Safety isn't necessarily a common core value within companies, but with a little expectation management and communication, it could be.
This award is given to an individual and/or organization who has demonstrated exemplary, industry-leading commitment to worker protection through excellence in the administration of an integrated health and safety management system.
The Voluntary Protection Programs Participants' Association has announced the winners of its 2018 Awards and Scholarships. The association's Safety+ annual national conference is taking place Aug. 28-31 at the Gaylord Opryland Convention Center in Nashville, and scholarship recipients will be recognized during that event.
The Voluntary Protection Programs Participants’ Association wanted this year’s Safety+ to be different, immersive, collaborative and above all else fun.
Coming off a 2018 symposium that set records for attendance and the expo, the 2019 event will take place Aug. 27-30 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in downtown New Orleans.
J.A. Rodriguez, Jr., CSP, SGE, was elected chair of the VPPPA national board of directors at the 2018 VPPPA Safety+ symposium in Nashville. He is ready to hit the ground running, listing four strategic initiatives as his first priority.
There are 37 VPP sites in the state program, with two initial certifications under way this year and eight recertifications accomplished in 2017. "Frankly, it's something every employers should do," he said. "They could do that."
The exercise showed the presenters' point clearly: When managers allow employees to collaborate and strategize, they will find and use a successful solution. But putting pressure on employees to perform, with no input or collaboration allowed, is less likely to succeed.
They're supporting two identical bills before Congress, HR 1444 and S 1878, to codify VPP nationally and make it permanent.
"Enforcement is critically important, but it will not solve every problem," he said at the VPPPA Safety+ symposium here at the Gaylord Opryland Convention Center.
Eliminating backlogged applications at some OSHA regional offices and instituting a national process for handling them are two goals the agency is working on.
The VPPPA annual national conference has more than 3,500 attendees and its largest exhibitor number ever, Director-at-Large J.A. Rodriguez, Jr. and other officials reported Aug. 28.
The pre-symposium workshops are four-hour or eight-hour sessions on Aug. 27. Topics include Heartsaver First Aid CPR AED and also Inspection Techniques and Hazard Recognition.
The speakers at Safety+, which takes place Aug. 28-31 at the Gaylord Opryland Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn., include Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam; Phyllis L. Bayer, assistant secretary of the Navy (Energy, Installations and Environment); and Steve Hawkins, Tennessee Occupational Safety & Health Administration assistant commissioner.
The association's Safety+ annual national conference is taking place Aug. 28-31 at the Gaylord Opryland Convention Center in Nashville, and scholarship recipients will be recognized during that event.
Next year's annual national conference is scheduled to take place Aug. 28-31, 2018, at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn.
The Federal Register notice about the request details the history of OSHA's VPP -- in the spotlight recently because OSHA has held two meetings to discuss how it can strengthen its VPP program and also because the Voluntary Protection Programs Participants' Association held its 2017 national conference last week.
Some attendees and exhibitors also stayed away because of Harvey, but not as many as might have been expected, J.A. Rodriguez Jr., a VPPPA Board of Directors member, said Aug. 31. Attendees from Valero and ExxonMobil were on hand despite the storm's impact on refineries and offshore platforms, and some exhibitors from the affected areas came late -- some on Wednesday evening -- but still arrived in time to exhibit on Thursday.
The two organizations will collaborate to improve the protection of workers and will encourage students and other professionals to choose occupational safety and health as a career and advance their competency in that field.