VPP: What It Is and What It Means To You Published March 16, 2010 By Will Harding 17th Training Wing Safety GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Voluntary Protection Programs or VPP means involvement of the lowest ranking employee to the top leadership. You may have noticed I said from the lowest-ranking employees to the top leadership. This is not a top down program. Under this program employees are enabled and encouraged to be directly involved in the planning and operation of the safety and health program and in decisions that affect employees' safety and health. The requirement for employee participation may be met in a variety of ways, as long as employees have at least three active and meaningful ways to participate in safety and health problem identification and resolution. This involvement must be in addition to the individual right to notify appropriate managers of hazardous conditions and practices, and to have issues addressed. Examples of acceptable employee involvement include, but are not limited to the following: · Participating in ad hoc safety and health problem-solving groups. · Participating in audits and/or worksite inspections. · Participating in accident and incident investigations. · Developing and/or participating in employee involvement suggestion programs. · Training other employees in safety and health. · Analyzing job/process hazards. · Acting as safety observers. · Serving on safety and health committees constituted in conformance to the National Labor Relations Act. All contractors and sub-contractors, whether in general industry, construction, maritime, or federal agency sites, must follow worksite safety and health rules and procedures applicable to their activities at the site. Management leadership must provide visible leadership in implementing the VPP program. This includes: · Establishing clear lines of communication with employees; · Setting an example of safe and healthful behavior; · Creating an environment that allows for reasonable employee access to top site management; · Ensuring that all workers at the site, including contract workers, are provided equally high quality safety and health protection; · Clearly defined responsibility in writing, with no unassigned areas. Each employee, at any level, must be able to describe his/her responsibility for safety and health; · Assigning commensurate authority to those who have responsibility; · Affording adequate resources to those who have responsibility and authority. This includes such resources as time, training, personnel, equipment, budget, and access to information and experts, including appropriate use of certified safety professionals, certified industrial hygienists, other licensed health care professionals, and other experts, as needed, based on the risk of the site; · Holding managers, supervisors, and non-supervisory employees accountable for meeting their safety and health responsibilities. In addition to clearly defining and implementing authority and responsibility for safety and health protection, management leadership entails evaluating managers and supervisors annually, and operating a documented system for correcting deficient performance. No longer will the unit safety representatives and the Wing Safety Staff be the only ones involved in the safety and health program management here at Goodfellow. It will now be a team effort involving every level from the lowest-ranking employee to the top leadership.
