives, training and education, and outreach and communication. These Alliances have proven to be valuable tools for both OSHA and its Alliance participants. By entering into an Alliance with an organization, OSHA is not endorsing or promoting, nor does it intend to endorse or promote, any of that party's products or services.

An implementation team made up of representatives of each organization will meet to develop a work plan, determine working procedures, and identify the roles and responsibilities of the participants. In addition, the implementation team will meet at least two times per year to track and share information on activities and results in achieving the goals of the Alliance. OSHA team members will include representatives of the Billings Area Office and any other appropriate offices. OSHA will encourage the Montana Department of Labor and Industry to participate on the team.

This agreement will be in effect from March 15, 2023, through March 15, 2025. Either signatory may terminate it for any reason at any time, provided they give 30 days' written notice. This agreement may be modified at any time with the written concurrence of both signatories.

ESTABLISHING AN ALLIANCE PROGRAM AMBASSADOR RELATIONSHIP

BETWEEN

THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
BRIDGEPORT AREA OFFICE
HARTFORD AREA OFFICE

AND

STATE OF CONNECTICUT- DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
DIVISION OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH

AND

ASSOCIATED BUILDERS AND CONTRACTORS OF CONNECTICUT

Since entering into an Alliance on October 16, 2005 subsequent renewal(s) on July 27, 2018 the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Bridgeport Area Office, Hartford Area Office, State of Connecticut – Department of Labor Division of Occupational Safety and Health, and Associated Builders and Contractors of Connecticut (ABC CT) have worked together to improve workplace health and safety by sharing information, guidance, and access to training resources that address occupational hazards, and promoting understanding of the rights of workers and the responsibilities of employers under the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

OSHA and ABC CT continue to recognize the value of maintaining a collaborative relationship to improve safety and health practices and programs in American workplaces and commit to continue their work together through an Alliance Program Ambassador relationship.

In recognition of this ongoing commitment, OSHA will continue to foster an active relationship with ABC CT by:

• Providing routine communications on enforcement, regulatory, and outreach initiatives.
• Sharing invitations to and offering opportunities to speak at OSHA Alliance Program and other agency stakeholder meetings or events, such as outreach and training activities through the National, Regional, or Area Office, and the National Alliance Program Construction Roundtable and Forum.
• Engaging in information sharing and technical discussions, as appropriate, including completing special projects of mutual interest that align with agency priorities and as resources allow.
• Maintaining the organization’s status as Alliance Program Ambassadors on the agency’s public webpage.

ABC CT will continue to foster an active relationship with OSHA by:

• Sharing information with members and stakeholders on OSHA’s National Initiatives (Enforcement, Regulatory, and Outreach), and encouraging their participation in OSHA’s outreach initiatives and rulemaking processes.
• Sharing information with members and stakeholders on occupational safety and health laws and standards, including the rights and responsibilities of workers and employers.
• Encouraging ABC CT to build relationships with OSHA’s National, Regional and Area Offices to address health and safety issues.
• Sharing information with OSHA personnel and industry safety and health professionals regarding ABC CT good practices or effective approaches through training programs, workshops, seminars, and lectures (or any other applicable forum).
• Offering OSHA opportunities to speak, exhibit, or appear at one another’s conferences, local meetings, or other events.
• Adhering to requirements laid out in the Alliance Program Directive regarding the prohibition on promoting or implying the agency’s endorsement of their policies, products, or services, including acknowledging that they will not receive any preferential treatment related to any statutory function of the agency.
• Abiding by all terms and conditions for the use of the Alliance Program logo as specified in OSHA’s Guidelines for Use of the Alliance Logo.

OSHA’s cooperative programs provide organizations an opportunity to participate in a voluntary, collaborative relationship with OSHA for purposes such as raising awareness of OSHA’s initiatives, outreach, communication, training, and education. These programs have proven to be valuable tools for both OSHA and participants. By entering into this Ambassador relationship, OSHA is not endorsing or promoting, nor does it intend to endorse or promote, any of that organization’s products or services.

This Ambassador relationship will remain in effect for the duration of an on-going cooperative association and a good faith effort by all parties to meet the intent of this document and its underlying policies. Any signatory may terminate it for any reason at any time, provided the terminating signatory gives 30 days’ written notice to the others. Termination by one signatory will not nullify the Ambassador relationship with all signatories, with the exception of OSHA; OSHA may terminate the Ambassador relationship as a whole, or its relationship with one or more individual signatories.

Signed this 10th day of April 2024.