The Occupational Safety and Health Division helps protect the health and safety of Laborers on the job while enhancing productivity for LIUNA signatory employers. Staff provide a variety of services, including:
We’re committed to using our professional expertise to protect members and help signatory contractors meet the qualifications needed to win projects in today’s construction environment.”
— Travis Parsons, Director of Occupational Safety & Health
One of the Fund services most often requested by LIUNA signatory contractors is assistance with written safety and health programs to ensure OSHA compliance or meet bid specifications. Worksite safety and health programs define an employer’s safe work procedures and practices and set safety expectations. Written programs lay out how employers will identify and address worksite hazards, including safety compliance and training. Effective written programs help reduce injuries, sustain productivity, protect a company’s reputation and strengthen employee morale. Written safety and health programs can also lower employers’ experience modification rate (EMR) and minimize workers’ compensation claims.
Fund staff can develop general programs or adapt existing programs tailored to specific states, municipalities or local ordinances where regulations differ significantly from federal OSHA. OSH Division staff also regularly customize programs to fit a specific jobsite or type of work performed by the LIUNA signatory contractor. To request assistance, contact the OSH Division by calling 202-628-5465 or using the form below.
Over the years, several LHSFNA staff members have served as labor representatives on OSHA’s federal Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health (ACCSH). As part of this committee and its work groups, Fund staff promote progressive safety and health guidelines and regulations that protect union members and level the playing field for signatory contractors. LHSFNA staff also work with state OSHA programs on the promulgation of worker safety and health rules and have served on OSHA state programs’ Board of Advisors.
OSHA also has a number of alliances with industry and labor. Along with the LIUNA Training and Education Fund, ARTBA, NAPA, NIOSH, ISEA and other partners, the Fund participates in the Roadway Work Zone Safety and Health Partners’ Alliance, which promotes safe and healthful roadway work zones, advances legislative initiatives to fund safe work zones and supports federal agencies in developing safe work zone guidelines and requirements. Fund staff also participate in DOL Alliance Program Construction Roundtable work groups and initiatives.
NIOSH researches occupational safety and health issues and maintains industry sector research councils that contribute to the agency’s National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA). Fund staff participate on the construction sector council, which sets research priorities for construction safety and health. The LHSFNA has a representative on NIOSH’s Board of Scientific Counselors, which reviews NIOSH’s research program and makes recommendations to the agency. Fund staff also serve on NIOSH’s Prevention through Design (PtD) work group.
Within the AFL-CIO, the NABTU Safety and Health Committee includes representatives from most building trades unions. Fund staff currently chair this committee, which works to protect union members and signatory contractors by maintaining a broad coalition of support across the building trades for a variety of safety and health issues. Division staff also chair the NABTU Heat Illness Prevention subgroup, which developed the NABTU’s heat illness prevention policy in response to OSHA’s notice of proposed rulemaking for heat illness.
The AFL-CIO Staff Subcommittee monitors regulatory activity at OSHA, MSHA, NIOSH and in Congress and how the labor movement can influence occupational safety and health policy. LHSFNA staff are active on this committee and its work groups.
The NSC is a leading nonprofit safety advocate whose mission is to eliminate the leading causes of preventable death so people can live their fullest lives. Several of their areas of focus – workplace safety, roadway safety and impairment – overlap with topics covered by the LHSFNA’s mission. OSH Division staff are very involved in the NSC and serve as Vice President for the NSC’s Labor Division, on the NSC’s Board of Directors and as a co-chair to the NSC’s Delegates Committee.
The ASSP is a global association that supports occupational safety and health professionals in their efforts to prevent workplace injuries and fatalities. They provide education, advocacy, standards development and a professional community to advance the OSH profession as a whole. Fund staff are members and are actively involved in the National Capital Chapter of the ASSP.
ANSI develops voluntary, national consensus standards with the involvement of industry stakeholders. The standards are sometimes adopted by federal agencies and often accepted in court as indicators of industry best practices. ANSI standards are also used by OSHA and the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission during standard interpretations and help set legal precedence.
Fund staff chair several ASSP/ANSI A10 committees that develop safety standards for construction and demolition operations, including A10.46 Hearing Loss Prevention, A10.47 Work Zone Safety for Roadway Construction, A10.6 Safety and Health Requirements for Demolition Operations and A10.49 Control of Chemical Health Hazards in Construction. Fund staff also participate in numerous ANSI standard development subgroups and review and vote on proposed standards.
The AIHA is the largest association dealing with occupational health in the United States. Fund staff has participated on a number of its committees, such as construction, noise, ergonomics, social concerns and oil and gas. The committees plan sessions at the annual AIHA conference and develop position statements and publications.
The APHA is a large public health organization representing more than 50,000 epidemiologists, occupational health nurses, health educators and other health professionals. Fund staff serve on the Occupational Health and Safety Section, which promotes progressive public policy for healthful and safe working environments.
The CPWR is affiliated with NABTU and performs research on construction safety and health issues through its partnership with NIOSH. Fund staff work closely with CPWR on many of its research projects and work groups.
All contractors can benefit from having a second set of eyes to evaluate the workplace, identify safety and health hazards and suggest practical solutions to protect workers.
A visit from the Fund’s OSH Division staff will:
The LHSFNA is not OSHA. Fund staff visit at the request of a contractor and the LIUNA Local Union. Fund staff provide assistance and do not issue citations, fines or contact OSHA unless requested by the contractor. To request assistance, contact the OSH Division by calling 202-628-5465 or using our Contact Us form.
The Fund provided professional jobsite safety training for four of our safety officers who had previously taken the OSHA 30-hour course. I felt the jobsite training was very effective, providing a real-world application of classroom lessons to actual worksite situations.”
— Don Marks, FormWorks (Florida)
Staff from the Fund’s OSH Division host a regular video series on the LHSFNA’s YouTube channel to discuss the latest in the field of occupational safety and health. Division staff speak to guests from across the industry, ranging from corporate safety directors at national firms to certified industrial hygienists and public safety advocates. Whether discussing national safety standards or looking at the future of personal protective equipment, the Fund’s vodcast series can help you stay on top of what’s happening in the construction industry.
