CPWR is currently conducting and analyzing interviews with various r2p partnerships in construction in order to learn more about each one’s successes and challenges. A Success Story about each partnership will be published and the lessons learned from those partnerships are serving as the basis for the partnership toolkit, which is being developed as a guide for those interested in creating a new partnership or improving upon an existing one.

The partnerships being studied include:

• SafeBuild Alliance (formerly the Greater Portland Construction Partnership) – SafeBuild Alliance is a nonprofit organization, officially started in 2006, that works to transform workplace cultures to achieve injury free construction projects.  Participation in SafeBuild Alliance connects construction companies, users of construction services (owners), design professionals, construction affiliated organizations and companies committed to improving safety performance. The organization consists of a board of directors and a membership base including almost 100 companies as well as individual members. The board, made up of construction firms, A&E firms, subcontractors, and owners, is the main focus of our case study.Massachusetts Floor Finishing Task Force – In the early 2000s the DOHI (Dorchester Occupational Health Initiative) Partnership was formed to address safety and health issues facing the large Vietnamese and Cape Verde immigrant communities living in Dorchester area.   DOHI consisted of Dorchester House Multi-Service Center, Codman Square Health Center, Vietnamese-American Initiative for Development (VietAID), Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH), New Ecology Inc., University of Massachusetts Lowell, and Cape Verde UNIDO.

  In 2006, a fire killed two floor finishers and focused the Dorchester community’s attention to the hazards associated with this type of work.  In response, the original DOHI partnership joined forces with other stakeholders, including floor finishing business owners, product distributors, advisors from the department of public health, the fire marshal’s office, and department of labor standards, to form a state-wide Floor Finishing Task Force. The goal of the Task Force was to identify safety and health hazards in the Floor Finishing industry and to make recommendations on how to prevent future injuries and deaths.

  The task force was able to get lacquer sealer off the market and out of floor finishing companies throughout Massachusetts.  They simultaneously educated approximately 1600 workers, a large portion of the floor finishers in MA, on safe use of water based sealer and various other hazards in the industry.  There have been no fatalities since the legislation passed, and according to the follow-up surveys conducted the majority of floor finishers are no longer using the hazardous lacquer sealer.

• Electrical Transmission & Distribution Partnership – The Electrical Transmission & Distribution Partnership is a formal collaboration of industry stakeholders, working together to improve safety for workers in the electric line construction industry. It is one of only a few national partnerships between employers and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The partnership began in 2004 with six members. Today, the Electrical Transmission & Distribution Partnership consists of 14 members and covers an estimated 80 percent of total workers in the line construction industry.  Member companies include:Davis H. Elliot
  Michels Corporation
  Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
  Asplundh Tree Expert Company, Inc.
  Edison Electric Institute (EEI)
  Henkels & McCoy, Inc.
  International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)
  MDU Construction Services Group, Inc.
  MYR Group, Inc.
  National Electrical Contractors Association
  Pike Electric, Inc.
  Quanta Services Inc.
  MasTec Energy Services
  Powerline Services, Inc.