SCA and OSHA Alliance Promotes Safety

Along with the Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Shipbuilders Council of America (SCA) have signed a two-year Alliance that is designed to foster a culture of injury prevention while sharing best practices and technical knowledge. As a part of the agreement, 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. 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 and 17.2 in 2001. SCA’s data is based on the quarterly injury and illness surveys compiled 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. SCA is the only shipyard trade association to sign both a Strategic Partnership, Regional Alliance and a National Alliance agreement with OSHA. “We believe strongly that efforts such as this, which encourages safer shipyards, will enable us to provide a safer work environment and show OSHA our continued commitment to safety”, said SCA President, Allen Walker. “In addition, we believe that this national agreement is a valuable project that will lead to further cooperation between SCA and OSHA. ”