OSHA & CSDA Renew Alliance
St. Petersburg, FL - The Concrete Sawing and Drilling Association (CSDA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announce the renewal of their Alliance to further the safety and health of construction workers in the sawing and drilling industry. The renewed Alliance will focus on issues such as electrical safety, hearing protection, ladder and scaffold safety.
"The construction industry has among the highest rates for injuries, illnesses and fatalities," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Edwin G. Foulke, Jr. "Our renewed Alliance with CSDA will expand upon our efforts to produce products designed to increase safety awareness and recognition of job hazards, particularly for sawing and drilling contractors."
Through the Alliance, CSDA representatives continue to serve on the editorial board for the Concrete and Concrete Products - Manufacturing and Construction Safety and Health Topics page and continue to participate in the Construction Roundtable Design for Safety and Fall Protection Workgroup. OSHA representatives also spoke at the World of Concrete Trade Show and at the CSDA Annual Convention. In addition, OSHA and CSDA have developed compliance assistance products including two best practices, "Highway Work Zone Safety" and "Reducing Silica Exposure." A third on "Defensive Driving" is in final review. All these Best Practices are being translated in Spanish.
Tom Stowell, CSDA president, said, "The OSHA and CSDA Alliance has been an extremely beneficial relationship for the CSDA. Through our joint efforts, we have created a synergy that has resulted in the further enhancement of the safety programs that our association provides to the concrete sawing and drilling industry."
CSDA has a long-term history of developing a wide array of safety and training materials for sawing-and drilling contractors. Training products including a CSDA Safety-Manualfor concrete cutters, a CSDA Safety Handbook, 56 Toolbox Safety Tips, training videos and field, classroom and online training programs for sawing and drilling contractors.
For more information, visit www.osha.gov or www.csda.org. Photos of the signing are available upon request.
CSDA is a nonprofit trade association of contractors, manufacturers and affiliated members from the concrete construction and renovation industry. The CSDA mission is to promote the selection of professional sawing and drilling contractors and their methods. Concrete cutting with diamond tools offers industry many benefits including lower total project costs, precision cutting, maintenance of structural integrity, reduced downtime, reduced noise, dust and debris, limited access cutting and the ability to cut heavily-reinforced concrete. Founded in 1972, CSDA has more than 550 international member companies.
