VPP sites
have, on average, injury rates 53 percent below their industry BLS Rates for
calendar year 1999. When using the National Safety Council's estimate of
$28,000 in direct and indirect costs per every lost-workday injury, it can
be estimated that VPP sites saved more than $130,000,000 in direct and
indirect costs in 1999.
About 300 homebuilders are participating, and we hope to see significant
declines in injuries and fatalities in homebuilding in the Denver
area as well as cost-savings for builders.
The longest running
VPP site, a manufacturer with 600 employees, has sustained lost-workday case
rates 73% below average for 15 years — preventing 600 injuries and saving
an average of more than $1 million per year in direct and indirect costs.
A chemical company
member with 1,000 employees kept lost-workday injury rates 93% below the average
for its industry throughout its 15 years in VPP, preventing 400 injuries and
saving more than $10 million.
Companies who
have
joined more recently report similar experiences:
A textile
mill with only one lost-workday injury since 1992 and savings of $1.4
million;
A construction
company that avoided 2,500 injuries over six years;
A paper
products company that cut injuries by 40 percent and workers' compensation costs
by 80 percent.
Erqonomics
Fieldcrest-Cannon
in Columbus, Georgia, cut musculoskeletal disorders from 121 in 1993 to 21 in 1996. They credit
their success to worker involvement in designing systems to limit the need
for workers to bend and reach.
In North Carolina,
Perdue Farms started an ergonomics program in 1991. It was so effective, the
company expanded it to all its plants nationwide. Although the average lost-workday injuries for poultry process is about 12, six Perdue plants had no lost time injuries
in 1996.
Woodpro Cabinetry
in Cabool, Missouri, saved $42,000 in workers compensation costs by bringing
its injury rates down when it changed conveyor levels to reduce worker reaching
and added additional conveyors to limit lifting. This is a significant amount
for a company with about 100 workers.
Partnerships
One partnership
OSHA currently has underway is HomeSafe in our Denver region. Homebuilders
who agree to establish a 10-point safety and health program that covers hazards
causing serious accidents qualify for a variety of incentives including focused
inspections and penalty reductions. The state of Colorado also offers a 5
percent reduction in insurance premiums. About 300 homebuilders are participating,
and we hope to see significant declines in injuries and fatalities in homebuilding
in the Denver area as well as cost savings for builders.
The Roofing
Industry Partnership recognizes premier safety contractors in Ohio, Illinois
and Wisconsin. Participating contractors who demonstrate outstanding safety
and health programs qualify for limited scope inspections and penalty reductions.
SESAC, the steel erection partnership in Colorado, implemented 100 percent
fall protection and significantly cut workers' compensation costs for 38 contractors.
The Cowtown
project, which began three years ago, covers 27 Fort Worth-area sites in three
high hazard industry sectors — meat processing, iron and steel foundries, and
motor vehicle and accessory manufacture. Over the first two years of the project,
participants self-identified and corrected more than 600 hazards and experienced
420 fewer on-the-job injuries, saving more than $2 million in workers' compensation
costs.
We have a special
initiative for the construction industry in Florida where fatalities have
increased nearly 25 percent over the past three years. Half of work-related
deaths in Florida in 1998 occurred in construction. In an effort to stem this
tide, OSHA offices in Florida have joined together to introduce Construction Accident Reduction
Emphasis (C.A.R.E.). The goal of this program
is to reduce construction accidents and fatalities in Florida by focusing
resources on enforcement, partnership, and outreach.
OSHA is working
with ConAgra Refrigerated Foods and the United Food and Commercial Workers
on a vertical partnership, creating a safety culture and establishing effective
safety and health programs in all nine plants. Begun in 1997, the partnership
started with a mock VPP review for a sausage-making plant in St. Charles, Illinois.
OSHA staff were shadowed during the review by key safety personnel from ConAgra,
and OSHA's Dr. Jerry Ryan conducted a culture change workshop to help ConAgra
make the shift to a safety culture.
The flagship
plant, Armour Swift-Eckrich Brown N' Serve, which served as the prototype
during the mock review, has now been approved for the VPP Merit program. This
facility will serve as a model for the other eight ConAgra Refrigerated Foods
facilities.
