FORT JACKSON, S.C. (November 2006) — The Fort Jackson community will soon undertake a new safety and occupational health challenge.

The Department of Defense recently challenged military installations to reduce workplace mishaps by 75 percent. To help installations reach that goal, DoD has teamed with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to implement the Voluntary Protection Program Center of Excellence (DoD VPPCX). Fort Jackson was recently accepted into the program.

“The Army is pushing for all installations to obtain VPP status,” said Sean O’Brian, Fort Jackson Safety Office director. “It is a voluntary program and we are opening our doors and asking them to help us determine the way ahead. The premise is actually pretty simple: All employees have the right to a safe and healthful workplace, and management has the duty to provide it.”

One significant difference in attitude, however, is the concept of “employee buy-in.” “We don’t want our folks to do the right thing in safety and occupational health just because it is the rule, we want them to do it because they understand that it will make them safer,” O’Brian said.

The DoD team will be providing a VPP 101 briefing to all civilian supervisors and additional duty safety officers on Dec. 5. About 90 days after that briefing, a team of safety and occupational health experts will visit Fort Jackson and examine work sites and the installation’s existing safety program.

“Based on that inspection, the inspection team will provide a gap analysis, show us where we are, where we want to go and potential course of action to help us get to that point,” O’Brian said. “It is a big program. Once DoD thinks Fort Jackson is ready, OSHA will come in and conduct an extensive inspection of all workplaces and the overall safety program. If we meet their criteria we will achieve VPP status.

“This isn’t a safety office project,” O’Brian said. “This is a group effort. It is for each member of the Fort Jackson community to work toward a common goal: enhanced safety and occupational health for all. This isn’t a short-term project either. We won’t achieve it in 30 days. It will take a concerted effort over an extended period of time. We have to be in it for the long haul.”

For m ore information on the DoD VPPCX Program, go to: http://www.vppcx.org

Preventable injuries and illnesses cost DoD an estimated $10 to $21 billion each year, according to the National Safety Council.

According to OSHA, the average VPP worksite reports a lost work day rate that is 52 percent below the average for its industry.

So far only one Army installation, Tobyhanna Depot, Pa., has implemented VPP. The depot reported a 60 percent reduction in lost work days since starting the program. The Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and other federal agencies have also implemented VPP with positive results.