2012 Spring MIOSHA News
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Director’s Column 2 Connecting Update 2 New Developments 3 Construction Update 4 General Industry Update 5 Consultation & Training Update 6 Technical Information 7 Vol. 16, No. 2 Spring 2012 Construction Partnerships: Improve the Bottom Line Construction Partnerships By: Patty Meyer, Director, Construction Safety and Health Division MIOSHA’s construction partnership companies have demonstrated an The MIOSHA Construction Safety and Health Division that Christman Constructors participated in; they also built outstanding commitment to pro- has entered into 13 partnership projects over the past seven a cast-in-place parking structure at the Michigan Street moting worker safety and health on years. The contractors and workers who have been fortu- Development Partnership Project in Grand Rapids. their projects. nate to work on a construction partnership project already Comparison of Partnership to Christman – Board of Water & know the benefits, i.e. less injuries, more collaboration Non-partnership Projects among workers, and incentives for safe work practices. Light REO Town Project – Lansing – For those who haven’t had the opportunity to work on a Christman Constructors, Inc. has completed six parking 2011 partnership project, read on…you may be surprised! structures from 2005 – 2011. All six parking structures were Pioneer Construction – Grand similar in many ways including design, formwork types, Working Safer Saves Money Valley State University Mary Idema hoisting, weather conditions, supervision, workforce, and Pew Library Project – Allendale – 2011 This is a success story about the MIOSHA partnership incident reporting procedures. The combined man-hours at the Accident Fund Holdings, Inc. Headquarters Project for all six projects totaled approximately 579,000 man- Barton Malow – C.S. Mott Chil- (AFHQ) in downtown Lansing with The Christman Com- hours. dren’s and Women’s Hospital Project pany as the Construction Manager. At the completion of Christman Constructors came to the following conclu- – Ann Arbor – 2010 project, we asked the workers what they thought of part- sions: Barton Malow – Stoney Corners nering with MIOSHA and was this partnership successful. n Their average DART rate was ZERO for the two part- Wind Farm Project – McBain – 2010 Some of the worker comments were: nership parking structures, while the average DART rate for Barton Malow – Severstal Mod- n “This partnership changed me…I’m proud to have the four non-partnership parking structures was 1.9. ernization Project – Dearborn – 2010 been a part of this…it would be hard to go back to the old n Their average DART rate for all work completed by Christman – Accident Fund Na- way of doing business.” Christman Constructors at the partnership projects was tional Headquarters Project – Lan- n “The partnership helped everyone learn to trust one 0.33 while the average DART rate for all work completed sing – 2009 another…we were encouraged to bring up any safety situ- at the non-partnership projects was 0.81. Kamminga & Roodvoets – Mus- ation.” n Their overall TCIR was significantly impacted by the kegon County Wastewater Manage- n “We were appreciated…they listened.” excellent safety performance on the partnership projects ment System – Muskegon – 2009 It was wonderful to hear these great comments, but it with a 1.34 TCIR rate on the partnership projects and a Kamminga & Roodvoets – was the comment from Doug Peters, Safety Director for 5.00 TCIR rate on the non-partnership projects. Kalamazoo Avenue Project – Grand Christman Constructors, Inc., that prompted me to learn Christman Constructor realized the emphasis on team Rapids – 2008 more. Doug said that this partnership played a major role in collaboration that took place on their two MIOSHA part- Christman – Michigan Street controlling safety-related costs. That’s right…they reduced nership projects as opposed to their traditional enforce- Development Project – Grand risk and saved on the bottom line by working safer! ment methods on their other four projects proved not only Rapids – 2007 Cast-in-Place Concrete Construction to be a great fit with their project management culture, but Barton Malow/Skanska – Beau- During 2009-2010, Christman Constructors, Inc., con- also in their bottom-line effectiveness on higher-risk proj- mont Hospital Expansion Project – structed a cast-in-place concrete parking structure at the ects. Overall, productivity increased and injuries were Troy – 2007 reduced, therefore creating safety-related savings! AFHQ project. These types of structures are very high-risk Detroit Edison – Monroe Power Contact the Construction Safety and Health Division and present several unique safety challenges. The work Plant Environmental Controls Con- at 