Management Briefing Article Discusses OSHA VPP and Explains How to Align with OSHA Guidelines
NORWELL, MA - Clean Harbors, North America's leading provider of environmental, energy and industrial services, has published a management briefing entitled "Creating an Effective Health & Safety Program Using OSHA VPP as the Template" that advises companies to take advantage of the injury and illness prevention research and guidance offered by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) and its Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) as a basis for internal health & safety programs.
The briefing argues that OSHA rules are the basis of regulations in all of the 50 states and for safety programs in the U.S. Departments of Defense (DOD) and Energy (DOE), and serve as a model for national programs in Australia, Canada and the European Union, as well as other countries. By establishing a comprehensive core health & safety program that is flexible enough to accommodate the unique demands of specific sites or jurisdictions, companies can increase safety across the board while managing compliance costs.
Using Clean Harbors' experience in setting up its programs, the management briefing demonstrates how adopting VPP-compatible safety practices enables companies to instill safety into their corporate cultures and significantly affect safety outcomes.
"Using VPP as a guide, we were able to efficiently organize our policies into a cohesive program," commented Stephen Raab, Clean Harbors Senior Vice President, Health & Safety. "We discovered that 75 to 80 percent of our existing documentation that had been guiding us for years fit right into the VPP structure; there was a gap of only 20-25 percent that required additional documentation that had to be created in order for us to meet the requirements."
Part of Clean Harbors' information series for companies that handle and/or generate hazardous materials, the briefing is designed to be an overview for environmental and regulatory Compliance Managers, as well as Employee Health & Safety Managers. It is available at: www.cleanharbors.com/vpp-pr.
About Clean Harbors
Clean Harbors is the leading provider of environmental, energy and industrial services throughout North America. The Company serves over 60,000 customers, including a majority of the Fortune 500 companies, thousands of smaller private entities and numerous federal, state, provincial and local governmental agencies. Headquartered in Norwell, Massachusetts, Clean Harbors has more than 200 locations, including over 50 waste management facilities, throughout North America in 37 U.S. states, seven Canadian provinces, Mexico and Puerto Rico. For more information, visit www.cleanharbors.com.
