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Work safety courses at NMC eyed
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Posted on Mar 13 2001
CNMI may soon be churning out its own occupational health and safety inspection officers.
The Occupational Safety and Health Authority of the US Labor Department is looking at introducing occupational health and safety courses at the Northern Marianas College.
According to Saipan Garment Manufacturers Association Executive Director Richard Pierce, OSHA officials last week met with curriculum officers of the NMC to discuss how the federal agency can make resources available to the local college.
OSHA Region IX administrator Frank Strasheim is said to be exploring the possibility of recruiting the University of California in Santa Barbara to assist the NMC in setting up the curriculum and provide educational and professional expertise to the college.
UC-Santa Barbara is said to have one of the best occupational safety program in the entire US.
Mr. Pierce said with NMC able to offer occupational health and safety courses, local companies can now enroll their managers, their own safety officers and other employees.
“If things work out, we may see our own people doing the rounds and inspections at our places of work, factories and dormitories. NMC students may even do the OSHA inspections themselves and teach workers how to comply with federal labor laws,” Mr. Pierce added.
The details of the plan are expected to be finalized either by the end of this week or early next week.
OSHA and SGMA recently concluded its Excellence 2000 conference, which was attended by members of the 31-company SGMA. “It was one of the few times our conference grew in number as the days progressed,” Mr. Pierce noted.
Since it started in 1999, a total of 120 people have been certified by the SGMA and OSHA. The conferences, five in all for the past two years, all dealt with federal labor laws and how to best apply them to the CNMI.
The Excellence 2000, is one such initiative borne out from the continued partnership between SGMA and OSHA. Succinctly, Excellence 2000 allows companies that enlisted in the partnership to police their own health and safety standards for their workers.
