The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), the Ford Motor Company (Ford), and Automotive Component Holdings, LLC (ACH)

The partners agree to construct an OSHA Strategic Partnership (OSP) based on mutual respect and trust that leverages the resources of all the parties through the systematic anticipation, identification, evaluation and control of health and safety hazards at UAW/Ford and UAW/ACH locations under federal jurisdiction.

Goal

Strategy

Measure

Reduce injuries and illnesses year-over-year at each OSP location

• Anticipate, identify and control hazards
• Create a proactive safety and health culture
• Create a cooperative non-adversarial relationship, optimizing the parties’ resources

• Total Case Incidence Rate (TCIR)
• Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred Rate (DART)
• Lost Time Case Rate (LTCR)

• Reduction in injury and illness rates including TCIR, DART, and LTCR rates
• Proactive safety and health culture
• Cooperative relationship between OSHA and the partners

Construction

Amputations in Manufacturing

General Industry

X

Amputations in Construction

Oil and Gas Field Services

Blast Furnaces and Basic Steel Products

Preserve Fruits and Vegetables

Blood Lead Levels

Public Warehousing and Storage

Concrete, Gypsum and Plaster Products

Ship/Boat Building and Repair

Ergo/Musculoskeletal

X

Silica-Related Disease

Landscaping/Horticultural Services

Start Date

01/01/2010

End Date

12/31/2010

Christian Wojnar

Directorate of Cooperative and State Programs (DCSP), Office of Partnerships and Recognition (OPR), Washington, DC

# Active Employers

12

# Active Workers

15,194

Partner

SIC

NAICS

Buffalo Stamping Plant, Hamburg, New York (BSP)

3465

336370

Chicago Assembly Plant, Chicago, Illinois (CAP)

3711

336111

Chicago Stamping Plant, Chicago, Illinois (CSP)

3465

336370

Cleveland Casting Plant, Brook Park, Ohio (CCP)

3353

331315

Cleveland Engine Plant #1, Brook Park, Ohio (CEP1)

3714

336312

Cleveland Engine Plant #2, Brook Park, Ohio (CEP2)

3714

336312

Kansas City Assembly Plant, Kansas City, Missouri (KCAP)

3711

336111

Lima Engine Plant, Lima, Ohio (LEP)

3714

336312

Ohio Assembly Plant, Avon Lake, Ohio (OAP)

3711

336111

Sandusky Plastics Plant, Sandusky, Ohio (ACH) (SPP)

3089

326199

Sharonville Transmission Plant, Sharonville, Ohio (STP)

3714

336350

Walton Hills Stamping Plant, Walton Hills, Ohio (WHSP)

3465

336370

Required

Performed

a. Training

YES

YES

b. Consultation Visits

NO

NO

c. Safety and Health Management Systems Reviewed/Developed

YES

YES

d. Technical Assistance

NO

NO

e. VPP-Focused Activities

NO

NO

f. OSHA Enforcement Inspection

NO

YES

g. Offsite Verifications

NO

NO

h. Onsite Non-Enforcement Interactions

YES

NO

i. Participant Self-Inspections

YES

YES

j. Other Activities

NO

NO

Training sessions conducted by OSHA staff

0

Training sessions conducted by non-OSHA staff

^*

Employees trained

15,194

Training hours provided to employees

^*

Supervisors/managers trained

^*

Training hours provided to supervisors/managers

^*

The training modules listed below are available to all employees who work in participating plants and in those areas affected by the training topics. For example, there would be no need for all plant employees to take training about hexavalent chromium as not all plant employees are potentially exposed to hexavalent chromium. Training by computer, allowing workers to proceed at their own pace, is becoming a staple at all of the Ford and ACH sites in lieu of training led by a trainer. Ford and ACH offer training on a wide variety of topics and those relevant to the protocols of the OSP, and those offered in 2010 are listed below:

