Contributor: Carli Snyder – Digital Content Coordinator, VPPPA
VPPPA is dedicated to safety excellence in all areas. From the frontline worker to the supervisor to the C-suite executive, safety must be ingrained in a company’s culture to achieve safety excellence. It begs the question: What is safety excellence? How can safety be kept at the heart of what we do?
The phrase “safety excellence” has been defined in many ways. Each individual person may have their own connection to the phrase and their own ways of defining it. Safety excellence is generally defined as a commitment to improving safety standards, taking a proactive approach, and integrating safety into workplace culture.
“Safety and health is with me absolutely every day,” said William Linneweh, VPPPA Vice Chair and Director of Environmental, Health, Safety & Security at Hendrickson. “In 1980, my father had a devastating on-the-job injury. He fell about 18 feet into a storm water system vault at an apartment complex he was doing surveying work at.”
This incident led Linneweh to pursue workplace safety and health. His personal connection to the importance of workplace safety helps him keep safety at the heart of what he does in his career.
“For safety and health, the day-in and day-out, you have got to have a positive attitude,” said Linneweh. “You’ve got to be willing to have your door open, take a call, work with people. Those little things make a huge difference.”
VPPPA has multiple avenues to help companies and sites improve their safety systems. Whether they are aiming for VPP status or just seeking to improve from where they currently are, VPPPA aims to meet sites where they are in their journey. Programs such as VPPPA’s Journey Toward Safety Excellence helps sites explore ways to improve.
“We have over 140 VPP sites around the U.S., and we have over 30 SGEs [Special Government Employees] that go out partnering, mentoring, and working with different companies,” said Myron Harper, VPPPA Director-at-Large and National Health & Safety Director at Cintas. “We love sharing what we’ve done and what we’ve been able to build. That’s where safety excellence comes into play.”
At Cintas, employees are referred to as “partners” and are encouraged to speak up and provide suggestions for keeping the workplace safe. Harper believes that the frontline worker often has the solution to a problem, and empowering them to suggest safety improvements is crucial to keeping safety at the heart of company culture.
“We created an environment where it’s easy for our partners to submit best practice ideas or be in a proactive safety program,” said Harper. “We want to be proactive, not reactive. I want to fix something before it happens.”
VPPPA’s Safety+ conference is dedicated to helping companies, sites, and individuals keep safety close to their hearts. By bringing together safety professionals, the networking and sharing of information is incredibly valuable.
“Constant improvement, constant practice, constant education, and going to VPPPA’s Safety+, doing those things are necessary to continue to improve,” said Harper. “We mentor companies and companies mentor us. Through VPPPA, we’ve been able to do that.”
Continuous improvement is a major component of safety excellence. Refining an approach to individual workplace needs is crucial to growing company safety culture. The same safety plan cannot work in every company, every organization, and every worksite.
“One of the things that attracted me to VPP and VPPPA years ago was the personal, non-cookie cutter approach,” said Terry Schulte, VPPPA Chairperson and Senior HSE Manager at Milguard. “Getting employees engaged and making it individual, helping them understand why we are doing what we are doing, is what makes this association so great. It’s a personal approach for sure.”
Schulte’s enthusiasm for VPPPA and helping spread awareness about achieving safety excellence is present every day. He is committed to improving employee engagement and ingraining safety into workplace culture in every conversation.
Ultimately, “safety excellence” is a dedication to improving safety standards. Safety professionals dedicate themselves to this idea, striving to help workers return home to their loved ones safely at the end of their workday.
“It’s a journey, not a destination,” said Harper. “It’s a continuous effort, it’s continuous improvement. It’s all of us together.”