OSHA’s latest addition to its popular Web site is a “Partnership Page” that defines voluntary cooperative efforts, how they work, benefits, and how to submit ideas — all under the heading of “New Ways of Working.”

In a partnership, OSHA enters into an extended relationship with groups of employers, employees, and employee representatives (sometimes including other stakeholders, and sometimes involving only one employer) in order to assist and recognize their efforts to eliminate serious hazards and achieve a high level of worker safety and health.

OSHA and its partners have the opportunity to identify a common goal, develop plans for achieving that goal, and cooperate in implementation.

Most of the work sites that have chosen to partner with OSHA are small businesses, with an average employment of 22 workers. Many of these partnerships focus on areas of concern addressed in OSHA's strategic plan, such as seeking solutions to silica and lead exposures and serious hazards in the nursing home, food processing, logging, and construction industries.