OSHA Renews Alliance to Protect Demolition Workers

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the National Demolition Association have renewed their alliance to improve the safety and health of demolition industry workers.

The two groups signed the original agreement in July, 2021, and will now extend the alliance for another five years.

Since forming the alliance, OSHA and the trade organization have developed a document on managing predictable hazards for power plant demolition and guidelines for notifying communities impacted by demolition work.

Under the renewal agreement, the alliance will develop safety and health training resources and seminars that focus on deconstruction and selective dismantlement of building components for reuse, repurposing, recycling and waste management.

Raising Awareness

The alliance will also partner on outreach and communication efforts. 

They will work with labor organizations, contractors and staffing associations to share information in multiple languages and formats on a variety of topics including fall and heat illness prevention, recognizing hazardous materials, construction safety and protecting temporary workers.

The alliance’s goal is to raise awareness and safety about the hazards associated with demolition work.

The alliance’s goal is to raise awareness and safety about the hazards associated with demolition work.

Those hazards include modifications to original designs, materials hidden withing structural components, and unknown strengths or weaknesses of construction materials.

The National Demolition Association is a nonprofit trade association comprising nearly 400 member companies.

The association provides educational resources on structural demolition and dismantlement, industrial recovery, recycling, architectural salvage decontamination, asbestos abatement and nuclear clean-up.

Through its Alliance Program, OSHA works with a variety of organizations to share information about initiatives and compliance assistance resources with workers and employers.