September 22, 2003—The “triple bottom line” for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the US Department of Labor is reducing injuries, illnesses, and deaths on the job, OSHA Administrator John Henshaw told attendees at the recent National Safety Congress. Henshaw reviewed recent OSHA accomplishments and revealed future expansions of OSHA programs and outreach.
OSHA’s ultimate goal of “zero injuries, illnesses, and deaths in America’s workplaces” is the foundation of OSHA’s five-year Strategic Management Plan, Henshaw said. Calling for a “balanced approach to achieve maximum results,” he said OSHA will focus on performance measures, outcomes, and leading and trailing measures to determine its impact, allowing the agency to continue to target high hazard workplaces, focus on hard-to-reach workers such as immigrants and contract workers who frequently change jobs, and place additional efforts on issues facing teenaged workers.
Henshaw said OSHA must also address “nontraditional areas” such as homeland security and workplace emergencies, motor vehicle accidents, and workplace violence, using a variety of outreach and cooperative programs.
Henshaw also examined OSHA’s accomplishments since he addressed the NSC in 2002, citing an enhanced enforcement program to address recalcitrant employers, continuing progress for the agency’s comprehensive plan on ergonomics, intensified outreach to Hispanic and immigrant workers, and a steady increase in strategic partnerships and new Alliances.
Goals for the future include a dramatic increase in the Voluntary Protection Program, with three new VPP pilot programs: VPP Challenge, VPP Corporate, and VPP Construction, that may add up to 2,000 additional VPP sites.
