Contributor: Son Nguyen – Membership Manager, VPPPA

We often get the question – “Do I need to be pursuing VPP Star status to be a member of VPPPA?” or “If my company is no longer a VPP participant, why should I continue my membership?” The answer is: VPPPA’s mission is to advance health and safety excellence through collaboration, mentorship, and education to raise the standard for a safe & healthy workplace. Our goal is to make safety a core value for every employer and every employee, no matter what your status is.

We all know the benefits of an effective safety and health program. Besides just being the right thing to do, it keeps employees safe, and it saves a company a lot of money. If you talk to other safety and health VPP leaders, they will address productivity, quality, and taking care of people; VPP sites are models. However, it’s more about culture above everything else.

VPP has been called the “gold standard” for safety and health management systems. However, some companies are not ready to reach that peak yet, but they still want to work toward the goal of operating at the highest level of safety. We’ve gotten questions on how to maintain that “gold standard” even if VPP isn’t the right fit for your company. Membership within VPPPA provides different roads to take, while still arriving at the same destination: a safer and healthier workplace.

Safety+ Symposium

For over 30 years, the VPPPA Safety+ Symposium is the only national educational event for VPP worksites to achieve and maintain safety and health excellence. Attendees will have a unique opportunity to interact and directly learn from other safety professionals, industry leaders, and federal agencies. Interaction with these safety professionals will help improve your company’s safety program through educational seminars, round-table discussions, and collaboration with other industry professionals.

• Expand your knowledge
  • Over 50 educational workshops to choose from. A well-established venue for educational opportunities for employees of various industries who are seeking safety excellence.

• Stay ahead of regulatory trends
  • These trends have a direct impact on how you’re expected to implement safety. Federal and state leadership provide insight into how regulatory organizations operate, which gives you an understanding of how regulatory changes come about and why.

• Networking
  • Safety professionals from a wide variety of industries attend Safety+ and build lasting collaborative relationships. You’ll gain tools for establishing and/or maintaining a safe work environment, whether your company employs 5 employees or 5000 employees.

• Exciting memories
  • Have a fun time while attending educational workshops, networking with peers, and evening receptions.

Mentoring

VPPPA members help other sites reach the highest level of occupational safety and health performance through our mentoring program. The VPPPA mentoring program pairs sites that have achieved Star status with sites that are just starting their VPP journey, need additional program guidance, or are looking to improve best practices at their facilities. A mentor understands the frustrations and setbacks as well as the milestones, triumphs, realities, and successes.

Education

• VPPPA’s eLearning Toolbox helps safety professionals raise the standard for a safe and healthy workplace through professional development, innovation, and sharing of best practices among sites and companies engaged in world-class EHS&S practices. The goal of VPPPA’s eLearning Toolbox is to provide resources to safety & health professionals that continuously work to advance safety & health excellence.

• Our live webinar program strives to offer the content you need most, accessible from anywhere. Now more than ever, online education has proven to be a vital resource.

• ​The Leader, our award-winning quarterly magazine, provides in-depth information and guidance on the most crucial issues that affect our members to help them stay informed. We dedicate each issue to an important occupational safety and health subject. Alongside a wide range of articles exploring the specific topic, members can find updates on the Association’s activities, including educational and networking events near you.

I believe we can all agree that we’d love to see worksites achieve continuous improvement toward their occupational safety and health goals; and experience fewer workplace fatalities, injuries, and illnesses. VPPPA is here to help you achieve those goals. Please feel free to contact membership@vpppa.org with any questions.