• Hazard Communications
• Powered Material Handling Vehicles: Pedestrian
• Energy Control Power Lockout
• Guidelines Responsibilities Safe Practices
• Confined Spaces: Permit Issuer
• Confined Spaces: Entrants and Attendants
• Lifting & Rigging
• Lifting & Rigging for Complex Lifts
• Skilled Trades Job Safety Analysis
• New Employee Orientation
• Combustion Equipment
• Energy Control and Power Lockout (ECPL) Troubleshooting
• Working at Heights
• Maintenance Vehicles
• Overhead Gantry Crane
• Mobile Boom Crane
• Ergonomics
• Emergency Preparedness
• Electrical Safety
• Personal Protective Equipment
• Hexavalent Chromium
• Manage the Change
• Safety Operating System (SOS); a SHMS that will replace its current Safety and Health Assessment Review Process (SHARP) in 2011
• Construction Safety

^*In 2010, Ford did not track the number of sessions and hours of training its employees and supervisors received due to the nature of the training provided as it allows each employee to complete at his own pace. Also, Ford did not track the number of employees and supervisors that received the training, but all of its employees at all of its sites performed at least one training session.

Systems implemented or improved using the 1989 OSHA Safety and Health Program Management Guidelines as a model

12

Corporate-Wide Improvements:
In 2010, Ford made the following improvements:

• Launched a comprehensive health and safety management system called Safety Operating System (SOS). SOS expanded and built upon Ford’s previous SHMS, known as SHARP, and its auditing process, by enhancing roles and responsibilities for key positions in their plants, providing clarity on safety policies and standards, and improved safety training.  This effort adds focus on leadership engagement and improves its processes to assess competency and adherence to safety policies.
• Developed a Joint Safety Charter to enhance senior joint leadership support of health and safety policies with the UAW and CAW. This effort put into place bimonthly Manufacturing Safety Council meetings with company and union leadership. The purpose of these meetings is to review safety trends, processes, and upcoming safety initiatives to ensure support by all stakeholders and streamline the dissemination of safety information and processes to all of its plants.  
• Made signs and safety banners to promote safety awareness at all of its North America locations. Examples of the messages depicted include ‘Think Safety, __ Days since Lost Time Injury’ and ‘Stay Safe: Remember Focus at all Times, Others Count on You, Rushing Increases your Odds, Don’t Take Chances.”
• Updated and implemented its Energy Control and Power Lockout (ECPL) and Confined Space Entry training programs and all authorized employees were required to complete them.  The ECPL program is a web-based training course with more detailed information on lockouts and placarding.  The Confined Space Entry program now has a non-permit confined space declassification process instead of defining all spaces as ‘Permit Required.”  The plants track the completion of training by authorized employees to ensure that they complete training.
• Developed a Comprehensive Walking Working Surface Global Standard which now requires all of its plants to take action to minimize trip, slip or fall hazards through housekeeping, elevation changes, and snow and ice removal. An informative poster was developed to provide examples of compliant walking working surfaces.
• Updated its electrical safety policies to align with the latest version of the NFPA 70E standard (2009), and conducted training for all electrical Senior Authorized Persons on updated tools for compliance.  Plants track the completion of the training by authorized employees to ensure that they complete training on an annual basis.
• Formed a joint serious injury task force with senior UAW leadership to address causes of serious injuries (injuries involving either lost time or necessitating medical treatment) and fatalities. Ford’s Serious Injury Tracking tool and trend analysis were used by the task force to identify causes.

OSHA enforcement inspections conducted

5

OSHA enforcement inspections in compliance

2

OSHA enforcement inspection with violations cited

3

Average number of citations classified as Serious, Repeat, and Willful

.67

Buffalo Stamping Plant
#314102070: Opened on January 27, 2010
Partial Inspection; Response to complaint
Cited Standard: 1910.0179(l)(3) (Overhead & Gantry Cranes)
1 Willful issued on June 18, 2010 ($70,000); Contested on July 9, 2010; still open as of May 18, 2011

Kansas City Assembly Plant
#314464819; Opened on June 2, 2010 and closed on June 3, 2010
Partial Inspection; Planned
Cited Standards: 1910.0255(b)(5) (Resistance Welding) and 1910.0023(c)(1) (Guarding Floor & Wall Openings & Holes)
1 Other ($7000); Paid on August 13, 2010 and abated on September 13, 2010

