OSHA Speeches
"Building Monuments of Excellence".
OSHA Speeches -
Table of Contents
- Record Type: Speech
- Subject: "Building Monuments of Excellence".
- Information Date: 09/14/1999
- Presented To: Voluntary Protection Programs Participants
Association Conference
- Speaker: Jeffress , Charles N.
"This document was published prior to the publication of OSHA's final
rule on Ergonomics Program (29 CFR 1910.900, November 14, 2000), and
therefore does not necessarily address or reflect the provisions set forth
in the final standard."
Charles N. Jeffress Voluntary Protection
Programs Participants Association Conference "Building Monuments of
Excellence" Washington, D.C. September 14, 1999
- It is a real pleasure to meet with an organization here in
Washington that believes in safety and health protection. I am delighted
to be among friends! Rather than having to stand in front of a group
convincing them that safety and health makes sense, I can come here and
hear you tell me how your programs reduce injuries and illnesses.
- That's where VPP companies excel. And every VPP site is different.
IP Nursery in Selma, Alabama, and CF Industries in St. Louis, Missouri,
each have only six employees. On the other end of the scale is Newport
News Shipbuilding in Virginia, which covers 31,000 workers. Industries
vary from chemical manufacturing to a nursing home to lumber and wood
products. VPP companies make golf balls, razors and cookies.
- And I am delighted to share the stage today with Pete Correll, CEO
of Georgia Pacific, one of the giants in proving that safety and health
management is critical to successful businesses today.
- Some of your VPP sites have been in the program just a few months.
But 51 of you have already established yourselves as monuments of
excellence. You have 10 years or more in the program. Just to recognize
the veterans among you, could we have VPP participants with 10 or more
years stand, please? You're looking at a decade of success-people who
collectively have prevented thousands of injuries at their sites. We
applaud your leadership and achievement in safety and health.
- Despite the differences among your programs, all VPP sites know
firsthand that safety pays. You have a safety and health program that's
effective in protecting workers from occupational injuries and
illnesses. Your monuments aren't made of granite or brass. Your
monuments are healthy, safe, productive workers -- workers who can do
their best because they know their safety and health comes first.
- Your programs aren't the same -- they're tailored to fit each site.
But they incorporate the same basic principles, and they produce similar
successes. You've each tried a systems management approach to workplace
safety and health for one reason: It works!
- It's easy to see in the numbers. Savings of $110 million each year
thanks to 50 percent fewer injuries. In fact, if every company in VPP
today continues for 10 years, your workers will avoid more than 35,000
injuries, and together you'll save more than $1 billion. That's enough
that even people here in Washington will sit up and take notice!
- Not everyone in the Capital though sees the value of safety and
health programs-or the relevance of a systems approach to safety. From
the questions I'm called upon to answer, it's not clear that everyone
believes the impact of safety and health programs are worth the cost.
- But you have the facts and figures. You have the proof to dispel the
myth that safety and health programs pose added burdens with few
benefits. You know the opposite is true: safety and health
programs add value and reduce costs.
- I want to extend the benefits that employees receive at topnotch
companies like yours to all working Americans. I'd love to see
occupational injuries sliced in half. There's only one way to make that
happen. That's to ensure that every employer establishes a safety and
health program. To bring that to pass, we need your help.
- It's time to respond directly to the critics. When critics and
uninformed officials say safety and health programs are costly or
unnecessary, they suggest you don't know what you're doing. They are
ignorant of the reasons for your investment and your achievements.
- Let me share with you the questions I get asked. First, why do small
businesses need safety and health programs? Of course, the answer is
simple. Safety and health hazards exist in companies of all sizes. While
the smallest employers -- those with 10 or fewer employees -- account
for only 15 percent of the American workforce, they accounted for 30
percent of workplace deaths in 1997. That's twice as many deaths as
their percentage in the workforce. They need safety programs just as
much as -- even more than -- employees at larger companies-yet they're
less likely to have them. OSHA surveys show that a majority of
establishments with more than 100 employees have safety and health
programs. But only a small minority of smaller sites do.
