The Shipbuilders Council of America (SCA)
signed a one-year Alliance with the Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) Region X. The alliance is designed to help both SCA and OSHA foster
a culture of injury prevention while sharing best practices and technical knowledge.
As a part of the agreement, Region X OSHA and SCA agree to promote safe and healthful
working conditions for shipyard employees by providing SCA members with information and
guidance that will help them protect their employees by reducing and preventing exposure to
shipyard safety and health hazards and increasing access to safety and health information and
training resources. Training and
education programs include: Ergonomics, Slips, Trips and Falls
and
Fire Protection.
Safety is already an important issue for the Council. The average Total Recordable Incident
Rates (TRIR) for SCA member facilities declined from 12.94 in 1998 to 11.76 in 2001, while the
average TRIR for the industry as a whole (SIC 3731) as reported by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS) was 20.2 in 1999 and 22.0 in 2000. SCA’s data is based on the quarterly injury
and illness surveys calculated by the Council. In addition, this year SCA renewed a one- year
Strategic Partnership Program Agreement for Worker Safety with the Houston Area OSHA
office.