Tewksbury Post Office Delivers Safety, Health
The U.S. Postal Service's post office in Tewksbury, Mass., has been recertified for an additional five years of participation in OSHA's Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) at the star level, the program's highest.
"Employees and management at the Tewksbury post office are to be congratulated for their effective and ongoing investment in safety and health at their workplace," said Marthe Kent, OSHA's regional administrator in Boston. "Since the facility's approval as a VPP site in 2006, they have enhanced and sustained excellence in their safety and health management system, and maintained injury and illness rates well below the industry average."
The Tewksbury post office employs 52 workers with union representation by the National Association of Letter Carriers, the National Rural Letter Carriers Association, and the American Postal Workers Union. The site's VPP recertification came after an OSHA team's onsite visits that included a thorough review of its safety and health systems, interviews with employees and a complete tour of the site.
Among the site's areas of excellence are proactive efforts to identify and correct hazards to carriers encompassing community involvement, analysis of route hazards, and implementation of a motor vehicle logbook system for vehicle safety.
The Tewksbury post office is one of more than 2,160 worksites in more than 270 industries nationwide, including 17 other U.S. Postal Service worksites in New England, that have earned entry into OSHA's VPP. Requirements include a high degree of management commitment and employee involvement; a high-quality worksite analysis, hazard prevention, and control program; and comprehensive safety and health training for all employees. Each of these elements must be effective, in place, and in operation for at least one year before a worksite can apply to join the VPP, OSHA says.