Taking Workplace Safety to Heart

Bloomington’s Burnett Post Office is Honored by OSHA

BLOOMINGTON, MN — The Thomas Burnett Branch Post Office, 6101 W. Old Shakopee Rd., has joined an elite group of workplaces by becoming the first postal facility in Minnesota named a Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Star site by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

OSHA will present the VPP plaque and Star flag to the employees of Thomas Burnett on Thursday, July 10 at 9 a.m. OSHA representatives, local community and business leaders and postal officials will attend.

In the VPP, management, labor, and OSHA establish cooperative relationships at workplaces that have implemented a comprehensive safety and health management system. Approval into VPP is OSHA’s official recognition of the outstanding efforts of employers and employees who have achieved exemplary occupational safety and health. While there are more than seven million workplaces regulated by OSHA, fewer than 1,800 have attained VPP status.

The legislative underpinning for VPP is Section (2)(b)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, which declares the Congress’s intent "to assure so far as possible every working man and woman in the Nation safe and healthful working conditions and to preserve our human resources - (1) by encouraging employers and employees in their efforts to reduce the number of occupational safety and health hazards at their places of employment, and to stimulate employers and employees to institute new and to perfect existing programs for providing safe and healthful working conditions."

In practice, VPP sets performance-based criteria for a managed safety and health system, invites sites to apply, and then assesses applicants against these criteria. OSHA’s verification includes an application review and a rigorous onsite evaluation by a team of OSHA safety and health experts.

Burnett Branch Manager Terry Von Bank says that the designation could not have been achieved without a collaborative, “can-do” effort by all employees. “We can speak all we want about the value of safety in the workplace, but these people have really rolled up their sleeves and done something about it,” he said. “It’s hard to describe how proud I am to be part of such a dedicated group.”