Reproduced with permission from Construction Labor Report, 60 CLR 1398 (Feb. 26, 2015). Copyright 2015 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (800-372-1033) http://www.bna.com

By Jewel Edwards

Feb. 24 — The Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers and its labor-management arm have agreed to work with the Board of Certified Safety Professionals to improve worker safety on construction sites, the union announced Feb. 24.

During the union's annual labor-management conference in Las Vegas with the Ironworker Management Progressive Active Cooperative Trust (IMPACT), General President Walter Wise, IMPACT Co-Chairman William Brown and BCSP Board President Cece Weldon signed an agreement to collaborate on worker safety advancement initiatives and increased safety trainings.

“This agreement presents our organization and its members with new opportunities,” Wise said in a Feb. 24 statement.

In the same statement, Weldon said that the three organizations will ensure workers “have the tools necessary to protect themselves on the job, so that they may always return home healthy to family and friends.”

BCSP is an independent third-party entity that has been the “leader in high quality credentialing for safety practitioners,” Wise told Bloomberg BNA Feb. 25.

Wise said that the union's partnership with BCSP supports the credentialing of Iron Workers and signatory contractors with a nationally recognized Safety Trained Supervisor Construction certification.

The certification gives skilled union members advanced safety credentials that allow for more on-site personnel trained to recognize potential hazards and develop and improve existing safety policies, Wise said.

Wise added that this partnership will further the union's commitment to ensuring there are zero safety incidents on job sites. “Zero is the only acceptable result. The partnership with BCSP is a major step in this direction and we will be tracking the improvements,” Wise said.

The partnership will continue until Dec. 31, 2020. Wise said that over the next five years, the union, the labor-management trust and BCSP will meet to review the status of safety improvement activities and evaluate results.