DLLR's Division of Labor and Industry

Download the MOSH Strategic Plan 2013-2017 (Word document, 100KB, download Word viewer for free)

Section 1 - MISSION AND VISION:

The MOSH Strategic Plan presents MOSH's approach for supporting the OSHA Strategic Management Plan and the State Administration's Management for Results. It describes priorities for the 2013-2017 timeframe. The plan serves as a mechanism for communicating a shared set of expectations regarding the results that MOSH expects to achieve and the strategies that it will use. In cooperation with OSHA Region III, MOSH may adjust the plan as circumstances change, use it to develop the annual performance plan, budget submissions, report on progress in annual performance reports and hold supervisors and staff accountable for achieving the goals and outcomes.

Consistent with the OSHA Strategic Management Plan, the MOSH program focuses on serious hazards and dangerous workplaces. The plan includes strategies that emphasize:

• Exercising strong, fair and effective enforcement;
• Expanding partnerships and voluntary programs; and
• Expanding outreach, education and compliance assistance

MOSH MISSION

MOSH's mission is to promote and assure workplace safety and health while reducing workplace fatalities, injuries and illnesses.

MOSH achieves its mission through various means, including inspections, consultation services, compliance assistance, outreach, education, and cooperative programs.

By accomplishing our mission MOSH saves lives, enhances the quality of life of working men and women, and contributes to the economic vitality of the State.

VISION FOR 2013 THROUGH 2017

The MOSH plan in its entirety conveys our vision for the next several years; however, the following vision is included to summarize what MOSH expects to accomplish by implementing our Strategic Plan.

SECTION 2 - STRATEGIC CONTEXT:

INTRODUCTION

With the high success of the past strategic plan MOSH has developed new goals following along the same lines. The statistics from the previous five years were assessed, and portions of OSHA's 2011-2016 Strategic Plan were considered to develop our 2013-2017 Strategic Plan.

MOSH PROGRAMS

MOSH is comprised of a workforce of 100 dedicated State employees. Its annual budget (FY12) is approximately $10,411,042. MOSH operates its programs under State law with OSHA approval, matching grants, and oversight to ensure we operate programs that are "at least as effective" as OSHA. MOSH retains the flexibility to tailor our programs to address Maryland local issues and concerns.

MOSH has a very successful compliance assistance program, which includes partnerships, cooperative programs, and alliances. These programs will continue to be a large part of our new Strategic Plan as the Agency continues to increase outreach activities with minority and small business owners.

Programs for ensuring and improving workplace safety and health in the private and public sectors are:

• Enforcement - MOSH conducts a strong, fair and effective enforcement program that includes inspecting worksites and issuing citations and penalties for violations of health and safety standards. Priorities for inspections include reports of imminent danger, fatalities, catastrophes, accidents, and employee complaints, investigation of whistleblower activities, referrals from other government agencies and targeted areas of concern.
   
• On-site Consultation Programs - MOSH offers a free consultation service, targeted at small businesses in high-hazard industries, that assists employers in identifying and correcting workplace hazards and establishing safety and health management systems.
   
• Cooperative Programs/Compliance Assistance - MOSH enters into voluntary relationships (VPP, SHARP, Alliances, and Cooperative Compliance Partnerships) with employers to encourage, assist, and recognize their efforts to increase worker safety and health. These programs promote effective safety and health management and leverage the agency's resources to share best practices with secondary and tertiary contractors.
   
• Outreach, Training and Education, and Information Services - MOSH develops and provides a broad array of outreach products and services, education and training materials and courses that promote occupational safety and health.
   
• Research and Statistics Unit - is responsible for developing and implementing programs that generate statistical data on fatal and nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses. MOSH uses injury and illness statistics to identify high hazard industries. The agency also uses occupational injury and illness data for measuring the effectiveness of its programmed activities. The business community, government agencies, and research in the safety and health field all make use of the data collected and complied by this Research and Statistics unit.
   
• Discrimination - MOSH investigates workplace allegations of discrimination concerning employee safety and health.

MOSH's STRATEGIC DIRECTION

While there is always room for improvement, MOSH's programs have served the State well.

The MOSH program remains committed to protecting workers and providing information to employers who wish to become more knowledgeable on safety and health issues. MOSH will continue to have strong, fair and effective enforcement of safety and health regulations to ensure employers address safety and health issues. Over the past several years; however, the economic status has taken a toll on employers throughout the country. With federal OSHA's enforcement push, MOSH has remained strong in its efforts to help employers by not raising penalties and offering more outreach activities then in previous years. Consultation, education and cooperative/compliance assistance programs provide the support needed to help employers and workers achieve a safe and healthful work environment. These programs will be included and modified as necessary to improve MOSH's effectiveness and address emerging issues.

Section 3 - GOALS AND STRATEGIES:

MOSH's new 5-year Strategic Plan was developed using the same framework of its previous plan. In support of the OSHA plan, MOSH will continue with specific targets for the reduction of fatalities, injuries, and illnesses over the plan's period. MOSH will also continue to track results in specific priority areas over the planning period. As in the previous strategic plan these areas of emphasis will be analyzed and revised each year based on the results of operations and emerging issues that demand attention.

MOSH has established three specific supporting goals to guide its efforts over the next several years. They are:

1. Improve workplace safety and health through compliance assistance and enforcement of occupational safety and health regulations;
2. Promote a safety and health culture through compliance assistance, cooperative programs and strong leadership; and
3. Secure public confidence through excellence in the development and delivery of MOSH programs and services.

Our 5-year Strategic Plan with Performance Goals and Outcomes is shown below.

Strategic Plan 2013-2017

MOSH will endeavor to achieve the improvement of workplace safety and health through the identification of high hazard industries and through direct interventions in these targeted industries.

Strategy 1-1: Achieve a reduction of 5% in fatalities in industries that are under MOSH jurisdiction through 2017.

Strategy 1-2: Maintain the DART rates in industries that are under MOSH jurisdiction at 2.0 through 2017.

A critical element in obtaining a safe and healthful workplace is having employers and employees who are trained and knowledgeable in workplace hazards. While compliance enforcement will always be necessary to achieve a safe and healthful workplace for employees, cooperative compliance programs recognizes those employers and their employees who have embraced a safety and health culture in their workplace. Through these programs, MOSH has the ability to multiply it's effectiveness by instilling safety and health values across a broad spectrum of the population and enlisting them in the pursuit of the same goals. Achieving this goal will require a concerted effort, compliance assistance skills, innovation and continued dedication to safety and health ideals.

Strategy 2-1: Add 5 new Recognition Programs by 2017

Strategy 2-2: Add 15 new Cooperative Programs by 2017

Strategy 2-3: Maintain attendance in MOSH outreach and training programs annually at 6,000 participants

Success in achieving our strategic goals requires monitoring and response to events and customer feedback. MOSH will improve data management and information systems that provide critical program support, track activities related to achieving strategic goals, and continue to improve our response time to unprogrammed activities.

Strategy 3-1: Initiate inspections of fatalities and catastrophes within one working day of notification in at least 95% of the cases

Strategy 3-2: Initiate inspections of serious complaints within an average of five working days of notification in at least 95% of the cases

Strategy 3-3: Complete 90% of all discrimination complaints within 90 days of opening

Strategy 3-4: Achieve an overall satisfaction rating of at least 90% of polled responses from the MOSH website users

APPENDIX- STRATEGIC PLAN SUMMARY CHART

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Questions or comments regarding MOSH may be directed to mosh@dllr.state.md.us.
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