Mixed Signals for the Highly Regarded OSHA Voluntary Protection Program
In a speech given by Secretary of Labor Hida Solis for the National Workers Memorial at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland on Tuesday, April 28, 2009 she made the following statements. “Under my watch, enforcement of our labor laws will be intensified to provide an effective deterrent to employers who put their workers’ lives at risk. OSHA and MSHA will be about workers — not voluntary programs and alliances.”
This statement was reiterated by the acting head of the OSHA Jordan Barab before a House panel Thursday April 30th that he has instructed staff to suspend a voluntary protection program launched under the Bush administration to free up resources for enforcement. His exact statement was “We need to better utilize the resources that we already have. In order to direct more of OSHA’s existing resources into enforcement and to provide time to address concerns in an upcoming GAO Report on the efficacy of OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program, I have informed the field staff that we will suspend the previous administration’s practice of establishing goals for new Voluntary Protection Program sites and Alliances.” This has caused significant confusion for VPP sites and the safety and health community.
In response to the resulting confusion, Acting Assistant Secretary Barab called VPPPA’s Executive Director R. Davis Layne and assured him that OSHA is not suspending VPP. He indicated changes represent a shift in focus toward enforcement but do not equate to an elimination of OSHA’s VPP. In the course of the conversation, Barab accepted an invitation to attend the association’s 25th Annual National VPPPA Conference in San Antonio, Texas, August 24-27, 2009, and address the anticipated 2,500 attendees.
So the question still remains, what does the future hold for highly successful Voluntary Protection Program under the Obama administration?
