August 15, 2003—The National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) has joined with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to help reduce workplace injuries and illnesses and advance overall workplace safety awareness in the lumber and building materials industry, focusing on preventing forklift accidents and injuries sustained by lifting.
Key to the alliance is the development of training and education programs and “tool box talks” on recordkeeping, forklifts, and safe lifting targeted to the unique issues in the lumber and building material industry. OSHA and NLBMDA will also develop electronic assistance tools for OSHA’s Web site that address safety and health hazards in the industry. The agencies will develop and disseminate information on these topics by various means, including industry conferences, local meetings, forums, and their respective Web sites.
NLBMDA represents about 6,000 primarily independent lumber and building material companies, in addition to 32 manufacturers and service providers to the building material industry. A majority of the Association’s members focus on the building sector and work with home building and professional contractors.
