You have worked hard and put in your time to make yours the best DOE Voluntary Protection Program in the complex. In fact, you have made working at this level of excellence a part of your everyday culture. Who are you? You are the workers, hourly and management alike at the various contractor sites that aspire to become DOE-VPP sites. Now its time to formally go for recognition of the many accomplishments you have engendered. It's time for preparing and filing THE APPLICATION-the application for becoming a DOE-VPP site.

Since this is a major first step in getting the recognition your site deserves, you want to make sure you have everything just right. In this article, we will take a quick look at some things that can trip you up in filling out your application. Please note, the discussion on the various sections or elements which follow, is not all inclusive and does not necessarily cover all the information needed for drafting a given section. Rather, it is intended to point out some of the more common omissions or incomplete areas that can pose problems in getting your application reviewed and approved.

Your first order of business is to become thoroughly familiar with the DOE-VPP Part III: Application Guidelines. These guidelines lead you through the process section by section and specify the information needed for preparing a complete application. Do not take the guidelines lightly. It is easy to make a "sin of omission" even in the first section, "General Information", if you are not thorough. For example, what is your site's Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code? This code is important since it will be used in conjunction with your injury data to determine your site's position relative to others in the same classification. And what about your injury data, are your rates at or below those for other comparable SIC sites?

Well, you find you are O.K. and are ready to proceed and challenge the "elements". First, comes the Management Leadership Program Element. This is a very important section and contains ten (10) key subelements. Under the Management Leadership element, describe clearly how site management "actively" demonstrates their commitment to the program. Ask yourself the following questions. Are communications to employees about policy and goals clear and effective? How are the managers starting, at the top on down, leading by example? Are your line and staff responsibilities specified? How are managers and supervisors held accountable for the safety and health program? What resources are dedicated to your site's safety and health program? Is safety and health an integral part of overall management planning? Are sub-contract workers covered and abiding by site safety and health rules? Has a complete annual program evaluation been performed with goals and objectives determined in setting next year's priorities as a result of identified weaknesses or needed improvements?

The next key element is Employee Involvement. Along with Management Leadership, this is another very important element that, when faulty, can make having a successful program difficult to impossible. Describe carefully and completely how employees are involved in their safety and health program. This means more than just how many safety meetings are attended, but refers to how employees are meaningfully involved in the decisions that impact their safety and health on the job. Are employees involved in problem resolutions, for example? Accident investigations? Hazard analyses? You get the point. There must be a genuine cooperative effort between management and employees for the site to be regarded as worthy of recognition.

Although the first two elements, Management Leadership and Employee Involvement, are pivotal to the success of any program, the remaining elements are still essential for a well-balanced and effective program. Under the third element, Worksite Analysis, make sure you describe how the site ensures that hazards have been identified and how constant vigilance is maintained to uncover potential new hazards. For example, has a comprehensive hazard survey been performed by professionally-trained personnel to identify what hazards are present at the site? What about the identification and mitigation of hazards that might accompany the introduction of a new operation or piece of equipment? Things can change from day to day, so how are you evaluating your working areas on a routine basis to discover, correct, and track hazards? How do you evaluate processes or equipment for hazards and provide the requisite training for affected employees? What about accidents? How does your site evaluate them and learn from them?

The fourth element is Hazard Prevention and Control. So now, thanks to your effective worksite analysis program, you have uncovered various hazards throughout the site. How do you protect employees from them? Are your safety and health professionals actively involved in the effort?
What about your protective equipment program? Do you have an active and comprehensive preventive maintenance program? Is the site prepared for the inevitable emergency and can you describe how? Don't forget about radiological hazards. The program in place to protect against those hazards must be described, if applicable to your site. Does the medical program coordinate regularly and efficiently with the safety and health staff? Are all the required surveillances and testing programs in place? And what about those individuals who ignore the rules? Does your site have an effective and fair disciplinary program for dealing with these people?

Safety and Health Training is the last element. Make sure and describe how all employees are trained to recognize and deal with hazards they encounter or are likely to encounter in the workplace. Does your training link back to your annual program evaluation which may have pinpointed areas or issues of concern, as applicable? What about training in hazard recognition and mitigation for supervisors? What about training for emergencies?

Lastly, there is the issue of making the written commitment. An aspiring site must give written assurance by both management and any unions on site, if applicable, that the site is ready and wants to be considered for an on-site evaluation. This is sometimes overlooked and may result in an incomplete submittal.

Well, there you have it. If you have done your homework and followed the procedures, your application should be ready for submission. So to all sites that think they are ready, get those applications filled out and begin the process that may lead to formal recognition for all that hard work--and, congratulations in advance!

Mentoring as a Way to Maintain STAR Quality

It has often been stated that the most difficult part of being a Star status in the Department of Energy's Voluntary Protection Program ( DOE-VPP) is maintaining the Star quality after the flag goes up the flag pole. There is often an emotional release after one achieves a goal such as the VPP Star. What is it that can further encourage the organization to an even greater accomplishment? An effective way to avoid this pitfall is to become DOE-VPP mentors to help others in DOE or in general industry companies to achieve Star. In the manner and people and organization that you work with stimulate you to greater accomplishment. In fact, the Office of Environment, Safety and Health at DOE with the support of the Voluntary Protection Program Participant's Association (VPPPA) has provided a supporting service to facilitate this form of mentoring.
Too often winning the prize is a viewed as the signal for everyone to let go of quality. After spend large sums of money and several years of effort both managers and workers each privately decide after the pressure is removed that they can stop working at VPP. Typically, after endless energies have been expended for developing relationships, for creating individual trust and top management giving attention to empowerment and arduous follow through to get the desired culture, without further objection your objective your organization might slip. Without the mutual pressure to maintain the vitality in each of the safety sales programs, each of these gradually grows hallow and loses its followings.

The Baldridge Award in particular has been shown to be very vulnerable to this post achievement malaise. Some companies that expended millions of dollars and years of dedicated focused leadership that eventually achieved this award, two years after the award were actually far worse than they were before they began seeking the award. The VPP effort has a like potential for this post success failure.

This is one of the principal reasons that VPP endorses and expects your involvement in mentoring others. Doing active mentoring is one easy way to keep your personnel involved and the spirit and energy alive. Providing technical support to other companies requires that the sending activity maintain their own faithfulness to the process as well as their increased confidence with the VPP process criteria and procedures. Additionally, the cross fertilization and learning the arises from visiting and auditing other companies can become a source of inspiration and techniques for adjusting the senders VPP operations. New ideas can also be tested or validated in other work environments minimizing the risk of home implementation. And, mentoring will demand that the senders maintain if not improve their own VPP Star quality…in order that they do well at mentoring!

The Office of Environment, Safety and Health (EH) with the VPPPA has in the past successfully brokered these exchanges between DOE contractors and other companies. Likewise EH has also brokered VPP applicants within the Department with other DOE VPP Star sites. EH has endorsed and expected workers and managers from DOE Star sites to assist in regular VPP site reviews and support activities at VPP applicant sites.

Our experience in the Department has shown that, for both the initial establishment of VPP conditions and for the preparation of the associated application, mentoring can be an effective approach to reduces costs, time and the necessary growing pains. VPP mentors are themselves both teachers and sales people for VPP: something all new applicants need to get started!