December 31, 2001—The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) entered into a partnership December 19, 2001, with the Yonkers Contracting Company and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine of New York University to ensure the safety and health of workers during a highway construction project near Yonkers, New York. The agreement’s objective is to reduce employee exposure to airborne concentrations of silica, and to develop a partnership between the government and the contractor that will encourage local construction contractors to improve their safety and health performance.