September 18, 2002—The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) signed a site-safety and health partnership agreement with the construction contractor Bovis Lend Lease, the Building Trades Employers’ Association, and the Building and Construction Trades Council on September 4, 2002. The partnership is for the ongoing construction project at 731 Lexington Avenue in Manhattan that commenced on March 1, 2002.
Bovis Lend Lease, which was one of the prime contractors in the cleanup operations at the World Trade Center site, is providing construction management services at 731 Lexington Avenue for the new 54 story, 1.4 million sq. ft., mixed-use building. At the project completion in March of 2005, the building will consist of retail, office, and residential spaces. Bovis provides the administration and coordination of construction contractors and ensures compliance with construction environmental, health, and safety practices.
According to OSHA, whose representatives worked closely with Bovis at the WTC site, one of the partnership’s goals is to form a contractor / government relationship that will serve to encourage other New York City contractors to improve their safety and health performance. Including the Building Trades Employers’ Association and the Building and Construction Trades Council in the partnership will help further support a framework for positive change.
Partnership agreements allow for contractors to be more involved in safety and health and offer incentives from OSHA that will serve to increase emphasis on employee safety & health concerns. Some of these incentives include OSHA providing training or other assistance with safety and industrial hygiene concerns. The partnership however, does not preclude OSHA from enforcing its mission of addressing complaints, fatalities, serious accidents, nor does it infringe on the rights of employees to report workplace hazards.
