Sappi Fine Paper plant earns OSHA Star status

The U.S Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has recognized Sappi Fine Paper North America for the excellence of its safety and health management system.

The company was certified as a “Star” site in OSHA’s prestigious Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) on December 11 at Paper Magic Group Inc. in Elysburg, Pa., where Marie Cassady, acting regional administrator for OSHA, conducted a VPP flag presentation ceremony.

Sappi Fine Paper North America is a paper manufacturing facility that converts rolls of fine paper, stacks the sheets onto pallets, shrink wraps them and ships these products nationwide to their customers. The company employs 60 people and is noted for having an injury and illness rate that is 84 percent below the industry average.

The VPP Star program, designed for worksites with comprehensive, successful safety and health programs, is open to any industry, and to companies with injury rates below their industry’s national average. The Voluntary Protection Programs are OSHA’s premier recognition programs designed to promote effective safety and health management by employers. Approximately 1,600 workplaces throughout the U.S. have earned the VPP flag.

A recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report indicated that in 2004 the national rate of job-related injuries and illnesses that required employees to convalesce at home declined by 4 percent.