517.322.1856 for more information about MIOSHA con- is conducted at heights that require significant resources struction Project – Monroe – 2007 and planning to ensure employees are protected from falls struction partnerships and create your own success story! Walbridge Aldinger & Barton throughout each phase of the project. Malow – Detroit Metro Airport Specific planning and coordination for rigging, hoist- North Terminal Project – Romulus – ing, swinging and moving loads are required for almost 2006 every task. In addition, structural concrete workers con- tinuously install heavy formwork and shoring to ensure Walbridge Aldinger – Dearborn that the hardened concrete strengths are sufficient. Combined Sewer Overflow Contract Christman Constructors developed best work prac- # 3 Project – Dearborn – 2005 tices in advance in order to mitigate or eliminate worker risk exposure for cast-in-place parking structures. They compared injury and illness data from several cast-in-place parking structures they completed on other Michigan con- struction projects and then used this data to refine their best work practices to make this type of work even safer. The AFHQ project was the second partnership project DIreCTor’S ColUmN CoNNeCTING UpDaTe mission: To support business growth Residential Fall Protection and job creation while safeguarding Falls are one of the leading causes Michigan’s citizens through a sim- of construction worker fatalities in ple, fair, efficient and transparent Michigan and across the nation. For regulatory structure. years falls have been the reason too The adjectives “simple,” “fair,” many of our family members, co- workers, friends and neighbors do not “efficient” and “transparent” are return home at the end of the work- demonstrated at all levels and in all day. This is the reason many people martha Yoder MIOSHA program areas. MIOSHA Bart pickelman, CIH Director have been working hard to prevent Deputy Director has historically taken the position these unnecessary deaths. The latest that we must train and make infor- effort is focused on falls that occur on ORR Report Released mation available before we regulate. residential construction sites. dential construction industry need- On March 12, 2012, the Office of Most recently this describes our work The MIOSHA Part 45, Fall Protec- ed to hear ideas and see examples of Regulatory Reform (ORR) issued its with industry regarding proposed tion, standard requires that employees how to set-up feasible fall protection report to Governor Snyder contain- changes for fall protection require- engaged in residential construction systems from those in the business ing recommendations for improv- ments in the residential building in- activities six feet or more above lower of building and renovating houses. ing Michigan’s workplace safety and dustry (See Connecting column). levels shall be protected by guardrail, To help residential contractors health regulations. On March 14th, Our goal is to keep things simple safety net, or personal fall arrest sys- comply, MIOSHA sent informa- the report was presented to the House and understandable by using single tem (i.e., conventional fall protection) tional letters to over 8,500 residen- Committee on Regulatory Reform. topic fact sheets, sample programs, except where employers can dem- tial builders and trade contrac- This report includes 624 recom- templates, and checklists. Transpar- onstrate that such conventional fall tors, and provided more than 70 mendations for changes to 334 sepa- ency and fairness at MIOSHA in- protection systems are infeasible or seminars across the state. MIOSHA rate MIOSHA rules that exceed the cludes extensive use of the MIOSHA would create a greater hazard. also reached out to the residential construction industry for their as- federal standards with rescission of web page to post program informa- In 2004 MIOSHA issued compli- sistance with a Residential Fall over 611 distinct MIOSHA require- tion, ListServes to provide timely ance criteria that permitted residen- Protection Forum held March 29th. ments recommended. The ORR made updates, and a newly implemented tial contractors to use alternative methods instead of conventional fall The purpose of the forum was to nine additional recommendations. e-news to quickly share news. protection without having to dem- provide real solutions and best (See Standards Update, Page 7) We It’s Great to be Back! onstrate the infeasibility or greater practices for complying with the are currently working with LARA It is wonderful to be back at hazard and without having a writ- revised residential fall protection and ORR in response to this report. MIOSHA. I believe strongly in the ten site specific fall protection plan. requirements. The goal of the ORR is to ensure value and mission of this