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Most people would find it reassuring to know that their workplace had been judged a "model workplace" by OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. But recently, a number of fatal accidents at sites that OSHA had said were model workplaces have called into question the validity of the program.
The key to the OSHA program, known as VPP (Voluntary Protection Program), is that by demonstrating certain safety standards, a company can avoid having regular inspections by OSHA. In theory, this allows OSHA to concentrate its efforts on the most serious violators of workplace safety. But a recent series of investigative articles by the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) has uncovered some disturbing findings with the program.
Since 2000, at least 80 workers have died at sites to which OSHA had awarded its "VPP Star" certification, according to the CPI analysis of OSHA data. After investigating the deaths, OSHA subsequently found serious safety violations in more than half of those cases, which calls into question whether VPP certification truly ensures that workplaces are safe, or whether it instead allows workplaces to relax their standards once certification is obtained.
Today, at least 65 percent of the sites that had fatalities remain in the VPP program, despite the deaths. In addition to the deaths that were known to the VPP program officials, CPI uncovered 15 deaths at VPP sites that didn't even appear in OSHA's database. At least two occurred in Pennsylvania-one at a steel mill and one at a paper mill.
The VPP program was begun during the Reagan administration and greatly expanded from 2000 to 2008 under President Bush. Yet during that expansion, the number of OSHA staff people available to monitor safety actually decreased. Generally, once a company has qualified for VPP Star status, an inspection won't occur again for three years. Only a serious accident or a formal complaint to OSHA would trigger a new investigation.
If your workplace has been granted VPP Star status, don't let that stand in the way of notifying OSHA of any workplace dangers you may see. And if you or someone you know has been injured at the workplace, talk to an experienced personal injury attorney.
