Ditchmen • NUCA of Florida Ditchmen • September 2017 | Page 12

Pursues Employer
Collaboration
by Gloria Gonzalez,
Business Insurance
The U.S. Occupational
Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA)
wants to reshape its
Voluntary Protection
Program (VPP) and
develop a more
collaborative relationship
with employers. The
agency wants the program
to grow and continue
highlighting employers
that demonstrate safety
and health excellence,
including long-time
participants, and leverage
partner resources.
Those employers with
effective safety and health
management systems
and injury and illness rates
below national averages
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for their industries are
eligible to join the program.
Potential participants
must undergo a rigorous
on-site evaluation by
OSHA inspectors and
volunteer industry safety
and health professionals.
They are then re-evaluated
every three to five years
and are exempt from
regularly scheduled OSHA
inspections, although
they are still subject to
inspections and citations
related to complaints
about hazards and must
comply with reporting
requirements for injuries.
The program started in
1982 with 11 participants
and peaked at 1,720
participants in 2010, but it
has declined every year
since, according to OSHA.
Part of the problem stems
DITCHMEN • SEPTEMBER 2017
from a 2013 OSHA policy
memo that stated a VPP
participant’s status would
be changed to inactive if
a fatality or catastrophic
incident triggered an
enforcement inspection,
and that the participant
could lose VPP status if
the inspection resulted in
a fatality being deemed
work-related, a willful
violation, or placement in
OSHA’s Severe Violator
Enforcement Program.
Employers also skittish
about participating cite
concerns that OSHA will
use the audits to impose
citations and penalties.
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