Airline Ground Safety Panel and OSHA Join Hands Again in Alliance

The OSHA Alliance Program was implemented in 2004 to promote cooperative interaction between OSHA and trade and professional associations, companies, labor unions, educational institutions, and other government agencies. Its purpose is to share information and further discussion on safety and health issues to improve worker protections. The Alliances formed through the program are voluntary.

OSHA has announced that it has renewed its Alliance through this program with the Airline Ground Safety Panel. A joint industry and labor partnership consisting of 11 airline companies and three unions that employ and represent 350,000 workers, the Airline Ground Safety Panel accounts for about 85 percent of those employed in the airline industry.

Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health David Michaels stated, “Our continued Alliance with the Airline Ground Safety Panel with focus on preventing worker injuries caused by slips, trips, and falls, and being struck by objects. We look forward to working with the panel to educate and train employers and workers on preventing workplace injuries.”

During the two-year term of the renewed agreement, the Alliance will conduct studies to improve the safety of ground personnel and to address hazard communications and issues associated with the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals. They will also develop fact sheets that highlight ways to prevent slips, trips, and falls, and other hazards that can occur while operating ground safety equipment such as hi-lift trucks and pushback tugs.

Airlines for America, which represents the airline industry on the panel, expressed support of the renewed Alliance, stating that member airlines are pleased to be part of the collaborative program with OSHA and the labor unions to further enhance safety for airline employees. The three labor unions on the panel, which include the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, and the Transport Workers Union of American, AFL-CIO, also praised the Alliance for furthering the shared goal of ensuring that all workers return home each day as healthy as when they went to work.

For more information on OHSA’s Alliance with the Airline Ground Safety Panel, visit http://www.osha.gov/dcsp/alliances/airline_group/airline_group.html . To learn more about the Alliance Program, visit http://www.osha.gov/dcsp/alliances/index.html .