The emphasis of OSHA’s alliance program is to raise awareness through outreach, communication, and training and education.

Alliance participants are committed to working closely with OSHA to achieve their strategic goal within the Department of Labor, securing safe and healthful working conditions for America’s workers. The alliance’s focus is entirely on workplace safety rather than general safety and health, which may include community or home safety efforts.

The OSHA-NAWIC Alliance, signed in 2013, is a formal collaboration with Federal OSHA to raise awareness of OSHA’s strategic planning, share information about its initiatives, provide compliance assistance resources to workers and employers, and educate workers and employers about their rights and responsibilities. NAWIC – Alliance Agreement – August 21, 2013 | Occupational Safety and Health Administration

We agreed to align our goals with OSHA’s strategic priorities and created our own goals of developing effective training and education programs for women in the construction industry regarding ergonomics, sanitation hazards, and the selection of PPE, and to communicate that information to employers and workers. In 2015, we conducted a survey of our members related to harassment, bullying, intimidation and gender discrimination, and published a NAWIC-created product related to sanitation in the workplace, available in English and Spanish. The project was updated in 2023. Sanitation_Handout_for_Employees.pdf; Sanitation-Handout-SPANISH.pdf.

While approving NAWIC, OSHA evaluated the association’s capability to achieve our goals with sufficient knowledge and expertise, our ability to address emerging workplace safety and health issues, our commitment to work cooperatively with OSHA, and our ability to conduct outreach to high-hazard industries and at-risk workers. OSHA agreed that women in construction was a unique subset of the industry and supported our goals with resources and advisors.

As alliance partners, we are responsible for disseminating information to our members and stakeholders on OSHA regulatory activities, enforcement initiatives, outreach campaigns, and compliance assistance resources. We also support NAWIC members and our stakeholders in engaging with the agency on outreach campaigns and initiatives.

Outreach campaigns include (Regional and) National Emphasis Programs, OSHA’s year-round Safe+Sound program, collaborative efforts with CPWR, promotion/education efforts regarding OSHA’s regulatory agenda, and rights and responsibilities of the American workforce. (You may be familiar with OSHA’s emphasis programs, including the Fall Prevention Stand Down, Heat Illness Prevention, Trenching & Excavating Hazard Awareness, and Prevention of Suicide in Construction). NAWIC transitioned into the Alliance Ambassador program in 2023, which relieves the association of some of its reporting requirements, but still focuses on our overall commitment to OSHA. NAWIC – Ambassador Document – June 9, 2023 | Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Our attendance at the biannual OSHA roundtables helps leverage resources to maximize worker safety and health protections and establish progressive dialogue with the agency and others committed to workplace safety and health.

Kathleen ( Kathi ) Dobson, CSP