Success Impact:

The Plaza Construction Corporation (PCC), the Building Trades Employers' Association (BTEA), the Building and Construction Trades Council (BCTC), and OSHA partnered at the 225 West 60th Street 17-story residential and institutional building construction site. In addition to reducing the construction site workers' injury and illness rates, there was only one recordable injury in over 237,000 man hours worked. The Partnership also promoted a positive safety and health culture by strengthening relationship between employers, labor, trade associations, and government stakeholders, and requiring site specific hazard analysis and training to be conducted on a regular, consistent basis.

Injury and Illness Rates below Industry National Average

There was only one recordable injury or illness at the site with the employee missing three days. The project lasted approximately 16 months and due to the training, site inspection, and job hazard analysis that were conducted, injury and illness rates were below the Bureau of Labor (BLS) National average for the most current year. The Partnership's TCIR rate was 0.84 which was 86% below the national average for the construction industry. The DART rate was 0.84 which was 72% below the national average.

A Positive Safety and Health Culture Promoted

A gap analysis was conducted by the PCC on each of the eighteen subcontractors' safety and health management systems. The analysis compared PCC's safety and health management system (SHMS) with the each contractor's system. Recommendations and assistance were provided by PCC to help fill any "gaps" that the contractors' SHMSs had. Until some of the contractor's programs were improved, they were required to use PCC's system.

The Partnership required all employees to complete an onsite safety and health orientation as part of site's safety and health management system. The orientation helped train the employees on specific site issues and requirements about a variety of topics including fall protection, electrical hazards and hazard communication. All foremen working at the site had to complete the OSHA 10-hour Construction Safety course within the past two years or complete it within three months of beginning work at the site. The site had approximately 500 employees trained from the inception to completion of the project and 30 foremen/supervisors were trained or confirmed to have completed the OSHA 30-hour Construction Safety course. Weekly tool box talks were conducted by all subcontractors.

Site inspections were required and documented by the PCC, owner representatives, insurance representatives, and each subcontractor - resulting in 2,436 self-inspections which identified approximately 5,316 hazards and/or violations.

Partnership Objectives:

The Partnership was implemented to eliminate hazards and improve worker safety for the PCC project located at 225 West 60th Street. The project was completed in the summer of 2006 and is a mix use residential and institutional 17-story building. Goals for the project included reducing safety and health hazards, reducing injury and illness rates, enhancing participating contractor's safety and health management systems, and encouraging a sustainable working relationship between all parties involved.

• Origin: Region 2, Manhattan Area Office
• Partners: OSHA Region 2 Manhattan Area Office, Plaza Construction Corp., Building Trades Employers' Association, Building and Construction Trades Council, and New York State DOL Consultation Services.
• Partnership Signed: March 31, 2005
• Industry: Construction (NAICS Code 23332, SIC Code 1542)
• Employees: Approximately 500 throughout duration of project
• Employers: 33 throughout duration of project
• Source and Date: Stanley Sluszka, Interim Safety Director, PCC, October 2006