It’s rare that government executes great ideas well but OSHA VPP (United States Department of Labor – DOL, Occupational Safety and Health Administration Voluntary Protection Program) is one of those times. This is a beautiful example of workers, management and government working together to protect the American workforce. OSHA manages VPP as a collaborative effort instead of as a punitive enforcement process. As a result, companies that qualify for the VPP designation are motivated to continuously improve their safety efforts. According to the DOL:
“Statistical evidence for VPP’s success is impressive. The average VPP worksite has a Days Away Restricted or Transferred (DART) case rate of 52% below the average for its industry(1). These sites typically do not start out with such low rates. Reductions in injuries and illnesses begin when the site commits to the VPP approach to safety and health management and the challenging VPP application process.”
The key to VPP success rests in the belief that workers should be empowered to improve their workplace and that management should support their company’s workers in performing their jobs safely and effectively. As expressed by a Director of Safety for a VPP company:
“The program breaks down the walls between labor and management. It allows management to learn the challenges that workers face every day. If you want to know how to sweep the floor, then you need to ask the guy who sweep it every day on how to do it safely.”
VPP representatives are a combination of managers and the workers on the ground. The program requirements stress continuous involvement of all workers at a worksite. The main focus is to encourage workers to actively monitor their workplace for safety concerns and to suggest and implement changes. At the Region IX VPPPA conference, one of the speakers pointed out that no safety officer can possibly cover the actions of hundreds or thousands of employees. The only way to be successful is to empower employees to the point that everyone takes pride in their company and participates fully.
There are millions of work sites in the United States but only around 2,300 companies take the challenge to qualify for and maintain their VPP status. The non profit association VPPPA works to actively promote education about the program so that more companies would participate. Their regional conferences are designed to allow VPP companies to come together and share best practices so that all members can improve.
These people walk the talk. To give you an idea of how progressive these VPP members are, two of the recommendations that permeated the training in April 2010 for Region IX were:
1) New ways to measure safety. The current measures used by DOL OSHA is not enough because the top VPP sites already exceed standards and when you are at zero incidents, what else can you measure so more improvements can be made.
2) Iimprove employees’ lives outside of work. It turns out that employees are safer at a VPP workplace than at home or out in the community.
Unfortunately, as of 2010, the government has directed the Department of Labor to move away from working with companies and to enact a policy of enforcement and punishment. The $3 Million annual budget for VPP monitoring and education is being cut and an additional $10 Million is budgeted to be spent on enforcing and fining companies. As a manager pointed out, fines of several hundred thousand dollars does not mean much to a multi-billion company.
This program has been an integral part in saving lives for 26 years. We only have until April 16th to write or call our local congressmen and urge them to save the program. If interested, go to the VPPPA site here.
© 2010 MoneyandRisk.com
R3H3HCHHSV47
Kim – I take issue with your statement “It’s rare that government executes great ideas well “. On what do you base this judgment? Perhaps you aren’t familiar with the VA’s VistA program, just one example of innovation at the best health care system in the nation. IN fact, the VA has led the nation in adoption of new programs to improve the delivery of care, reduce expense, and move care from more to less expensive settings.
The government is us. Statements like your’s lead to unwarranted dislike for many governmental programs run by dedicated people working in difficult conditions. I’d also note that programs like VPP are heavily influenced by the executive branch; your concern may be better directed at the administration that hindered effective enforcement and relied on voluntary compliance, perhaps far too much. in fact, it appears OSHA has yet to address findings from a 2004 GAO audit that showed significant issues.
re the OSHA VPP program, the issue appears to be a lack of enforcement, as violators stretched out compliance, avoided fixing chronic problems, and had a significant lack of oversight. The program was audited by GAO, which reported, in part: “the lack of a policy requiring documentation in VPP files regarding follow-up actions taken in response to incidents, such as fatalities and serious injuries, at VPP sites, saying it limits the national office’s ability to ensure that its regions have taken the required actions, such as reviewing sites’ safety and health systems and determining whether sites should remain in the program.”
Joe,
Thank you for starting the dialogue and discussing your opinion of the OSHA VPP Program. Programs will only improve if we can look at the issues honestly and openly.
My comment of “It’s rare that government executes great ideas well” is an opinion formed after working for 25 years with various government agencies. My intent was to recognize the hard working OSHA employees who have made the VPP program so vibrant. Successful efforts such as the VA program you referenced or the SBA Business.gov site need to be highlighted and acknowledged so that more people are aware of them.
I was inspired with what I saw at the Region IX meeting because there was such a strong partnership between all three components: government, labor and management. I heard comments like “We must look for improved ways to measure for safety because the standards established by OSHA is not enough” or “Management must set an example at all times because culture is set from the top down.”
I spoke with mail sorters, construction workers, and line employees who were all at the conference to learn leadership skills and best practices from each other. I saw evangelists who are dedicated to protecting their coworkers. This is worker empowerment and should be encouraged.
Regarding the 2004 GAO report, In 2009, newly appointed Secretary Holis and Assistant Secretary Michaels reviewed VPP sites. They then publicly acknowledged verbally and in writing how impressed they were with how VPP workers and management have integrated safety into daily operations to the point that they exceed OSHA standards. I think this speaks to the effectiveness of the VPP program.
I take exception to the fact that you state OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) has stretched OSHA to thin and they have neglected enforcement because of VPP thus they have had more injuries. Fact, the Voluntary Protection Program is the most successful injury reduction program OSHA has ever had. It has proven results for over twenty five years. Today’s statistics will show that a VPP star site has over a 50% injury reduction rate than non-VPP star sites. I thought the mission of OSHA was to reduce workplace injuries?
Regarding the GOA report that was issued and I agree with, there were some issues with OSHA’s oversight of the program but not the star sites. The sites submitted an annual evaluation to OSHA explaining exactly how their safety processes were going and OSHA did not look at these reports. Some of these reports suggested they be put on conditional status or were not performing well and should be removed from the program. I know you think this proves your point of that VPP drains OSHA resources but let me tell you about VPP Special Government Employees (SGE) that OSHA has due to the Voluntary Protection Program. A big part of being in VPP is mentorship and helping other sites. SGE’s work at STAR sites and are trained by OSHA to help them audit potential Star sites and conduct pre-assessments in some cases. The Voluntary Protection Program Participants Association (VPPPA) presented Mr. Barab (Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor at the time) with a host of ways they could use these SGE’s in response to the GOA report. One of these suggestions was to have these over 900 SGE’s review the annual evaluations from star sites, create summary reports per region and alert OSHA of the Star sites that report an issue or the SGE feels needs to be looked at more. To date, Mr. Barb and the OSHA administration has not replied to the VPPPA.
While I understand the need for enforcement I also understand the need to acknowledge and assist the companies that want to do things right and be safe all the time. That certainly takes fewer resources then forcing a company to comply with regulations. When you look at the 584 million dollar budget that OSHA has (that’s right 584 million) and to keep the Voluntary Protection Program going is only 3 million dollars, you have to ask why you wouldn’t keep it. Not diminishing other good government programs in our great country but in my opinion the Voluntary Protection Program is most successful program the government has ever had. This program does not hurt worker safety but reduces worker injuries a lot.
Terry,
Thank you for clarifying about the GAO report.