Home → News & Events → U.S. Labor Department's OSHA joins with Maine Labor Department and Maine Labor Group on Health to promote worker safety and health
U.S. Labor Department's OSHA joins with Maine Labor Department and Maine Labor Group on Health to promote worker safety and health 
April 28, 2009
AUGUSTA, Maine - Enhancing the safety and health of workers in Maine is the goal of a new education and training alliance among the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Maine Department of Labor's SafetyWorks! program and the Maine Labor Group on Health (MLGH).
"Knowledge is a worker's most valuable tool," said William Coffin, OSHA's area director for Maine. "This alliance seeks to provide Maine's working people with the knowledge to identify and prevent hazardous conditions before they cause injury or illness."
Under the alliance, OSHA, SafetyWorks! and MLGH will work jointly to develop and deliver training and education programs focusing on hazards in both general industry and construction. Covered topics will include protection against falls, electrical hazards, noise, silica, lead exposures and being caught in/between or struck by equipment, materials, vehicles and objects.
The alliance partners also will work to develop safety and health curricula on hazards unique to workers in the state of Maine, conduct outreach activities, and promote and encourage the participation of MLGH members' worksites in OSHA's cooperative programs, including compliance assistance, the Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) and the Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP).
The MLGH is a trade union association that works to educate Maine's working people about health and safety in the workplace. SafetyWorks! is an outreach program of the Maine Department of Labor designed to reduce job-related injuries, illnesses and deaths. The alliance was signed today by OSHA's Coffin; David E. Wacker, director, Workplace Safety and Health Division, Maine Department of Labor; and Peter G. Crocket, executive director, and Edward F. Gorham, president, Maine Labor Group on Health.
OSHA currently has more than 470 alliances throughout the nation with organizations committed to fostering safety and health in the workplace. For more information about OSHA alliances in Maine, contact OSHA's Augusta Area Office at 207-626-9160.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthy workplace for their employees. OSHA's role is to promote the safety and health of America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual process improvement in workplace safety and health. For more information, visit www.osha.gov.