- How do we know safety and health programs will work at smaller
companies? We know because of you. About 15 percent of VPP participants
have fewer than 100 employees. Two have fewer than 10. You've proven
safety and health programs make a significant difference. The
consultation program we run in conjunction with state officials also
demonstrates the effectiveness of safety and health programs among
smaller companies. And when you talk to your contractors and suppliers
who are small businesses, please encourage those who need it to take
advantage of this free consultation service.
- The second question I frequently get is: Do safety and health
programs really prevent injuries? Well, no athlete wins without
training. No business succeeds without planning. Focusing on safety up
front is the only way to integrate it into the daily ebb and flow of
your work. States that have required employers to have safety and health
programs for five years or more-Alaska, California, Hawaii and
Washington-have reduced injuries faster than the rest of the country.
You all know better than I that safety and health programs work.
- Third question: Shouldn't OSHA adopt voluntary guidelines for safety
and health programs rather than mandatory requirements? As you know, we
did-10 years ago. Since then 59 million workplace injuries have occurred
and 73,500 workers have died on the job. Plus, employers have spent more
than $1 trillion -- that's one trillion dollars in 10 years -- on
injuries alone! Yet only about 30 percent of small employers have seen
the wisdom of adopting safety and health programs. If we are to pass
along your experience, and if we are to fulfill our obligation to
protect American workers, we need to move from voluntary guidelines to
required practices. We are counting on businesses like yours affirming
that these required practices are good business decisions.
- Safety pays for workers, employers and stockholders. That's the
message we need you to take to your industry and your community. Share
your success-and let all working Americans benefit.
- Many of you have been reaching out to other companies in a number of
helpful ways. I want to commend you for that. You've held regional
conferences to spark interest in VPP. Your association has developed a
VPP application workshop to assist companies in applying for OSHA
recognition.
- You've also helped directly in expanding VPP by sharing your staff
with us -- as Special Government Employees. During the past year more
than 70 representatives of VPP companies have been available to serve on
OSHA evaluation teams.
- I'd like for all the VPP Volunteers to stand. Thank you. You've
given us your time and your expertise -- resources that have benefited
OSHA greatly. Your participation has helped us leverage our limited
resources to increase VPP sites.
- VPP companies have done an outstanding job mentoring companies that
express interest in the program. You've helped 115 companies establish
or improve their safety and health programs and move toward VPP
participation. That's great.
- Now I'm asking you to move beyond those who come to you. I ask you
to step forward to take the message to others who may not be as ready or
eager to receive it. Those who aren't yet convinced are the ones we most
need to reach.
- We've talked about the success of VPP and the importance of
expanding it. We also need to make VPP permanent. I think it's time to
pronounce our 17-year experiment in partnership a success and write it
into law. I commend your association for pursuing this goal, and I thank
Representatives Petri of Wisconsin and Andrews of New Jersey for
introducing the bill. I met last week with Representative Cass
Ballenger, chairman of the subcommittee considering the bill. He has
concerns that safety committees may violate the National Labor Relations
Act and wants to amend the bill. That amendment is totally unnecessary.
I'd like to see the bill passed, and passed quickly, without that
amendment, but the chairman is not yet convinced. I assure you, I will
keep up my efforts to help this bill become law. It's time the U.S.
Congress recognized you as the leaders you are in safety and health.
- However, nothing is moving through Congress quickly these days --
including appropriations bills. I am very concerned because the spending
limits some want to impose threaten support for VPP as well as many
other OSHA and Labor Department programs. If the limits remain, OSHA
will be cut by one-third, and many of the helpful things we do to
support safety and health programs around the country will be scaled
back dramatically.
