On July 23, GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies’ facility on Industrial Park Drive in Lewistown, Pa. celebrates achieving the U.S. Occupational, Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) Star certification. Approval into VPP Star is OSHA’s official recognition of the outstanding efforts of employers and employees who have achieved exemplary occupational safety and health.
VPP sets performance-based criteria for a managed safety and health system, invites facilities to apply and then assesses applicants against these criteria. OSHA’s verification includes an application review and a rigorous onsite evaluation by a team of OSHA safety and health experts.
GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies’ Lewistown team is comprised of 240 employees. Together, the facility has worked diligently over the past few years to enhance its culture of safety and achieve VPP Star certification. The OSHA auditors specifically acknowledged the employees’ strong engagement in the process and the site management’s strong leadership.
“Our journey towards VPP STAR certification has not only improved safety and health here, it has made us better and more efficient at what we do," says John Prendergast, GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies’ Plant Manager in Lewistown. "I’ve learned this team can accomplish anything together and this achievement is just one more testament to the caliber of our work force."
GE is the largest participant in the U.S. OSHA Voluntary Protection Program and has 125 facilities in the program as of June 2009.