Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) is an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) initiative that encourages private industry and federal agencies to prevent

workplace injuries An occupational injury is bodily damage resulting from working. The most common organs involved are the spine, hands, the head, lungs, eyes, skeleton, and skin. Occupational injuries can result from exposure to occupational hazards (physical, ch ...

and illnesses through hazard prevention and control, worksite analysis, training; and cooperation between management and workers. VPP enlists worker involvement to achieve injury and illness rates that are below national

Bureau of Labor Statistics The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a unit of the United States Department of Labor. It is the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics and serves as a principal agency of t ...

averages for their respective industries.

History

Even though the original

OSH Act The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 is a US labor law governing the federal law of occupational health and safety in the private sector and federal government in the United States. It was enacted by Congress in 1970 and was signed by ...

of 1970 included language that discussed the concept of VPP, it didn't start until an experimental California program began in 1979. The OSHA program started in 1982 with the first approved facilities.

Levels/types of certification

VPP offers two levels of certification:

Star

Star is the highest level. It recognizes employers and employees for developing and implementing continuous improvement workplace safety and health management programs that result in injury/illness rates that are below the national averages for their industries.

Merit

Merit is for employers and employees that have implemented good safety and health programs but require additional improvements. They must also commit to seeking to advance to Star level within three years. VPP offers three types of certification:

Site-based

Site-based Star and Merit certifications are offered for permanent work sites and long-term construction sites. It may also be used to certify resident contractors at participating VPP sites or under a corporate program.

Mobile workforce

This type of certification is for companies whose employees work on location at various sites.

Corporate

Large organizations that implement organization-wide health and safety management programs that extend to its individual sites are able to seek corporate VPP certification. As of 10/31/2012 2,370 entities were registered as VPP certified with the vast majority achieving the Star level. All organizations are re-evaluated every three to five years to remain in the programs.

References

{{reflist Occupational Safety and Health Administration Training Occupational safety and health Industrial hygiene Safety engineering