The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is preparing to continue improving construction site safety in the next calendar year. On Monday, OSHA scheduled a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health (ACCSH) for December 3-4 and opened a call to nominate new candidates for membership.

ACCSH advises the Secretary and Assistant Secretary of Labor on matters of construction safety and recommends changes and updates to OSHA standards. Assistant Secretary David Michaels, the head of OSHA, will conduct the December meeting at the Labor Department's Frances Perkins Building in Washington, D.C. Among the issues on the agenda are updates to regulations on communications towers, respiratory protection, accident reporting and coke oven emissions.

The Committee has 15 members, who will meet first in smaller workgroups and then as a whole. Eight of the members will be renewed next year, and OSHA is now accepting nominations for three employee and three employer representatives, and one each for public and state. The submissions period will remain open until January 2. Members serve staggered two-year terms, and Labor Secretary Thomas Perez appointed six earlier this year.

As this blog reported, Secretary Perez also recently renewed the charter of NACOSH, a similar advisory committee that acts as a bridge between the Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Certified safety technicians can help contractors achieve full OSHA compliance through training programs that teach workers and supervisors to identify and address potentially hazardous situations. Audits are also available to ensure that construction sites are safe for employees.