By Amanda Wood Laihow

Last week, I had the opportunity to join safety leaders, employers, and workers from trade industries at the Voluntary Protection Programs Participants' Association Symposium in St. Louis to share ideas and success stories for advancing workplace safety and health at work.

The creativity and commitment to preventing injuries and illnesses was truly inspiring. I was encouraged by the enthusiasm for our new Pathway to Safety and Health Success program and sincere interest in working with OSHA to make real improvements for safer workplaces.

We want to meet employers wherever they are on their safety journey, and the Pathway to Safety and Health Success will help more workplaces – especially small businesses – progress toward achieving VPP status. We're also expanding workplace protections through our new Safety Champions Program. A key to the success of this program will be Special Government Employees from active VPP sites who will volunteer their time to review annual self-evaluations and VPP applications, mentor other sites, and share their expertise.

We also announced VPP Elite, a new level of distinction for VPP sites that have maintained a level of excellence for more than 15 years.

By investing in compliance assistance, working together, and meeting employers where they are, we are continuing the Department of Labor and OSHA's mission to put America's workers first.

The Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton was recently recognized as a "Star" employer in OSHA's Voluntary Protection Programs.

The VPP Star is OSHA's highest level of recognition for employers and workers whose safety and health systems have kept injury and illness rates below industry averages. The programs bring company management, site employees, and OSHA together to focus on hazard prevention and control, worksite analysis, training, management commitment, and worker involvement, to prevent fatalities, injuries, and illnesses.

Camp Pendleton's achieved STAR status by establishing a successful program where leadership and employee engagement are exemplary. Part of these outstanding efforts included 10 and 30-hour OSHA training for both military and civilians who worked together to facilitate hazard recognition and prevention.

Husky Corp., a Missouri-based fuel dispensing product maker, is celebrating 14 years of being part of OSHA's Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program. SHARP recognizes small business employers who have used the agency's On-Site Consultation Program and operate exemplary safety and health programs.

Over the years, management and staff have collaborated to make improvements by setting and meeting safety goals, conducting self-inspections and hazard analysis, adding a hazard reporting system, investigating root cause analysis, and increasing employee involvement.

❓ How can my worksite get started on a pathway to safety and health?

We want to meet you wherever you are on your safety journey. Whether you are just getting started or have a well-established program, we want to work with you.

Our new Pathways program can help you get started and move your program forward. Find an on-site consultant near you or call 800-321-OSHA to begin your journey.

If you have an effective program that merits recognition, you are welcome to apply to our VPP program, which recognizes outstanding safety and health systems. There are three ways to participate in VPP, each with a separate application process:

• Site-Based Applications: Open to owners and site officials who control site operations and are responsible for assuring safe and healthy working conditions at fixed worksites and some long-term construction sites.
• Mobile Workforce: Designed for contractors or subcontractors who may or may not have the authority for safety and health for an entire worksite and for companies that have employees who move site-to-site. Applications should be submitted to an OSHA regional office where their mobile site is located.
• VPP Corporate: Large corporations or federal agencies that have adopted VPP on a large scale for protecting the safety and health of its employees should submit VPP Corporate applications describing the policies and programs that apply to all their facilities across the organization consistent with VPP criteria.

Do you have a minute? Hear how OSHA can help employers continue their progress toward creating safer, healthier and more productive workplaces.