- In contrast to the retrenchment proposed by Congress, President
Clinton has asked for an additional $12 million in OSHA's budget for
2000 to place full-time occupational safety and health training and
technical assistance staff in every federal OSHA office. We want to do
more education, training and outreach from our area offices. We need to
provide more technical assistance to employers to make a greater impact,
but we must have the resources to do it.
- I particularly appreciate Secretary Herman's leadership as OSHA
finds new ways to work with people. The Secretary has led us in
emphasizing results and developing creative approaches to reach them.
- And we have a number of challenges ahead of us, especially in the
area of new OSHA standards. We plan to propose the safety and health
program rule in the next few months, and we will need your full
participation during that rulemaking. Also, very shortly, we will be
publishing our ergonomics proposal and then our final recordkeeping
rule.
- Ergonomics is a very hot topic in Washington. It's not a new issue.
OSHA has been concerned about work-related musculoskeletal disorders, or
MSDs, for two decades.
- But we can no longer wait to address MSDs. More than one-third of
all serious occupational injuries and illnesses stem from overexertion
or repetition. That's more than 600,000 each year. These injuries cost
businesses $15 to $20 billion annually in workers' comp costs alone. Add
indirect costs, and the total mounts as high as $60 billion.
- Further, we have the scientific evidence and the backing of the
scientists and medical community to move forward now. Studies in 1997 by
NIOSH and in 1998 by the National Academy of Sciences verify that sound
scientific evidence links back injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome and
other MSDs to work. We know that higher physical stress leads to greater
likelihood of injury and that interventions -- ergonomics programs --
can reduce the risk of injury.
- Some people, including many members of Congress, want to see another
study done to verify that ergonomics programs make sense. Based on
experiences like yours, I think we know enough to act now.
- We expect to publish our proposal shortly, take public comments,
hold hearings in early 2000 and then publish a final rule the end of
next year. It's an ambitious schedule, but the issue is critical. Every
year 600,000 people are suffering work-related MSDs, and we must act
now. We welcome your participation in this rulemaking -- especially
since so many of you have developed excellent ergonomics programs.
- Also this year, we will issue our final recordkeeping rule. We had
hoped to publish it sooner so that we could have the new forms in place
in January 2000. We're not going to meet that deadline.
- It's critical to the success of the new system for people to have
the training and support they need to help them learn the differences.
OSHA has promised to provide that. And we will do it. But to do it
right, we need -- and employers and state OSHA programs need -- more
than a couple of months to gear up.
- So I expect that the new rule will not go into effect this coming
January, but January 2001. That will give you time to make the necessary
changes to your systems. I think you will be pleased with the changes
we've made. The new rule will offer clearer definitions of
work-relatedness, a better explanation of what constitutes light duty
and a much improved and simpler recordkeeping form. I encourage VPPPA to
consider offering recordkeeping training -- as other trade and
professional organizations will be doing -- as part of its services to
members and prospective members.
- As you can see, OSHA has plenty of challenges before it over the
next several months. VPP also faces challenges as we enter the next
millennium.
- We need to help sites that have been in the program for many years
find strategies to continually improve their performance. As
motivational speaker Zig Ziglar says, "Go as far as you can see, and
when you get there, you will always be able to see farther." I think
that's a great description of the continual improvement process.
- We also need to expand the program to more sites through continuing
the VPP Volunteers and VPPPA mentoring programs. We need to develop new
models for VPP, such as the program for short-term construction
contractors. We need to communicate VPP success to the public and
decisionmakers to demonstrate the value of safety and health programs.
- When you joined VPP, you made a conscious decision to join a
partnership. You've chosen a different path, one that has made a
significant difference.
- And you have made a big difference to OSHA. We point to all of you
with pride as real world examples how to do safety and health right.
- In this world, few choose partnership. Few reach for the stars. And
fewer still attain your success. OSHA covers more than 6 million
worksites, but less than one-tenth of 1 percent fly Star flags.
- I admire your dedication. I salute your achievement. And I deeply
value your partnership. Thank you for sharing your achievements with us.
OSHA Speeches -
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