OSHA chief John Henshaw and John W. Mayo, Dean of Georgetown University McDonough School of Business and Executive Director of the Center for Business and Public Policy (CBPP), signed an alliance aiming to prove, in Mayo's words, that safety can be a "dominant economic strategy."

"The relationship we're establishing with Georgetown University gives us a tremendous opportunity to collaborate with scholars and business leaders to articulate and promote the value of workplace safety and health issues," said Henshaw.

"The promise of the alliance with OSHA is to educate current and future business leaders on the significance of workplace health and safety on the economic and ethical well-being of organizations," added Mayo. "Our belief is that there are real linkages between the economic performance of companies and the pursuit of basic social welfare matters that can make safety a dominant economic strategy."

OSHA and CBPP will work cooperatively to continue an active dialogue on safety and health issues by supporting the Center's annual Workplace Safety Summit. Both organizations will participate in the ongoing Industry, Policy, and Safety Seminar Series that brings together scholars, business leaders and policy makers to discuss workplace safety and health research, while investigating the economic and ethical dimensions of workplace safety and health.

OSHA and CBPP have also agreed to encourage the advancement of workplace safety and health as a topic for education in business schools' curricula, and will also explore opportunities to devise executive education courses and publications for the current executive workforce on the business value that workplace safety and health brings.

Rounding out the alliance is the agreement to participate in working group meetings that explore workplace safety and health and other policy issues, as well as sharing information that will be disseminated on both organizations' respective Web sites.

Finally, representatives from OSHA and CBPP will use every opportunity to participate in conferences, local meetings or other events to help communicate the importance of sound workplace safety and health.