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OSHA & SPH Team Up To Help Reduce New York Construction Accidents

VALHALLA, N.Y. -- Safer and healthier working conditions for a broad cross-section of workers in New York's Hudson Valley region is the goal of an innovative alliance between the Tarrytown and Albany offices of the U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the New York Medical College School of Public Health (SPH) in Valhalla.

"This is an ambitious, multi-pronged approach, designed to increase employer, worker and public awareness of critical safety and health issues and the resources available to address them," said Patricia K. Clark, OSHA's regional administrator. The alliance will provide Hudson Valley employers and workers, including immigrant and young workers, and SPH students with information and guidance to help reduce and prevent exposure to workplace hazards. Training and outreach activities will focus on lead and silica hazards in construction; ergonomic, bloodborne pathogen and workplace violence hazards in health care; and immigrant and young worker safety and health issues.

Among other things, OSHA and SPH will work jointly to provide SPH students with enhanced knowledge of safe work practices; increase employer and student access to safety and health information and training resources; facilitate the public's knowledge of OSHA's and New York State's consultation services and employees' workplace rights; and help prospective employees, including young workers and immigrant workers, understand OSHA's role in protecting worker health and safety. A unique and important aspect of the alliance will be a joint effort by OSHA and SPH to develop methods and contacts to gauge the extent of unreported or under-reported occupational illness and injuries in the Hudson Valley, particularly among young workers and immigrant workers.