Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany achieves Voluntary Protection Program Star status | VIDEO

May 05--MCLB-ALBANY -- Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany has joined a group which includes some of the safest employers in the world.

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Base officials were recognized Tuesday by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for "superior excellence in health and worker safety" and awarded the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Star Status, designating the base as a Star site within the Department of Defense.

The Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. John M. Paxton Jr., was in attendance at the ceremony, held at the amphitheater at the base's Covella Pond. On Tuesday, he exhibited pride for the base and Marine Corps Logistics Command for what it does and what the VPP recognition means.

"I am keenly aware how hard-earned this award is ... you are in a unique category now," Paxton said.

The general indicated the momentum needed to reach such a status should be replicated over the next five years.

"(Others) will want to learn from you," he said. "They will want to replicate your work."

Paxton noted to reporters following the ceremony that the Marine Corps would be unable to function without the work done in Albany, and how recognition of safety achievements at a place expected to support work involving heavy equipment makes it more significant.

"We are recognizing a culture of safety and commitment to safety," he said. "There is less lost time and lost money, and we accomplish the mission faster."

Presentations were made to division directors on the base, as well as special recognitions to other individuals, by MCLB-Albany Commanding Officer Col. Don Davis. Laura Macaluso, associate director of personnel risk reduction for the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, presented a coin and letter of recognition to MCLB officials.

The VPP Star presentation was made to Davis by Robert Vazzi, area director for the OSHA Savannah Area Office.

"Our primary focus is to do enforcement," Vazzi said. "We inspect worksites for minor infractions (and) severe infractions. It's not often that I get to come and congratulate people like you who have worked hard to improve safety so each and every one of you gets to go home at the end of the day with no injury.

"You have a lot to be commended for as a VPP Star site. You are the elite of the elite ... There is a Merit, a VPP Merit, which is mid-level. You went straight from where you were to the very top."

The ceremony was meant to formally recognize the base for the highest and, what is considered to be, the most challenging participation category in OSHA's achievement program. Officials said MCLB-Albany is only the second installation in the Corps to achieve the VPP award and associated status.

It had been a status the base had been trying to achieve since 2009, in part through the work the base's Risk Management Office has done in educating its work force on the risk management process and what employee safety responsibilities are.

"It's been a long journey .... (Our goal) is to make sure everyone is going home safe to their families after completing the mission," said Davis. "We are humbled and honored to make that vision (first sought in 2009) a reality today."

The colonel made sure to thank the employees there at Tuesday's ceremony for their work in achieving VPP Star status.

"You can tell your (family) not to worry about you," he said. "You are at a VPP Star site."

Approval into VPP is OSHA's official recognition of efforts of employers and employees who have "achieved exemplary occupational safety and health." It approves qualified sites to one of three programs -- Star, Merit and Demonstration.

In 1982, OSHA formally announced the VPP and approved the first site. In 1998, federal worksites became eligible for VPP. The benefit comes, officials say, for employees as well as industries as a whole when fewer injuries and illnesses mean greater profits as workers' compensation premiums and other costs drop.

Information available on the effectiveness of VPP shows that the average VPP worksite has a Days Away Restricted or Transferred case rate of 52 percent below the average for its industry.

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