|
U.S. Department of Labor | |
||||
| Occupational Safety & Health Administration | ||||||
 |
| OSHA Voluntary Protection Programs > VPP STAR Presentation: Madison, WI Area Office |
  Printing Instructions |
| Remarks Prepared for Edwin G. Foulke Jr. Assistant Secretary Occupational Safety and Health Administration VPP STAR Presentation OSHA Area Office Madison, Wisconsin Monday, December 18, 2006 |
|
|
I want to congratulate the OSHA employees here at our Madison (WI) Area Office for achieving VPP STAR status. You should feel proud – because I do. Earning a Voluntary Protections Program designation is not easy, but you did it through hard work and dedication. You join the elite workplaces in the nation and serve as a model for others – “ambassadors to excellence” in safety and health on the job. You dreamed big, you reached for the stars, and it is an honor for me to commend you on achieving STAR status. As you well know, Voluntary Protection Programs provide a reliable roadmap to safety excellence. Worksites in VPP have injury and illness rates more than 50 percent below the averages for their industries. This level of excellence exceeds basic OSHA requirements to make safety and health an integral component of an organization’s culture. This is a meaningful achievement because it affects people’s lives. I wish to say thank-you to the on-site evaluation team who provided its cooperation and professionalism: Michael Vigezzi, Team Leader, General Electric; Cheri Delehant, CSP Safety Specialist (a Special Government Employee), International Paper; and Ronald Mauermann, Industrial Hygienist (also a Special Government Employee), Georgia Pacific. OSHA Area Director Kimberly Stille and union steward Chad Greenwood deserve praise for their roles, because workplace safety requires the leadership of management, the commitment of employees, and the support of employee associations like Local 648 (National Council of Field Labor Locals). OSHA’s Madison, Wisconsin employees put in a lot of work drafting the application for VPP status, and should feel proud of their accomplishment. Let us consider your accomplishments: You achieved a 3-year Total Case Incident Rate (TCIR) of 2.08 – 31 percent below the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ industry average; and a DART (Days Away, Restricted or Transferred) rate of ZERO (0.00), which is 100 percent below the industry average. More outstanding still: your TCIR and DART rates for 2006 were ZERO. Among your other accomplishments noted by the On-site Evaluation Team: Safety Pledge: All employees at the site have signed a Safety Pledge, which includes sections on Working Safely, Safe Business Practices, and Creating and Maintaining a Safe Work Environment. Current Intervention: While the landlord controls the selection and oversight of contractors, OSHA employees have taken on oversight of the contractors when onsite. They have also taken the initiative to counsel the contract employees on safe work practices and regulatory requirements. MAD Action Form: The facility uses a simple “MAD Action Form” for reporting unsafe conditions or situations in the office or in field operations that may affect the safety and health of team members. This simple form also can be used to recognize employees for safe acts and input. Root: All employees have received formal Root Cause Analysis Training. Self-monitoring: Staff members participate in self-monitoring for noise and chemical hazards as part of the regional pilot program for hazard analysis. Data is tracked for exposures for each employee. Motor Vehicle Safety Program: The Area Office has taken a progressive approach to motor vehicle safety. Perhaps more notable than achieving the VPP Star Status, is the leadership role you have assumed for the Department and OSHA. You and your fellow OSHA employees across the country strive to accomplish our Agency’s workplace safety and health mission every day by conducting inspections, providing technical assistance, outreach, training, and developing cooperative programs. While these activities have done much to improve employee safety and health over the years, we still fall short if we do not “walk the talk.” If we continue to ask other organizations in the private and public sectors to do better and do not ask ourselves to do better, than we lose an opportunity to make a difference. That is what you (and the other VPP offices in Region V) have done. Now OSHA is not just talking about safety and health excellence; OSHA is practicing safety and health excellence. In doing so, each of you now know more about how to implement effective safety and management systems and therefore gain credibility when you help write a standard, provide assistance or conduct an inspection. In the past few years, interest in OSHA’s VPP in other Federal Agencies has significantly increased. Today you join 75 Federal VPP sites across 8 Agencies in reaching VPP status, and you are among the elite achievers for reaching Star Status. We also have 11 open partnerships with 7 Agencies working toward VPP participation. The Department and Agency will look to you to tell your story whenever you can, so federal employees are protected every day from serious harm. With over 800 fatalities in the federal workforce over the past decade, there is much work to be done. You and other OSHA employees in Region V are leading the way to strive for safer and healthier Federal workplaces in the future. So, congratulations and thanks to each of you for achieving your VPP Star status! Thank-you for your commitment to making this a safe workplace. I commend your leadership and your vision, I applaud your willingness to work as a team, and I urge you to continue to help OSHA expand VPP. Please: Keep reaching for the stars! |
|
 Back to Top
 www.osha.gov
|
www.dol.gov | |
|
Contact Us | Freedom of Information Act | Customer Survey Privacy and Security Statement | Disclaimers |
||
| Occupational Safety & Health Administration 200 Constitution Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20210 |
Page last updated: 03/28/2007 | |