Kansas City Assembly Plant
#314467127; Opened and closed on July 27, 2010
Partial Inspection; Response to a complaint
No citations issued

Ohio Assembly Plant
#313785008: Opened on September 21, 2010 and closed on February 1, 2011
Partial Inspection; Referral
No citations issued

Kansas City Assembly Plant
#314469818: Opened on November 3, 2010 and closed on December 16, 2010
Partial Inspection; Response to a complaint
Cited Standard: 1910.0141(c)(1) (Sanitation)
1 Serious; Informal settlement; $3060

Onsite non-enforcement verifications performed

0

Due to the expiration of the OSP Agreement on November 9, 2009, the Area Offices did not conduct onsite non-enforcement verifications (OSHA Day events) during the evaluation period and the renewal discussions were ongoing during 2010. 

Self-inspections performed

4,044^*

Hazards and/or violations identified and corrected/abated

N/A^*

The following inspections are done on a regular basis at the OSP sites:

• Schirmer Fire Inspections (annually)
• Safety and Health Assessment Review Process (quarterly)
• Powered Material Handling Vehicles - Pedestrian (quarterly)
• Regional Safety Security Manager Visits (quarterly)
• Safe Behaviors Index (weekly)
• Leadership Safety Walks - Tours Process (weekly)
• Guidelines Responsibility and Safe Practices (GRASP) - Daily Start Up (daily)
• UAW-Ford Joint Health and Safety Reviews (weekly)
• Fire Protection Systems (weekly)

^*The number of self-inspections performed is an estimate based on the frequency of each inspection times the number of facilities in the OSP. Also, Ford did not track the number of hazards corrected and/or abated.

Year

Hours

Total Cases

TCIR

DART Cases

DART

LTCR Cases

LTCR

2008

29,035,320

1,922

13.2

406

2.8

113

0.8

2009

24,131,772

1,681

13.9

403

3.3

115

1.0

2010

27,783,192

1,755

12.6

395

2.8

120

0.9

Total

80,950,284

5,358

1,204

348

Three-year Rate (2008-2010)

13.2

3.0

0.9

Changes

Challenges

Management Structure

X

Participants

Data Collection

X

X

Employee Involvement

OSHA Enforcement Inspection

X

Partnership Outreach

Training

Other (Specify)

Data collection continues to present a challenge. As there are 12 sites from which data must be collected, the OSP needs to develop a consistent and systematic approach to collect data.  It is recommended that a data collection template be developed should the Agency sign a new OSP agreement. The template would allow for consistency in the data collection process among the individual sites. Also, all parties, including the individual sites, need to be aware of their data collection responsibilities, which for the purpose of this annual evaluation would include training information (number of sessions, number of employees attending, and number of hours), and self-inspections/ hazards identified and abated totals.

In late 2010, John Lawson replaced John Bokuniewicz as Ford’s OSP lead.

Enforcement inspections were a challenge in 2010 as three out of five inspections conducted resulted in at least one citation. One case was still open at the time this report was prepared. Four of the five inspections were either responses to complaints or referrals. 

Improvements

N/A

Meet more often

Improve data collection

X

Conduct more training

Change goals

See Changes and Challenges for a discussion on the data collection issue and recommendations to improve.

Increased safety and health awareness

X

Improved relationship with OSHA

X

Improved relationship with employers

Improved relationship with employees or unions

Increased number of participants

Other (specify)

The OSP participants have experienced significant reductions in the overall injury and illness rates since the inception of the OSP in 2000. UAW, Ford and ACH continue to enhance their safety and health management efforts with the usage of its SHARP assessment processes and will continue to do so using the new system, SOS which will replace SHARP. There have been increased emphases placed on serious injury prevention, ergonomics and machine guarding. Ford has allocated many resources to address these issues, thereby creating a safer environment for its workers.

Partnership Completed

Continue/Renew

X

Continue with the following provisions

Terminate (provide explanation)