Safe Workplace and Safety News

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Labels: hazard identifcation, OSHA, safety labeling

OSHA News Release: Sept. 19, 2006

WASHINGTON -- C.R. Meyer, a Wisconsin general contractor, is the first company to achieve the prestigious Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) "Star" status directly resulting from participation in the VPP OSHA Challenge Pilot. Michael G. Connors, OSHA's regional administrator in Chicago, presented the award Sept. 15 during a ceremony at the company's Oshkosh, Wis. headquarters.

OSHA's VPP recognizes the outstanding efforts of employers and employees who have achieved exemplary occupational safety and health. The VPP Challenge Pilot was designed to help companies take a more proactive approach to occupational safety and health by providing a detailed roadmap that guides them on how to improve their safety and health management systems and meet VPP recognition criteria. C.R. Meyer joined the Challenge Pilot in November 2004 and graduated in August 2005.

"We congratulate C.R. Meyer on being the first workplace from the Challenge Pilot to earn acceptance into the VPP 'Star' family," said OSHA Administrator Ed Foulke. "Their outstanding efforts have included management commitment to safety and health and employee involvement in safety and health programs."

Added C.R. Meyer's Director of Risk Management Fred R. Rideout, CSP, ARM: "We are proud of this noteworthy achievement, and we understand the real challenge is before us. We look forward to steady, continued improvement in our safety and health management system as we grow our program nationally."

C.R. Meyer employs nearly 1,000 people and is one of the leading industrial and commercial general contractors in the Midwest. It now joins a select group of about 1,550 worksites nationwide that have earned VPP status. VPP companies achieve average injury and illness rates 50 percent below other companies in their industry.

In qualifying for "Star" status, C.R. Meyer verified that it had implemented programs and procedures beyond those required under OSHA standards with extensive involvement by both management and employees. Its written safety and health management system effectively addresses worksite hazards by identifying and tracking them to ensure their correction and control. Its safety and health training programs ensure that employees understand occupational hazards and how to control them.

Requirements for application to VPP include a high degree of management support and employee involvement; high quality worksite hazard analysis protocols; prevention and control programs; and comprehensive safety and health training for all employees. The VPP programs are open to deserving employers in any industry.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthful workplace for their employees. OSHA's role is to assure the safety and health of America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach, and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual process improvement in workplace safety and health. For more information, visit www.osha.gov.

Labels: OSHA, VPP

The Chicago Chapter of the National Safety Council reports an alleged phone scam. Their web site reports that "people claiming to be OSHA employees threaten companies with fines unless they purchase materials that will supposedly put them into compliance with OSHA requirements. In one instance, a person who says her name is Sandra Collins has claimed to be from OSHA’s Chicago North Area Office."

More information is available on the Chicago National Safety Council web page.

Labels: OSHA Fines

Texas City, Texas Implements Safety Incentive Policy Municipality Offers Tax Incentives to Industries Earning VPP Certification

The city of Texas City, Texas, located approximately 40 miles southeast of Houston; last week enacted an innovative provision within its municipal tax code that offers tax incentives to those industrial facilities that demonstrate a commitment to safe operations by becoming certified as Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) worksites!

"We applaud Texas City's leaders for this proactive and unprecedented effort that promotes not only a safer industrial district, but a safer community," said R. Davis Lane, Executive Director of the VPP Participants Association. "VPP can significantly improve a facility's safety performance. And now, Texas City companies will have added financial incentives to participate in the program and earn VPP certification. This is an outstanding precedent that we hope local governments throughout the country will follow."

Texas City officials outlined and approved the plan at their June 7 City Commission Meeting. The language in the provision states that if an industrial entity achieves VPP certification, the facility's owner is entitled to a 20 percent tax abatement each year for five years (from the second year after it receives certification through the seventh year), provided the owner maintains VPP designation.

"The Voluntary Protection Program is a great way for the City to have a measurable standard for our abatement program," said Texas City Mayor Matthew T. Doyle. "VPP also provides that management and labor work together to achieve a common goal. The money that we allow in the tax abatements will be a small price to pay for a safer community."

VPP began in 1982 as an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) program to establish cooperative action among government, industry and labor in promoting highly effective safety and health programs that go above and beyond normal OSHA worker protection compliance. The Department of Energy began their VPP program in 1992 with the initial facility, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, entering the program in 1994.

Becoming VPP-certified is a rigorous and complex process designed to ensure that only the best programs qualify. Companies and organization that are VPP certified as either Merit Sites or Star Sites (the highest VPP honor) have discovered numerous benefits including 60 to 80 percent fewer lost workday injuries, and an injury and illness rate that is 52 percent or lower than expected for a site of the same size in the same business segment.

STAR recognition in the VPP is the highest honor and it recognizes the nation's most effective safety and health programs.

Labels: OSHA, VPP

Our VPP web site (http://www.safe-workplace.com) has been updated. The VPP Labeling Applications section has been expanded to include information about more types of safety related labeling. It now covers six type of safety labels and signs, including descriptions and a discussion of design considerations. Label types that are covered include: informational safety labels; warning labels, danger labelers, general information, pipe marking and RTK labels.

You can use the "VPP Labeling Applications" menu above to directly access the new pages. We anticipate that this section will continue to expand as coverage of additional types of labels and signs are added.

Labels: Safety Blog

TV station WJAR NBC-10 in Cranston, R.I uses a multifaceted approach to safety training that has resulted in their being the first television station to receive the coveted OSHA Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Star.

WJAR is a GE owned TV station. GE considers itself the safest company in America. A magazine article in Occupational Hazards magazine reports "There is no other television station in the area that has an equivalent safety program in place, according to Churchville, who says that NBC stations are required to provide some sort of EHS training."

The article describes WJAR's approach to safety training which includes videos, classroom, hands-on, and online training. By using a wide variety of training techniques, employees who have weak learning skills in one area can learn what they need to know through one of the other training methods.

Read this article in: Occupational Hazards Magazine

Labels: Safety Training, VPP, workplace safety