|
Michigan small businesses with 250 employees or less are invited to apply for a MIOSHA matching grant up to $5,000 to make improvements to their workplace's safety and health.
The grants are available through the Workplace Improvement to Safety and Health (MIWISH) Grant Program and enable employers to purchase safety and health-related equipment and training that will provide a safer and healthier work environment and reduce the risk of injury and illness to workers in Michigan.
To qualify, eligible employers must have:
- A qualified safety professional or safety committee conduct a site-specific evaluation justifying the equipment purchase.
- Knowledge and experience to complete the project and commitment to implementation.
- Match dollars for the grant money awarded and cover all estimated project costs.
How Michigan Small Businesses are Benefiting from MIWISH Grants
From personal protective equipment to noise reduction engineering controls, here's how some Michigan employers have used MIWISH grant funding to enhance worker protections:
Sobie Company of Caledonia, MI was awarded $2,493 for the purchase of self-retracting lifelines and harnesses to protect workers while working on aerial lifts (left).
Marble’s Gun Sights of Gladstone, MI was awarded $1,370 for the purchase of two electric lift tables to reduce back strain and eliminate the use of small ladders and step stools (middle).
Boone & Darr, Inc. of Ann Arbor, MI was awarded $3,858 for the purchase of a fume capture device to mitigate exposure to welding fumes (right).
Learn more about the MIWISH grant program and how to apply by visiting our website, or contact MIOSHA’s Consultation Education and Training grant administrator at 269-275-7155.
|
Does your workplace need help building a safety and health management system from the ground up?
Does your company have a long track record of excellent workplace safety and health and is ready to take it to the next level?
No matter where you stand on worker safety and health, MIOSHA has a cooperative program to help you level up.
Here's how employers large and small can enter into a cooperative relationship with MIOSHA to improve worker protections and earn special recognition in the process.
Alliances
Who: Open to all groups, including trade or professional organizations, government agencies, businesses, labor organizations and educational institutions.
What: MIOSHA alliances are written agreements that formalize the opportunity for organizations and MIOSHA to work together to reach out, educate and lead the state’s employers and their employees in advancing workplace safety and health. But even more than that, an alliance is an opportunity for employers to:
- Build trusting, cooperative relationships with MIOSHA
- Network with others committed to workplace safety and health
- Leverage resources to maximize worker safety and health protection
- Gain recognition as a proactive leader in safety and heath
Partnerships
Who: Open to employers in construction and general industry.
What: MIOSHA partnerships are an opportunity for individual employers, employees, and/or their representatives and stakeholders to enter into a cooperative relationship with MIOSHA to encourage, assist, and recognize their voluntary efforts to focus on and eliminate serious hazards and achieve a high level of safety and health. The goal of all partnerships is a significant and measurable reduction in workplace deaths, injuries and illnesses.
Michigan Voluntary Protection Program (MVPP)
Who: Open to employers that meet required injury and illness rates for their respective North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).
What: The MVPP is MIOSHA's highest recognition for workplace safety, acknowledging "the best of the best." This program establishes a cooperative relationship between management, labor, and MIOSHA and assists employers and employees by providing a mechanism and a set of criteria designed to evaluate and recognize outstanding safety and health management systems. As an MVPP participant, you'll implement safety and health management systems that provide protections beyond what is required by MIOSHA standards.
There are two levels of recognition in the MVPP — the Michigan Star and Rising Star Programs.
-
Michigan Star: designed for workplaces that have an exemplary safety and health management system with injury and illness incidence rates below the industry average for the last three years.
-
Rising Star: provides the "stepping stone" for those establishments that have the desire and potential to achieve Star Status within one to three years. Rising Star participants have a good safety and health management system and have incidence rates at or below the industry average for two out of the last three years.
If you have an interest in becoming an elite MVPP site, current Star sites are available to mentor you and help your company improve its safety and health management system.
Michigan Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (MSHARP)
Who: Open to employers with 250 employees or less and injury and illness rates below the Michigan average in their NAICS code over the last year.
What: MSHARP recognizes workplaces that have achieved excellence in their safety and health practices, placing these companies among the elite few that go above and beyond MIOSHA standards. Priority is given to companies on the MIOSHA list of high-hazard industries or those that are part of MIOSHA's strategic plan to help them develop, implement and continuously improve the effectiveness of their workplace safety and health management system.
When you participate in the MSHARP, you'll get assistance from MIOSHA's Onsite Consultation Program to become self-sufficient in managing occupational safety and health, plus your workplace will get feedback on best practices and be offered an incentive of 12-month exemption from regular scheduled MIOSHA inspections.
Michigan Challenge Program (MCP)
Who: Open to all employers in general industry.
