The Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) National Special Government Employee
(SGE) Award recognizes an SGE who epitomizes and exhibits exceptional support,
time, effort, and action in VPP, setting him/her apart from other SGEs. The
person selected is actively involved in volunteer activities that benefit the
VPP and its stakeholders, and demonstrates outstanding commitment to the
partnership ideals
of the VPP. The first annual SGE of the Year was awarded by
Deputy Assistant Secretary Jonathan Snare at the 2005 National Conference of the
Voluntary Protection Programs Participants’ Association (VPPPA). The award will
be given on
an annual basis.
The following profiles are based on information provided by OSHA’s Regional
Offices
in their award nominations.
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| Deputy Assistant Secretary, Jonathan Snare presenting SGE
Award to Kerry D. Fischman |
WINNER:
Kerry D. Fischman |
Nominated by Region V
Kerry Fischman is the corporate VPP Manager of Georgia-Pacific-North. Within the
company, he is a full-time VPP Champion who has been instrumental in at least
ten Georgia-Pacific sites successfully achieving VPP status.
Kerry has been an active Special Government Employee in Region V since 2000,
assisting in more than five on-site evaluations. He is noted for his extensive
VPP knowledge and technical expertise. He is a regular participant of National
and Regional VPPPA conferences and is active on the VPPPA National Board as a
member of the VPPPA’s Mentoring, Legislature, and Regulatory Committees.
Kerry has volunteered his services to OSHA’s Training Institute (OTI) in
Arlington Heights, IL, providing technical and management assistance associated
with preparing for VPP application and approval.
Former VPPPA Chairperson, and Georgia-Pacific Vice President Corporate Safety
June S. Brothers spoke about him as follows:
"Kerry Fischman has been invaluable in helping sites within Georgia-Pacific
Corporation to strengthen their safety and health management systems to
qualify for VPP. His work contributed greatly to Georgia-Pacific Corporation
becoming the first company to be approved by OSHA as a participant in the
VPP Corporate Pilot Program. But his devotion to improving worker safety and
health through partnership programs does not stop with Georgia-Pacific.
Through his outreach, mentoring and SGE activities, he helps VPP grow in
other companies and other industries."
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| FINALISTS: |
Greg Arbise |
Nominated by Region IV
Greg Arbise is the Safety and Environmental Coordinator for the Component
Maintenance division of Delta Air Lines. Greg has been an active SGE since 2003.
According to Susan Sikes, Region IV VPP Manager, he has been a great asset to
VPP in the past year, participating on four on-site evaluations and spending a
total of 16 days of his time helping VPP as a Special Government Employee.
In addition, Greg made several VPP presentations to prospective VPP applicants
and made a presentation at the last Georgia Safety, Health and Environmental
Conference. His session was attended by over 75 people. He also served as a
mentor to a prospective applicant
Greg’s efforts in the past year have greatly enhanced Region IV’s VPP and have
been of tremendous assistance to other VPP member employers.
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Don Jones |
Nominated by Region VI
Don Jones, an Engineer and Safety & Health Professional, is a Regulatory
Expertise Leader for Dow Chemical Company. Don was one of the first individuals
to qualify as an SGE. Over the years, he has participated in numerous VPP
on-site evaluations, and continues to participate in at least a couple of
evaluations each year.
As a mentor, he recruited into the VPP program a number of sites both inside and
outside of Dow Chemical Company. Several of the Dow Chemical Company sites that
he mentored qualified for VPP status. Dow Chemical Company has seen 33% fewer
OSHA recordables at the corporation’s VPP sites, as compared to its non-VPP
sites.
Don also assisted the government of Ireland’s Health and Safety Authority to
establish their VPP program, leading a team that assessed a chemical plant in
Cork, Ireland.
Don served as a member of the Region VI VPPPA Board as both Treasurer and
Chairman and currently serves as the Region VI VPPPA Government Affairs
Committee Chair. From 2000-2002, he was a member of the National VPPPA Board
and still is actively involved, serving as a member of the Bylaws and
Legislative/Regulatory Committees.
Don also served as a member of the team that helped OSHA develop the VPP
Corporate Pilot, and he helped convince Dow Chemical to volunteer and make a
commitment to participate in the pilot.
Don also contributed his skills as an instructor and presenter for various
workshops and sessions nationwide.
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Paul Kniskern |
Nominated by Region II
Paul Kniskern is the Loss Control Director at Curtis Lumber.
In 2004, he participated on two VPP on-site evaluations as a Special Government
Employee.
