SAN ANTONIO — Valero Travel Services in San Antonio has earned membership in the prestigious Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) at the star, or highest, level for achieving three years of excellence in employee health and safety.
Eric S. Harbin, director, and Lyndol Miller, VPP coordinator, in OSHA’s Austin Area Office attended the recognition ceremony at the company’s facility on Sky Place Boulevard in San Antonio.
“Valero Travel Services has demonstrated excellence in effective safety and health management,” said OSHA Regional Administrator Dean W. McDaniel in Dallas. “Its management’s and employees’ outstanding efforts include maintaining an injury and illness rate below the national average for the industry.”
The facility has 41 employees who provide travel services for Valero employees. Valero Travel Services is a business unit of San Antonio-based Valero Energy Corp.
More than 2,030 worksites nationwide have earned entry into OSHA’s VPP. Employers that have been accepted into the VPP represent more than 270 industries. Requirements include a high degree of management commitment and employee involvement; a high-quality worksite analysis, hazard prevention and control program; and comprehensive safety and health training for all employees. Each of these elements must be effective, in place and in operation for at least one year before a company can apply to join the VPP. Companies in the VPP achieve average injury and illness rates below the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) average and other companies in their respective industries.
OSHA has improved workplace safety and health over the past 37 years. This success is reflected in the latest data (2006) showing the lowest national injury and illness incidence rate that the BLS has ever recorded. OSHA will continue to work diligently to focus its resources where they will have the most impact in assuring that every working man and woman returns home safely every day.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthy workplace for their employees. OSHA’s role is to promote the safety and health of America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual process improvement in workplace safety and health. For more information, visit www.osha.gov.
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