U.S. companies and individuals will be recognized for workplace safety and health excellence by the Voluntary Protection Program Participants' Association (VPPPA) during opening ceremonies of its 15th annual national conference Sept. 14 in Washington, D.C.
Award recipients:
- Safety and Health Outreach Award, Company Category Thrall Car Manufacturing Co., Winder, Ga.
- Outreach Award, Company Category Occidental Chemical Corp., Dallas; and Motorola Inc., Schaumberg, Ill., and Arlington Heights, Ill., facilities.
- Outreach Award, Individual Category Bruce Blankenship of Sterling Chemicals, Texas City, Texas.
- Innovation Award, Company Category Huntsman Packaging, Macedon, N.Y.
- Safety and Health Achievement Award Lela Tully of Morrison Knudsen/WSSRAP, St. Charles, Mo.; Stephen Detwiler of Motorola, Inc., Schaumberg, Ill.; and Tracy Tusing of GE Symmes Road Plant, Hamilton, Ohio.
The Safety and Health Outreach Award recognizes "VPP models" who reach out to share the safety and health technical and management expertise developed at their sites.
The Outreach Award recognizes "VPP Ambassadors" who achieve outstanding results from outreach activity, while encouraging others to reach that level.
The Innovation Award is awarded to a site that has developed a new safety and health technique or program, encouraging the seeking of excellence through creative approaches to occupational safety and health.
The Safety and Health Achievement Award is presented to hourly, nonmanagement employees for their individual safety and health outreach knowledge.
VPPPA is a leader for safety, health and environmental excellence through cooperation among communities, workers, industries and governments. In existence since 1985, VPPPA is a forerunner in the evolutionary relationship between government, labor and industry in the United States.
Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP), administered by OSHA and DOE, are a cooperative effort among labor, management and government. Acceptance into VPP requires safety and health programs that exceed Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards. Sites participating in VPP have overall lost workday rates 50 percent below the industry average. More than 550 U.S. worksites are VPP participants, and more than 750,000 workers are directly impacted by VPP.