The company has also agreed to use all available fall protection equipment at each worksite and establish an understandable training program on fall hazards for employees who work on aircraft at these worksites.
"I am pleased that we were able to reach a corporate-wide agreement that will result in a safety and health program to protect employees against the fall hazards associated with servicing aircraft," said John L. Henshaw, assistant secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health. "The company has agreed to work closely with OSHA to eliminate the potential for injuries through facility audits, corrective actions, and monitoring of their fall protection efforts."
The agreement settles citations that were issued at military facilities in Fort Carson, Colo., and Corpus Christi, Tex., where Raytheon employees perform maintenance work on government-owned aircraft. The citations resulted from OSHA inspections initiated as a result of employee complaints.
Raytheon agreed to abate the fall hazards detailed in the citations and, where necessary, at all its worksites nationwide that are subject to federal OSHA jurisdiction. The company has also agreed to conduct comprehensive safety audits to identify hazards from falls higher than 4 feet for employees working on aircraft and to take necessary corrective action.
The company will also establish and maintain a system for reporting employee concerns on fall hazards and prepare quarterly reports that track those concerns and the corrective actions that it has taken to address them. OSHA has the authority to make unannounced monitoring visits during the audits and corrective action schedules.
