ESTABLISHING AN ALLIANCE PROGRAM AMBASSADOR RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN
KANSAS CITY REGIONAL OFFICE (REGION 7)
THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
AND
GREAT PLAINS OSHA EDUCATION CENTER (CONSORTIUM)

Since entering into an Alliance on May 9, 2018, with a subsequent renewal on September 8, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Kansas City Region VII (including the Regional Office, and the Des Moines, Kansas City, Omaha, St. Louis, and Wichita Area Offices) and Great Plains OSHA Education Center (GPOEC), a consortium comprised of Metropolitan Community College (Kansas City, MO), St. Louis University College for Public Health and Social Justice (St. Louis, MO), Barton Community College (Grandview Plaza, KS), and various host sites 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 GPOEC 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 GPOEC 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 GPOEC's status as Alliance Program Ambassador on the agency’s public webpage.

GPOEC 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 GPOEC to build relationships with OSHA's Regional and Area Offices to address health and safety issues.
• Sharing information with OSHA personnel and industry safety and health professionals regarding GPOEC 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 ongoing 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 they give 30 days' written notice. 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.

AGREEMENT ESTABLISHING AN ALLIANCE
BETWEEN
OMAHA AREA OFFICE
THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
AND
NEBRASKA APPLESEED

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Omaha Area Office, and Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest (Nebraska Appleseed), a statewide organization based in Lincoln, Nebraska, recognize the value of establishing a collaborative relationship to foster safety and health practices and programs to improve American workplaces. To that end, OSHA and Nebraska Appleseed hereby form this Alliance, with an emphasis on worker rights and employer responsibilities to provide a safe and healthful workplace. Specifically, both organizations are committed to providing Nebraska Appleseed staff, immigrant workers, meat and poultry processing workers, English language learners, and other underserved vulnerable populations with information, guidance, and access to training resources that will help them protect the health and safety of workers and understand the rights of workers and the responsibilities of employers under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act).

This agreement provides a framework and objectives for the Alliance’s activities. Alliance participants also agree to 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 available 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, including but not limited to member surveys, to evaluate the Alliance and measure the impact on improving workplace safety and health. In developing this Alliance, OSHA and Nebraska Appleseed recognize that OSHA’s State Plan and On-Site Consultation Program 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:

• Share information on OSHA’s National/Regional/Local Initiatives (Emphasis Programs, Regulatory Agenda, Outreach), and 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.

• Speak, exhibit, or appear at OSHA and Nebraska Appleseed conferences, local meetings, or other community-based events.

• Collaborate with other Alliance participants on specific issues and projects related to the safety and health and whistleblower rights for immigrant workers, meat and poultry processing workers, English language learners, and other hard-to-reach populations that are addressed and developed through the Alliance Program.

• Develop information on the recognition and prevention of workplace hazards, and communicate such information (e.g., print and electronic media, electronic assistance tools, and OSHA and Nebraska Appleseed’s websites) to employers and workers in the industry.

• Convene or participate in forums, roundtable discussions, or stakeholder meetings on priority workplace safety and health concerns that affect immigrant Nebraskans and other hard-to-reach populations – such as meat and poultry processing work-speed related injuries, ergonomics, recordkeeping, and other workplace safety issues – to help forge innovative solutions in the workplace or to provide input on safety and health issues.

• Share information among OSHA personnel and industry safety and health professionals regarding Nebraska Appleseed’s good practices or effective approaches through training programs, workshops, seminars, and lectures (or any other applicable forum).

• Encourage worker participation in workplace safety and health by sharing know your rights materials and facilitating safety conversations.

• Explore the efficacy of developing case studies on ergonomics, recordkeeping, other health and safety concerns in meat and poultry processing, or other workplace safety issues that affect immigrant Nebraskans and hard-to-reach populations.

• Encourage other local nonprofit partners and grassroots organizations to build relationships with OSHA’s Regional and Area Offices to address workplace health and safety issues.

Training and Education

The Participants intend to work together to achieve the following objective:

• Develop effective training and education programs for immigrant Nebraskan workers, meat and poultry processing workers, English language learners, and other underserved vulnerable populations to promote understanding of workers’ safety and health and whistleblower rights. This includes 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 initiatives, outreach, communications, training, and education. These Alliances have proven to be valuable tools for both OSHA and 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 organization’s products or services.

An implementation team made up of representatives of each organization will meet one to 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 Omaha Area Office and Nebraska Appleseed and any other appropriate offices. OSHA will encourage State Plans’ and OSHA On-Site Consultation program’ participation on the team.

This agreement will remain in effect for two years. 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.

Signed this 28^th day of September, 2022.