Missouri OSHA Parternship Formed
By Masonry
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Kansas City Masonry Contractors Association (KCMCA), and the Missouri On-site Safety and Health Consultation Program have signed a partnership to promote safe and healthful working conditions within the masonry industry.
"This agreement offers incentives to KCMCA member-employers in the Kansas City area and throughout Missouri, to meet OSHA standards and protect workers," said Charles E. Adkins, CIH, OSHA's regional administrator in Kansas City. "Employers participating in the program will be expected to incorporate masonry safety and health core elements in all phases of construction."
The partnership also will provide incentives to participating employers who voluntarily improve their safety and health performance and demonstrate they have an effective safety and health program.
Participants in the partnership must be engaged in masonry construction and be a member of the KCMCA. They must agree to provide written safety and health programs, training records, and injury and illness records to the partnership's steering committee; and have no fatalities or catastrophes that resulted in accident-related serious citations within the past year. Participants also must have no willful violations or repeated, serious violations issued within the past two years and must have implemented a fall protection program.
The partnership's goals include reducing the number and severity of injuries, illnesses and fatalities for employees of participating contractors; increasing the number of member-employers who implement effective safety and health training; developing criteria for a model safety and health program; and making safety and health resources available to all member-employers of the KCMCA.
Program participants in good standing will not receive citations for other-than-serious violations from OSHA, provided that the violation is abated during the inspection. Participants will be eligible to receive the maximum reductions allowed for good faith, size and history for penalties assessed for serious OSHA citations, and will be eligible to receive available incentives based upon safety improvements made as a result of this program.
The partnership program will cover Missouri and will be in effect for three years, after which the Kansas City and St. Louis OSHA area offices, the Missouri Consultation Program, and the KCMCA will make a joint determination about continuing it.
For more information, visit www.osha.gov.
About the Author
Masonry, the official publication of the Mason Contractors Association of America, covers every aspect of the mason contractor profession - equipment and techniques, building codes and standards, business planning, promoting your business, legal issues and more. Read or subscribe to Masonry magazine at www.masonrymagazine.com.