Birthdays are milestones.
They mark the passage of time and allow us to look back at our accomplishments on the journey of life.
Yet, they also give us the opportunity to look at what lies ahead. Into a future that, using the experiences of our past, can be even greater than the present.
I write this from St. Louis, where VPPPA’s Safety+ Symposium wrapped up a week of reflection on the association’s first 40 years and a look toward the future with two major announcements.
First, OSHA announced its new "Pathways to Safety and Health Success." Building on the history of VPP, OSHA’s Pathway creates opportunities for workplaces of all sizes to advance their workplace safety and health programs through benchmarks leading to VPP-level excellence. This announcement comes on the heels of Deputy Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling’s proclamation that OSHA will vigorously pursue growth in VPP and other compliance assistance programs while promoting self-evaluation resources as a proactive approach to improving performance.
OSHA’s announcement marked a turning point in the evolution (and modernization) of the VPP and compliance assistance in general. It also capped a multi-year effort by VPPPA and its members who — alongside OSHA — worked to develop the framework for a detailed path toward safety excellence that recognizes a company’s achievements along the way to encourage them to continue toward the ultimate goal of sustained continuous safety improvement.
Which brings us to the second major announcement.
In conjunction with OSHA’s Pathways announcement, VPPPA announced new safety and health resources designed to help companies and sites achieve total safety excellence.
VPPPA’s new Journey Toward Safety Excellence program is designed to aid participants through a structured continuous improvement plan that includes enhanced self-assessments and tailored mentoring opportunities. VPPPA’s Journey Toward Safety Excellence is built to align with OSHA’s new Pathways program model and provide interested companies and sites with the resources needed to successfully advance through each tier of the new program.
More importantly, VPPPA’s new Journey Toward Safety Excellence marks the association’s evolution into its next 40 years by helping American companies and sites progress to the same levels and benchmarks of performance that current OSHA VPP sites have achieved. Even if VPP isn’t the ultimate goal, this focus on continuous improvement helps companies reach those performance metrics — and save lives.
The program focuses on incremental progression towards world-class safety processes and performance. Participants who wish to begin their journey of continuous improvement will begin with a statement of intent that shows their commitment to raising their standards for workplace safety.
VPPPA has developed a gap analysis tool — available to any company or worksite free of charge — that can be used to identify strengths and weaknesses in a company or site’s existing safety and health management program. Once complete, these companies and sites will have the opportunity to sign a Letter of Commitment that states their desire to advance their journey. VPPPA members will have access to the association’s pool of experienced mentors who will educate and aid participants through a customized guide for continuous improvement.
Over the years, countless companies have built world-class EH&S programs through VPPPA’s programs and resources. The announcement of OSHA’s Pathways to Safety and Health Success — and VPPPA’s Journey Toward Safety Excellence — marks a new beginning as we continue to raise the standard for workplace safety and health for another 40 years — and beyond.
For more information, visit vpppa.org.
