• Safety savings. The safety and health programs and injury/illness/lost workday reductions necessitated by a VPP facility result in tremendous direct and indirect monetary savings, which in practice more than pay for the costs associated with the safety programs/improvements involved. And if your organization is already enjoying the benefits to the bottom line afforded by a top-notch safety program, you’re unlikely to require a substantial additional investment in your safety programs to bring them up to “VPP standards.”
• Employee benefits. Employees of a VPP facility are more productive with fewer absences and instances of tardiness than the industry norm. This is due in part to the empowerment and commitment employees feel. In addition, employees are likely to see added fringe benefits such as lower health insurance premiums, higher wages and better benefits – all as a result of the company’s bigger bottom line.
• Marketing advantages/bragging rights. VPP status is universally recognized as a symbol of excellence and reliability; the mileage your marketing and PR departments can get out of an OSHA Star are tremendous.
• Freedom from OSHA inspections. VPP Star sites are exempt from OSHA planned/programmed inspections – meaning that unless you have a serious accident or alleged safety hazard (both of which are uncommon in Star sites), you don’t have to worry about OSHA showing up on your doorstep unannounced.

• Low incident rates. Ideally, your organization’s lost workday and injury/illness rates should be below the industry average. Failing that, you should have a comprehensive plan in place that addresses your above-average rates with workable solutions to reduce your rates.
• Management commitment. Your organization’s programs and practices must show strong involvement on the part of managers and supervisors, especially among the “top brass.” Safety and health management issues must be integrated with standard practices (i.e., safety must be part of every process, not an addition to every process). Clear safety and health management goals should be defined and plans for meeting these objectives laid out; all of this must be communicated to the company’s employees.
• Employee involvement. Employees must be fully trained and should demonstrate a commitment to safety and health practices. They must be aware of safety concerns and understand the consequences of failing to follow safety and health requirements. Worker input should help determine safety policies and practices.
• Worksite analysis. You should have a baseline hazard analysis that highlights areas of importance from a safety and health perspective. In particular, any areas addressed by OSHA standards, fire and safety codes, etc., should receive special attention. Your analysis should identify all instances of the various hazards as well as the control or coping methods for dealing with these hazards. You should also document tests and analyses of your hazards to determine if circumstances or technologies have changed such that you should alter your system accordingly. Lastly, frequent inspections/self-checks of the site and workers should be done on a regular basis. In all cases, detailed records or logs should be kept detailing actions taken or considered.
• Training and control. In addition to the safety training all employees receive, supervisors and trainers should receive refresher training or training in new/enhanced techniques as necessary. Some method of assessing the effectiveness of training must be in place; it isn’t enough that an employee sits through a training session – he/she must have “gotten the message.” Records of all training received/performed and subsequent assessments must be maintained, and all employees should be aware not only of safety rules and requirements but also of the consequences (both health-related and punitive) of failing to follow safety practices.

• Setting the time. You and an OSHA VPP representative will set up a mutually convenient time for your evaluation, which will typically last for 4 days. At the end of each day, the team will meet with your designated person or persons (see below) to discuss, in general terms, the day’s findings.
• Preparing for the visit. You should designate a panel of employees to assist the inspection team and to be available as needed. This panel should represent a good cross-section profile of your organization, and its members should be able to deal with any issues concerning the evaluation that may arise. In addition, you should set aside a private work area for the inspection team where they can make plans, discuss the evaluation and conduct employee interviews.
• The evaluation team. OSHA will send an evaluation team consisting of three to five members, occasionally more. This team will usually be composed of a team leader, a safety specialist and an industrial hygienist; in some cases the team leader will be assisted by a backup, and occasionally an employee of another VPP site will accompany the OSHA team members.
• The initial meeting. The evaluation will begin with a meeting in which the inspection team and your key personnel are introduced to one another. At this time, you should give a brief overview of your organization and your safety and health program, and offer a brief tour of the facility. You will want to be certain all key staff members are introduced to the evaluation team so the inspectors will know whom to ask for assistance.
• The walkthrough. The evaluation team will conduct an inspection of all pertinent areas of your facility to verify whether you have properly identified and controlled all hazards. There will be an initial walkthrough performed by the team as a whole and subsequent targeted inspections of various areas by individual members of the inspection crew. During the walkthrough, brief informal interviews of workers (both employees and contract labor) will be conducted.
• The document review. The team will evaluate all your written documents including safety programs, policy and procedure manuals, accident/injury reports, hazard analyses, employee reports/suggestions, site inspections, safety meeting minutes and training records. Basically, anything your organization has done or will do that involves safety (and in the eyes of the investigating team, almost everything will!) should have written documentation supporting it – and the team will want to evaluate those documents.
• Employee interviews. In addition to the short, informal interviews the inspection team may have with your workers during the walkthroughs, you can expect key personnel and a random sampling of “line workers” to be given formal interviews. The purpose of these interviews is to determine whether or not your company’s “safety ethic” goes more than skin deep – they want to see that all your workers are practicing what your policies are preaching. These interviews run a half-hour or less, and all questions asked will relate to your organization’s safety and health program.
• Closing meeting. As noted above, the team will conduct a brief meeting with your designated personnel at the close of each day’s inspection. In addition, after the team members are through with their evaluation, they will prepare a draft report and meet with you to discuss their findings and recommendation. You will be given an opportunity at this meeting to discuss any issues you feel warrant clarification or additional scrutiny. In essence, it’s your chance to bring up additional information or evidence to offset any negative impressions or findings the inspectors may have found.
• The determination. After conducting the closing meeting with your personnel, the inspection team members will draft a final report along with their recommendations to the Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health, who is responsible for making the final determination. The Assistant Secretary will forward a copy of the final report to you, along with a decision letter – your “bottom line,” pass-fail answer.

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