Hurst Post Office to receive top OSHA safety award

Postal worksite earns Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) “Star” Award

HURST, TX — Beginning Friday, in addition to Old Glory, the Hurst Post Office will be flying a new flag, the one that identifies it as an OSHA Voluntary Protection Program “Star” site. Hurst will be the first Post Office in Tarrant County to achieve this distinction. To commemorate the accomplishment, a VPP flag ceremony is being held at 9 a.m. Friday, September 19 at the Hurst Main Post Office, 825 Precinct Line Road. The presentation will occur at a city owned pavilion in a park next door to the Post Office. (In the event of bad weather, everything will occur in the Post Office Building.)

VPP promotes effective worksite-based safety and health by enlisting the help of every employee, both management and labor, under the guidance of OSHA.

To become a VPP site, an application is submitted and reviewed by OSHA followed by a rigorous on-site evaluation by a team of OSHA safety and health experts. More information on the award is available online at the U. S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) website: http://www.osha.gov/dcsp/vpp/all_about_vpp.html.

“We’re celebrating the honor of being designated a VPP site and we’re celebrating the fact we all worked together to make it happen,” said Postmaster Denise Buell. “I’m proud of every employee.” OSHA approved the first site in 1982. Since then, only 1,400 workplaces across the nation have been accepted into the program. Federal worksites became eligible for the program in 1998. The Hurst Post Office is the third Post Office in the Postal Service's Fort Worth District and nationally the 147th Postal facility to win the award.

OSHA representative Josh Lewis will make the VPP flag and trophy presentation. National, state and local Postal Service, Government and local community officials will be present and will join Hurst Post Office employees for the event. Following the ceremony, lunch will be served and invited guests will have the opportunity to meet with Hurst Post Office employees.

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An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits every address in the nation — 146 million homes and businesses. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses, not tax dollars. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.