BATON ROUGE, LA - The American Society of Safety Engineers’ (ASSE) Greater Baton Rouge Chapter and the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Baton Rouge Area Office recently formed a formal alliance. The alliance aims to provide occupational safety, health and environmental professionals access to additional training resources as they work to enhance employees’ safety and health.

 

The alliance came about following a number of on-the-job deaths the OSHA Baton Rouge Area office investigated within the past three years, which involved specific hazards. As such, the new alliance will target these hazards, which include falls, combustible dusts, trenching and excavation, “struck-by” object hazards associated with local petro-chemical and construction industries, and more. The alliance goals include working together to develop training and education for these hazards and to communicate such information to employers and employees in those industries.

 

Another goal of the alliance is to convene or participate in forums, roundtable discussions or stakeholder meetings on personal protective equipment (PPE), fall hazards, trenching and excavation, “struck-by” hazards and forklifts, as well as community outreach to help build innovative solutions in the workplace or to provide input on safety and health issues. In the future, these events will be held locally at either OSHA's office in Baton Rouge or an ASSE chapter officer's place of business and will be posted on the ASSE Baton Rouge website.

 

The two-year alliance agreement will be led by a team of representatives from each organization who will meet three times per year to track and share information on activities and the status of goals.