Voluntary Protection Programs
Annual Evaluation of Calendar Year 2017 Injury and Illness Rates
The Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) promotes effective worksite-based safety and health. In VPP, management, labor, and OSHA establish cooperative relationships at workplaces that have implemented a comprehensive safety and health management program. Participation in VPP requires each VPP participant to evaluate annually the effectiveness of their safety and health management programs. The self-evaluation must include assessments of all VPP elements and sub-elements of the VPP participant's safety and health management program.
By February 15th of each year, VPP participants must submit their annual self-evaluation to their Regional VPP Manager. The injury and illness rates from the VPP participant's annual self-evaluations are forwarded to the National Office where OSHA uses the information to update records and statistics, to showcase successes related to implementation of VPP requirements, and to demonstrate that VPP participants are committed to continuously improving employee safety and health at their worksites.
Below is a summary of the findings from the calendar year 2017 annual evaluation of VPP participants' injury and illness rates.
Site-Based Non-Construction VPP Participants
During calendar year 2017, VPP participants experienced the following results. On average, rates for site-based non-construction VPP participants are 52 percent below the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) Total Case Incident Rate (TCIR) and 50 percent below the BLS Days Away from Work, Restricted Work Activity, or Job Transfer (DART) rate for their respective industries. This data was collected from 1,033 Federal jurisdiction site-based non-construction VPP participants representing more than 367,000 employees.
Other interesting results from the 2017 VPP Annual Evaluation:
- Site-based non-construction VPP participants avoided an estimated 6,483 TCIR injuries when compared to expected results within their respective industries.
- Site-based non-construction VPP participants avoided an estimated 3,707 DART injuries when compared to expected results within their respective industries.
- The 1,025 site-based non-construction VPP Star participants are, on average, 52 percent below the BLS TCIR and 50 percent below the BLS DART for their respective industries.
- The six site-based non-construction VPP Merit participants are, on average, 56 percent below the BLS TCIR and 46 percent below the BLS DART for their respective industries.
- The 101 Federal, site-based non-construction VPP participants are, on average, 51 percent below the BLS TCIR and 45 percent below the BLS DART for their respective industries.
- The 196 site-based non-construction VPP participants covered by the Process Safety Management (PSM) standard are, on average, 52 percent below the BLS TCIR and 54 percent below the BLS DART for their respective industries.
- There are 414 site-based non-construction VPP participants that experienced zero recordable injuries and illnesses during 2017.
Site-Based Construction and Mobile Workforce VPP Participants
During calendar year 2017, VPP participants experienced the following results. On average, site-based construction and mobile workforce VPP participants are 58 percent below the BLS TCIR rate and 73 percent below the BLS DART rate for their respective industries. This data was collected from 87 Federal jurisdiction site-based construction and mobile workforce VPP participants representing more than 30,000 employees.
Other interesting results from the 2017 VPP Annual Evaluation:
- Site-based construction and mobile workforce VPP participants avoided an estimated 430 TCIR injuries when compared to expected results within their respective industries.
- Site-based construction and mobile workforce VPP participants avoided an estimated 302 DART injuries when compared to expected results within their respective industries.
- The 72 site-based construction and mobile workforce VPP Star participants are, on average, 58 percent below the BLS TCIR and 72 percent below the BLS DART for their respective industries.
- The two site-based construction VPP Merit participants are 100 percent below the BLS TCIR and 100 percent below the BLS DART for their respective industries.
- The 34 site-based construction and mobile workforce VPP participants covered by the PSM standard are, on average, 84 percent below the BLS TCIR and 95 percent below the BLS DART for their respective industries.
- There are 44 site-based construction and mobile workforce VPP participants that experienced zero recordable injuries and illnesses during 2017.