National Ready Mixed Concrete Association Partners with OSHA

National Ready Mixed Concrete Association Partners with OSHA

December 16, 2003

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) recently signed a partnership agreement in an effort to reduce injuries and illnesses in the ready mixed concrete industry. The goals of the partnership include

• A 30 percent reduction over three years in the total case incident rate (TCIR) for member companies;
• An increase in the number of ready mixed concrete producers who have formal safety and health programs;
• A decrease in workers compensation costs for companies that participate in the cooperative agreement; and
• An increase in the number of ready mixed concrete employees who successfully complete the OSHA 10-hour and 30-hour training courses.

OSHA agrees to participate in two training seminars a year, including the NRMCA's 10-hour safety course, annual convention seminars, and forum and expo sessions. OSHA also agrees to provide compliance assistance specialists to participants to discuss and clarify general industry health and safety standards. OSHA has also agreed to help NRMCA by giving presentations to employers, associations, and other groups within the industry.However, this partnership promotes a reduction in enforcement, penalty measures and programmed inspections for an industry that already has a higher rate of incidents than other industries, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.NRMCA recently implemented SAfety First Evaluation (SAFE), a program that evaluates member companies' performances by offering various levels of participation and incentives as they improve their safety and health management systems and reduce their injury and illness rates. OSHA's incentives for achieving the highest level of the program include penalty consideration, should citations be issued, and no programmed inspections for one year after an onsite verification of the highest status level of members.“It is clearly evident that the NRMCA has devised a scheme to avoid programmed inspections and obtain OSHA incentives for their employers. In an industry that is historically underregulated, OSHA is now proposing to regulate even less”, said Michael Watson, a representative of Teamsters Safety and Health.The Teamsters Safety and Health has worked with the Center to Protect Workers’ Rights over the past few years to identify work-related hazards in the ready mixed concrete industry. According to the report, Ready Mixed Concrete Truck Drivers: Work-Related Hazards and Recommendations for Controls, there are a number of hazards that are inadequately addressed by employers. The department has also been studying the impact of occupational noise exposures on Teamster ready mixed concrete drivers, which have consistently proven to be consistently at unsafe levels.