Companies such as IP, G-P, Champion, and Weyco find cooperative program results in a safer workplace compared with traditional OSHA inspection methods

OSHA's Voluntary Protection Program Motivates Mill Safety Improvements

“Our industry has made a major commitment to this program,” emphasizes Stanley Weinrich, manager of environment, health and safety for International Paper in Memphis, Tenn., and vice-chairman and interim chairman of the Voluntary Protection Program Participants Assoc. (see sidebar on VPPPA). “In the early 1990s, we had almost no presence. Today, about 25% of VPP sites are from our industry.”

According to Cathy Oliver, chief of voluntary programs for OSHA in Washington, D.C., “When some leading petrochemical companies began participating in VPP, word spread quickly to other companies in that industry, and they too became active. Then, when some leading pulp and paper manufacturers became involved, word also began to spread in that industry.”

WHAT IS VPP? The essence of VPP is a formal agreement between OSHA and a specific work site. (A multi-site corporation or company, per se, cannot be certified. Only individual work sites can be certified.) Under the agreement:

• Site management agrees to operate an effective safety and health program that meets an established set of criteria.

• Site employees agree to participate in the program and work with management to ensure a safe and healthful workplace.

• OSHA initially verifies that the site’s program meets VPP criteria. It then publicly recognizes the site’s exemplary program and removes it from routine scheduled inspection lists. However, OSHA may still investigate major accidents, valid formal employee complaints, and chemical spills.

• OSHA also reassesses the site periodically to confirm that it continues to meet VPP criteria. This occurs every three years for Star Program sites and every year for Merit Program sites. (See next section for definitions.)

Star Program requirements: To become a Star Program site, a work site must meet three requirements:

• “The heart of the program is having a comprehensive safety and health program in place at the work site that includes management commitment, employee involvement, work site analysis, hazard prevention and control, and safety and health training,” reports OSHA’s Oliver.

• If it is a union work site, the union(s) must also agree to sign on to the program, assuring that they will support the work site’s application for VPP status.

• Finally, the site must demonstrate injury rates and lost workday case rates at or below the average for its industry.

Merit Program requirements: To become a Merit Program site, the site must meet the first two requirements— comprehensive program and union commitment (if applicable). “If it can demonstrate these two requirements, but still has rates higher than industry average, it can become a Merit Program member, but it must be able to lower its rates over a three-year period,” explains Oliver.

How involved is the application procedure? That depends on the size of the site and the unique safety requirements and environment. OSHA encourages applicants to tailor a program that will meet its specific needs. For some sites, this will require a significant amount of paperwork. For others, it will not. In either case, OSHA encourages applicants to utilize as much existing written material as possible.

“It does take time to develop and prepare the documentation and complete all the work involved in preparing for certification,” reports Paula Stewart, director of integrated risk management for Weyerhaeuser Co in Tacoma, Wash. “It is similar to the efforts that must be conducted when applying for ISO 9000 certification or the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.”

For most sites, the process from start to finish (receipt of certification) takes 18 to 36 months.

It is important to note that not all work sites in the nation are eligible for OSHA’s VPP. States that have their own OSHA programs have their own VPP programs and unique sets of standards and requirements.

Bob Dorchester, v.p.-loss prevention for Champion International in Stamford, Conn., explains, “In North Carolina, for example, which has its own program, it is more difficult to achieve certification, because the rates required to participate are lower than the national rates.”

Weyerhaeuser’s Stewart adds, “We have a number of large locations in states that have state plans. Many of these are actively pursuing the state equivalent of the national VPP.”

WHY PARTICIPATE? International Paper was one of the pioneers in VPP involvement in the pulp and paper industry. “In the early 1980s, we got new management, which had come from DuPont,” explains Weinrich. (DuPont has had a 200-year history of stellar safety commitment and performance.) “Throughout the 1980s, we worked hard to improve our safety performance. By the early 1990s, we had improved significantly, but we realized that to get to the next level we would need to do more. We were aware that the VPP represented the best in the nation, so our chairman set a challenge: Being the best or close to the best in the industry in terms of safety is not good enough. We need to move forward even more, utilizing the VPP.”

Currently, almost 60 of the company’s 530 sites nationwide have received VPP certification. Given that there are approximately 600 OSHA VPP sites nationwide, this represents approximately 10% of all sites in the VPP program as a whole in all industries!

“We became interested and involved in VPP for two reasons,” states June Brothers, CSP, group director, human resources at Georgia-Pacific in Atlanta, Ga., and a VPPPA director-at-large. “One was to inspire our facilities that needed to improve their safety performance to do so by providing them with the goals and tools for improvement. The other was to provide recognition to our facilities that already had excellent safety performance and provide them with the opportunities to further enhance that performance.”

Champion became interested in the VPP in 1995 when it began to seek a more proactive way to manage safety. “Incident rates and lost time case rates tend to be after-the-fact,” explains Dorchester. “We realized that VPP sites were proactively managing safety, as evidenced by their lower rates.” Champion hopes to have four of its pulp and paper plants ready to apply for VPP or state programs by late 1999 or early 2000.

