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Hazelwood Salutes Printpack, Inc. For Star-Level Status in OSHA Safety Program
Hazelwood Mayor Matthew Robinson, Fire Chief Jim Matthies and Police Chief Carl Wolf were among several community leaders who took part in a recent OSHA Star Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) flag-raising ceremony for Printpack, Inc. Matthies presented a “Certificate of Appreciation” to Printpack CEO Gay McLawhorn Love, on behalf of the Hazelwood Fire Department.
Printpack, Inc., is the first organization in the City of Hazelwood to achieve OSHA’s Star VPP status. It’s also the third plant among the company’s 25 world-wide manufacturing facilities to be designated as an OSHA Star VPP worksite.
The VPP, adopted by OSHA, is designed to promote excellence in safety and health by recognizing facilities with outstanding occupational safety and health management systems. Based on a cooperative relationship between management, labor and government, the VPP promotes worker protection, requiring active employee involvement and management commitment. OSHA also conducts a thorough on-site evaluation to judge how well the site’s protective system is working, including a review of site injury/illness rates. Selection as a VPP participant is a distinguished honor. Continuous improvement is expected.
The VPP Star Program is designed for exemplary worksites with comprehensive, successful safety and health management systems. Companies in the Star Program have achieved injury and illness rates at or below the national average of their respective industries. These sites are self-sufficient in their ability to control workplace hazards. Star participants are re-evaluated every three to five years, although incident rates are reviewed annually.
Printpack officials believe this STAR level achievement could not have been accomplished without the vision of the company’s safety director Ford Best, who passed away recently, and the dedication and hard work of all the safety committee members.
The Hazelwood Fire Department has played a key role as a community partner with Printpack by training members of the plant emergency organization (PEO) on what to do in emergency situations. Fire Chief Jim Matthies said: “On behalf of the Hazelwood Fire Department, we congratulate Printpack on achieving the goals set forth by OSHA. It takes many groups of people to achieve this level of success. We appreciate being a part of this effort to help improve the company’s safety and health management systems.”