In addition to his SGE duties, he served on the OSHA Challenge development
committee. He currently serves as an administrator in the OSHA Challenge Pilot
Program. He oversees seven coordinators and is mentoring 26 companies
participating in OSHA Challenge across the mid-Atlantic Region.
Paul currently serves on the VPPPA Region II Board of Directors as a Director at
Large. He also serves as the Region’s Upstate Mentoring Coordinator and National
Mentoring Board Representative.
Paul is an active trainer and instructor. He has developed materials for and
administered Region II’s Application Workshop. He also has been responsible for
various Region II Conference classes including: VPPPA/OSHA Outreach, Tools &
Programs, and Fleet Safety Programs. He recently presented a course to 38
participants at the OSHA Training Institute.
He is the Executive Board Member of two Regional VPP Safety Groups: Capital
Region Safety and Health Council and Adirondack Safety and Health Council.
|
Mike Pendergrass |
Nominated by Region VII
Mike Pendergrass is the Corporate Safety Director for Superior Industries, Inc.
Since 2000, he has participated in eight audits as an SGE.
In his current position, he mandates that each of his site safety managers
become an SGE and conduct at least two SGE audits with OSHA each year. He
made this part of their annual performance appraisal and part of their job
descriptions. For the year 2004, Superior Industries, Inc. contributed 11 SGE’s for VPP audits and also mentored 12 sites.
Under his direction, five of Superior Industries’ seven facilities have achieved
STAR status, including three during 2004.
He participated in the SGE Workgroup in Washington, D.C. He is actively involved
in the Department of Labor’s efforts to qualify for VPP, serving as a mentor for
Region VII OASAM. He also serves as a mentor for the Fort Riley Army Base in
Kansas, assisting them in their VPP endeavor under the Army/OSHA Partnership.
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Joel Plante |
Nominated by Region I
Joel Plante is Safety Engineer for Pratt & Whitney, North Berwick, Maine, and is
the Chair of Region I VPPPA. He has been an SGE since 2003, joining the program
not long after his facility became one of the Region’s first Star sites.
According to Region I, Joel embodies the very principles of VPP and has an
unsurpassed level of commitment to the program. His stewardship in the VPPPA has
resulted in the recruitment and retention of more than 25 sites in Region I. His
participation in the SGE program began in 2000.
In 2004, he served as an SGE on two initial VPP on-site evaluations, one of
which was the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, the largest VPP on-site evaluation of
2004. He also successfully mentored more than 20 sites in Region I during 2004.
He assisted OSHA Region I and the Vermont Dept. of Labor and Industry in the
development and administration of the 2004 Vermont VPPPA Application Workshop.
This effort resulted in the approval of our first two VPP sites in the State of
Vermont.
His experiences in training are also extensive. First, he co-taught two VPP 101
courses; both resulted in the instruction of more than 24 potential VPP sites.
Also, he co-instructed and organized the 2004 Region I SGE course. He also
co-instructed OSHA Region I’s Machine Guarding Course at his facility.
As a licensed electrician, he was an invaluable regional resource during OSHA’s
adoption of NFPA standard 70 E. Also, as a volunteer firefighter and previous
instructor at the NH fire academy, he developed an expertise in hazardous
materials handling and management that is infused into the Region I VPP.
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Paul Snyder |
Nominated by Region III
Paul Snyder is the Director of Safety and Industrial Hygiene Systems, Global
Environmental, Health and Safety for the Rohm & Haas Corporation.
He has always supported a systems approach to safety and first submitted a VPP
application to OSHA’s Regional Office for the Rohm & Haas Philadelphia Plant in
1988. Under his leadership, the site became the first VPP site in Region III,
qualifying for Star status in 1992. He has mentored Rohm & Haas sites throughout
the country, and the company now has 12 sites benefiting from VPP Star
recognition.
Paul is a charter member of the VPPPA, where he helped to start the Region III
VPPPA Chapter in 1997 and has served as its Secretary, Treasurer, and currently
as a Director. He has mentored many other companies in Pennsylvania and
Delaware, encouraging them to become VPP participants. He has participated in
more than a dozen VPP Application training classes, conducted VPP outreach
activities with OSHA, and frequently hosted VPPPA Board meetings at the
corporate site in Bristol, PA. Additionally, he has hosted at least four SGE
training classes in Pennsylvania and in Texas, where he also participated as a
class instructor.
He was sworn in as an OSHA SGE in 2003 and participated on 2 VPP evaluations in
2004 in Region III. As a corporate safety director, he has encouraged his sites
to support VPP SGE participation. Under his direction, Rohm & Haas in Region III
has contributed a number of employees to the SGE Program. |
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