GETTING STARTED. There are two ways to manage an initiative to get work sites certified by the VPP. One is to manage the initiative from the top down. This is the approach International Paper prefers. “Our chairman emphasizes that VPP is a company priority,” states Weinrich. “He wants every site to eventually be part of VPP. Expectations for our sites are that current safety performance is not good enough. The goal is to continue to improve.”

Others prefer the “bottom-up” approach. One example is Weyerhaeuser, where the program is “grassroots, location-driven,” according to Stewart. “The locations themselves decide if they want to make the effort to achieve VPP recognition.”

Georgia-Pacific is another “bottom-up” company. “We don’t require our facilities to attempt certification,” states Brothers. “They take the initiative, based on the level of partnership between management and employees at each site.”

BENEFITS OF INVOLVEMENT. What do companies get by participating in the VPP? There are at least six benefits:

• First and foremost, safety performance improves. Besides the human element of this, there are cost savings in terms of reduced worker’s compensation costs, etc. On average, VPP sites enjoy a lost workday rate more than 50% below industry average.

“We have lower incidence rates and lower worker’s compensation costs, but the most important thing is that our employees are going home from work each day the same way they arrived—safe,” states G-P’s Brothers.

Weyerhaeuser’s Steward adds, “Our VPP sites have much lower incidence rates. The process that VPP involves also provides us with much better statistical information.”

• VPP sites also tend to enjoy better overall performance. “Our VPP sites tend to have excellent customer relationships, productivity, quality, and other elements that make strong work sites,” says IP’s Weinrich.

• The program can help improve management-employee relationships and communication. “One of the most important results we have seen is that the process gets everyone in the sites involved in workplace safety,” points out Champion’s Dorchester.

Weinrich adds, “We have seen a lot of synergy between VPP activity and a lot of other things going on in our company. This is especially true of employee involvement and relationships between management and employees. Employees now have much more accountability and responsibility for making things happen in safety and health.”

G-P’s Brothers says, “VPP really leads to a culture change. This has led to improved employee relationships, as well as higher morale, productivity and quality. We see differences in the sites that have VPP status or are close to achieving it in terms of management and employees working together.”

• Relationships with OSHA also tend to improve. “Before sites become involved in VPP, they may have a fear of contacting OSHA for information about safety and health,” notes OSHA’s Oliver. “It’s really a fear of the unknown. However, as we get to know each other, this fear dissipates, and we work together.”

Brothers agrees. “There can be an initial fear of inviting OSHA in and opening up all of your safety records. However, what results is a good working relationship. We end up having people at OSHA on whom we can call for advice and assistance when we need it.” Brothers speaks from personal experience, having worked for OSHA in Oregon for 13 years prior to moving into the private sector.

“Relationships with OSHA become very favorable,” agrees Weyerhaeuser’s Stewart. “They gain knowledge about what our company is able to do in terms of performance and documentation. Conversely, we get to know what they can provide in the way of consultation and assistance.”

Adds Champion’s Dorchester, “Instead of piling a lot of different safety processes on our sites to comply with OSHA, striving to achieve VPP status at our sites allows us to implement comprehensive safety programs and comply with OSHA requirements at the same time.”

• A fifth benefit is improved community relations and goodwill. “When OSHA comes out to your site for the VPP ceremony and hangs the VPP flag, a lot of local dignitaries show up for the event, including mayors and congressmen,” reports Brothers.

• A final benefit, and one that should not be overlooked, is the information learned about a site’s safety and health program and processes as the application process progresses. “The process that VPP takes you through is extremely valuable,” emphasizes Dorchester. “It helps you identify any performance gaps you may have that need to be addressed.”

Brothers says, “Whether or not you are ready to apply for certification, the application process helps you improve your safety performance.”

OSHA’S VOLUNTEERS PROGRAM. One interesting element of the VPP is the opportunity for employees of certified sites to visit other work sites that are applying for certification and assist OSHA in its on-site review process. “Employees who participate in this program have the opportunity to exchange information with the other sites they visit,” explains Oliver. This not only offers networking opportunities but also facilitates further employee involvement.

“We have had 19 of our people go through the training for this program,” states IP’s Weinrich. “While most of them are safety and health specialists in the company, some are hourly employees. Our people not only learn a lot, but it really builds the spirit of empowerment.”

RECOGNIZING VPP ITSELF. While VPP is in existence to recognize safe work sites, Congress is in the process of attempting to recognize the VPP itself. In early 1999, Reps. Thomas E. Petri (R-WI) and Robert E. Andrews (D-NJ) introduced the Models of Safety and Health Excellence Act of 1999 (HR-1459). If enacted, this bill would formally codify the Voluntary Protection Program. Little opposition to the bill is expected, given that the VPP has continued to receive praise from Republicans and Democrats alike in its almost 20-year existence.

“VPP is definitely not a ‘flavor of the month’ program,” observes OSHA’s Oliver. “It requires a long-term commitment. Most sites that achieve certification retain that certification. Some have been certified for 15 years.”

Perhaps Weyerhaeuser’s Stewart sums it up best. “VPP status requires re-certification,” she states. “However, as long as you have been keeping up with VPP requirements, re-certification is relatively straightforward. The key to success is really changing the way you do business—something that is permanent.”

WILLIAM ATKINSON is a freelance writer located in Carterville, Ill.