#ontivity

OSHA Relations Committee Article in 2023 Tower Times Volume 2

The OSHA Relations Committee reelected me, Justin Miller, Vice President of ET Tower, LLC & Business Development Executive for Ontivity, as the 2023 Chairman of OSHA Relations.

“I am proud to serve the OSHA Relations Committee. I am very grateful to have such an amazing group of people to help provide a continuing source of information to NATE members and the telecommunications industry regarding OSHA, industry standards and best practices to enhance safety, reduce incidents, and deliver a platform for a more effective workforce.” - Justin Miller

NATE Director of Safety, Health & Compliance, Kathy Stieler provided the committee with an update on NATE’s pursuit to have a seat on the ANSI/ASSP A10 Committee. We are awaiting the A10 committee response.

Don Doty provided the committee with an update on ANSI/ASSP A10.48 revisions. Over 120 comments were submitted to the A10.48 Committee. Comments are being addressed and progress is being made as quickly as possible.

JP Jones and I provided the committee with updates on the NATE-OSHA-FCC Partnership (OSP), the OSP Steering Team has developed three task teams.

Data & Research Task Team – is tasked with creating buckets to collect and articulate the data for analytics and mining of data that has been submitted.

Editing Task Team – takes information from the data and research task team and drafts Hazard Recognition Icons and further defines the purpose of the icon.

3. Communication Task Team – is tasked with the public distribution means and methods, along with the design of the icons for what it looks like, color, fonts, graphic art, etc.

The current task is to develop an Energy Wheel of Hazard Recognition Icons, within the Hazard Recognition Icons we will establish STCKY “Stuff that can kill you” to help bring the communication industry a well-defined training tool to enhance safety and improve data collection in the future.

NATE STAR Initiative data was reviewed, and plans are being developed on how to better educate and inform the NATE members with guidance and best practices to enhance safety programs. We highly encourage all NATE members to complete the application for the NATE STAR Initiative Program. We have complied the 2021-2022 data for our NATE members to help provide transparency of the data collected.

The committee will also be taking NATE’s Industry Standards, Regulations & Safety Resources Document and assigning the part number section from the NATE STAR Initiative Audit form and correlating back to which industry standards and regulations better guide the employers and the auditors.

OSHA Relations has also developed another task team titled, Hoisting Grip Member Advisory lead by Kathy Stieler. Additional task team members will be Richard Cullum, Sheri O’Dell-Deuer, Joey Deuer, Jeremy Buckles, Cameron Swanson, Jeff Pettit, Miles Mellor, and JP Jones. The team will provide guidance and perform research that relates to Hoisting Grip(s) and how they are used in our industry. Expect to see more information very soon.

The OSHA Relations Committee is also responsible for the task team titled, Rigging Training Standard (RTS). This task team is hard at work developing a deliverable for the industry. The RTS document is framed much like the recently revised Climber/Rescuer Training Standard (CRTS). We hope to have a more in-depth report for the Summer Conference.

Lastly, the OSHA Relations Committee is always looking for feedback and questions that can inspire the forward progress of safety and standards. I highly encourage our non-members and NATE members to reach out to our committee for clarity or guidance. ●