What: If your workplace is looking to implement a winning strategy that will support your employees’ safety and health and your company’s bottom line, the MCP can help. This progressive program is a way for employers to develop new management skills and employee-directed skills in safety and health-related work practices. The MCP offers employers an opportunity to develop an effective safety and health management system during a three-year cooperative agreement and commitment with MIOSHA.
Learn more about all MIOSHA cooperative programs at www.michigan.gov/cet and click on Cooperative Programs.
MIOSHA has joined with federal OSHA and other partners on the #KeepTeenWorkersSafe joint campaign to promote the workplace safety and health of teens who are employed or will be over the holiday season.
It's especially important ahead of the holidays to highlight workplace hazards many teens face and to remind them of their worker rights. Equally important, young workers should be able to recognize unsafe conditions in the workplace and if they see something concerning or feel unsafe, it's critical that they feel empowered to ask questions and report safety concerns.
Join the conversation about youth worker safety now through the end of the week by following #KeepTeenWorkersSafe on social media and helping us spread the word!
For campaign materials and educational resources, visit keepteenworkerssafe.org.
On September 8, 2021, MIOSHA renewed a State Emphasis Program to reduce employee exposures to respirable crystalline silica (RCS). Workers who inhale RCS are at risk for silicosis — an incurable, progressively disabling and sometimes fatal lung disease. Michigan is one of the top-ranked states for the number of reported cases of silicosis through state surveillance systems. Nationally, the death rate attributed to silicosis has been increasing since 2011. Historically, cutting and demolishing concrete, drilling into mortar, roadway milling, quartz countertop installation, and drywall finishing tasks create significant RCS exposures. This month, 1,700 companies identified as companies performing these tasks will receive an offer of assistance through MIOSHA’s Consultation Education and Training (CET) Division.
CET staff can help identify RCS hazards in your workplace and find effective solutions for eliminating or controlling those hazards. In addition, they can assist you by conducting a consultative audit of your operations and help with developing and implementing a comprehensive safety and health system. Our services are free and confidential.
We encourage any Michigan company performing tasks that may create RCS exposures to visit our website for more information on RCS and to contact the CET Division at 517-284-7720 for assistance.
To date, there have been 33 work-related fatalities reported to MIOSHA in 2021. The information below shares preliminary details about the most recent fatalities reported to MIOSHA which are believed to be covered by the MIOSH Act. The description reflects information provided to MIOSHA at the initial report of the incident and is not the result of the official MIOSHA investigation.
Preliminary summaries of the most recent 2021 incidents:
A 47-year-old supervisor was using dry ice blasting to clean out a plastic injection mold. Another employee found him collapsed and CPR was performed until EMS arrived. The employee passed away that night. Per the medical examiner, the employee may have passed away from electrocution.
A 40-year-old splicer specialist leader was responding to a customer service call. He entered an excavation site to inspect and troubleshoot a 13,000-volt cable. It is believed that the employee contacted the electrical cable at some point and was electrocuted.
A 45-year-old ground laborer was feeding tree branches into a woodchipper when he was pulled into the rotor blades of the chipper resulting in fatal injuries.
Every life is precious. Our mutual goal must be that every employee goes home at the end of every shift unharmed.
If you need help or assistance in ensuring your workplace is safe, MIOSHA is here to assist you. The CET Division provides workplace safety and health training and consultations to employers and employees throughout Michigan, free of charge. Contact CET today at 800-866-4674 or request CET services online.
Oct. 6, 2021 — $250,000 in grants available to small businesses to protect workers
Oct. 22, 2021 — Inclusion of Victim's Families in Fatality Investigations
Oct. 19, 2021 — Training for Construction Safety and Health Division (CSHD) Staff
Sept. 22, 2021 — Confined Space in Construction
Sept. 15, 2021 — Headache Ball Compliance
Variances from MIOSHA standards must be made available to the public in accordance with Part 12, Variances (R408.22201 to 408.22251). MIOSHA variances are published online at michigan.gov/mioshavariances.
Quick Links
Agency/Division Instructions/Memorandums
Air Contaminants Initiative
Asbestos Program
CET Request for Consultative Assistance Services (RCA)
CET Training Calendar
Construction Safety and Health Division (CSHD)
DVD/Video Library Service
Employee Safety, Health, and Discrimination Complaint Forms
Fall Prevention Campaign (STOP FALLS. SAVE LIVES.)
General Industry Safety and Health Division (GISHD)
Hazard Communication/GHS
Laboratory and Equipment Services
Michigan Alliances
Michigan Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (MSHARP)
Michigan Voluntary Protection Program (MVPP)
MIOSHA FOIA Request
MIOSHA News
MIOSHA Publications
MIOSHA Recordkeeping
MIOSHA Standards
MIOSHA Take A Stand Day
MIOSHA Training Institute (MTI)
MIOSHA Updates
MIOSHA Variances
Radiation Safety Section
Residential Construction
Strategic Plan and Initiatives
Telephone, Mailing and Email Addresses
|
