January 23, 2002—The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has announced a pilot program to encourage companies employing mobile workforces to develop exemplary safety management programs that go beyond basic OSHA standards. The Mobile Workforce Demonstration Program, part of the ten-year old Voluntary Protection Program (VPP), will focus on companies that regularly change work environments, such as the construction industry; as well as those that provide delivery, maintenance, and repair services for home appliances, telephones, electric utilities, hospital apparatus, and factory machinery; and those in the home health care industry.
The goal of the VPP program is for participating companies to protect their workers more effectively than simple compliance measures by OSHA, thereby requiring less frequent visits by limited OSHA staff. Using one set of flexible, performance-based criteria, the VPP process emphasizes holding managers accountable for worker safety and health, the continual identification and elimination of hazards, and the active involvement of employees in their own protection. VPP participant sites generally experience from 60 to 80 percent fewer lost workday injuries than would be expected of an “average” site of the same size in their industries.
A new association has been formed, called the Voluntary Protection Program Association for Construction (VPPAC), to facilitate membership in the OSHA pilot program, which will take place in Southwest Ohio. By creating a Demonstration Program, OSHA is able to recognize and learn more about the worker protection at companies whose work practices differ in significant ways from the normal requirements of VPP’s Star Program. OSHA’s goal is to make the program permanent and nationwide. For a .pdf file detailing the pilot program, visit OSHA.
