To emphasize the importance of employee health and safety conditions at its Michigan manufacturing facilities, Ford Motor Company and the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) have renewed their partnership with the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA). MIOSHA is part of the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA).
“MIOSHA has experienced success with increased workplace safety as a result of these partnerships, and so, LARA is pleased to see this relationship with Ford and the UAW continue,” said LARA Deputy Director Wanda Stokes.Covering 14 Ford sites, the partnership aims to continuously reduce work-related injuries and illnesses by optimizing the resources of the partners in the development and administration of plant health and safety standards.
“Through the combined leadership and resources of Ford, the UAW and MIOSHA, we can continue to work together to create a proactive health and safety culture at Ford plants,” said MIOSHA Acting Director Bart Pickelman.
The partnership is founded on mutual respect, trust, cooperation, accountability, understanding and employee involvement in all plant health and safety issues. Together, the partners will anticipate, identify, evaluate and control health and safety hazards at Ford locations while using performance metrics to monitor and track health and safety performance.
Inspection protocols will be used to perform focused inspections, including but not limited to ergonomics, confined space entry, heat stress, electrical safety, working at heights, noise control and personal protective equipment.
“We look forward to continuing our partnership with MIOSHA, which has been critical in achieving continued improvements in preventing work-related injuries at Ford,” said Ford Global Occupational Health and Safety Director Shaun Whitehead. “This partnership focuses on preventing injuries on the job, helping to create a culture where our employees know that safety is the most important thing.”
Under the agreement, each participating site will receive a “MIOSHA Day” visit a minimum of every three years, in which the plant manager, union chairperson and their leadership team will provide a briefing to MIOSHA representatives. The briefing will include a review of the injury and illness experience of the facility for the past year and any developing trends, as well as a review of results from internal inspections. MIOSHA will conduct an informal walkthrough to verify the information presented in the briefing is an accurate portrayal of facility operations.
Ford first entered into a similar partnership with the UAW and MIOSHA March 2002. Since then, injury rates have declined in Ford’s North America facilities by 74 percent in total case incident rates and 88 percent in the days away from work, restricted duty and job transfer rates, and the partners have collaborated on other strategic health and safety initiatives.