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The Washington State Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) has awarded Veolia’s Vancouver facility with Voluntary Protection Program status (VPP) at the Star Award level the highest level granted. The award recognizes the company’s efforts in achieving exemplary occupational safety and health compliance.
The Veolia Vancouver facility is an in-transit and operations facility for containerized chemical and hazardous wastes that serves Oregon and southwest Washington.
“Our Vancouver facility team has secured the company’s fourteenth certification at the Star level,” said Steve Hopper, chief operating officer and president of Veolia North America’s Industrial Business. “This great accomplishment illustrates our ongoing commitment to health and safety programs at our facilities and sites, while demonstrating that safety is of the utmost importance to Veolia.”
The VPP qualification process included a comprehensive audit of the facility’s safety, health, training and operational programs; in-depth employee interviews about their understanding of the company’s safety programs; and detail on how the company conducts business. Veolia’s Vancouver facility is currently on 5,439 days without a lost time incident and its last recordable injury was over 3,400 days ago. During the VPP audit, the auditors gave the Vancouver office perfect scores.
“We would not have been able to achieve the VPP Star status without our employees’ deep involvement and dedication,” said Hopper. “We constantly strive to assure a safe work environment for all of our company operated facilities and view this achievement as recognition of our commitment to and belief in our continuous improvement philosophy.”
OSHA and Veolia believe continuous improvement of safety and health programs are the best way to prevent occupational illnesses and injuries. The VPP was created in 1982 to encourage industry-related facilities to strive for safety excellence. VPP sites have shown that their commitment to employee protection extends beyond the OSHA standards. Companies who achieve the VPP Star Award display injury and illness rates at or below the national average of their competitors.
Washington is one of 27 states to manage the VPP program on behalf of OSHA within that state. The program is administered by the Division of Occupational Safety and Health under the Department of Labor and Industries for the State of Washington. The VPP program started in Washington State in 1996.
The Veolia Vancouver facility is a combination 10 day in-transit facility for containerized chemical and hazardous wastes as well as a sales and service center for Oregon and southwest Washington. The operation provides customers with a complete range of technical services including laboratory, drum and bulk waste management along with a variety of special services including remediation, reactive chemical, low level radioactive, in-plant and training services.
Veolia (veolia.com) is the global leader in optimized resource management. With over 200,000 employees* worldwide, the company designs and provides water, waste and energy management solutions that contribute to the sustainable development of communities and industries. Through its three complementary business activities, Veolia helps to develop access to resources, protect and conserve available resources, and to replenish them. In 2013, Veolia supplied 94 million people with drinking water and 62 million people with wastewater service, produced 86 million megawatt hours of energy and converted 38 million metric tons of waste into new materials and energy. Veolia (Paris Euronext: VIE and NYSE: VE) recorded revenue of $31 billion* in 2013.
(*) Excluding Transdev employees and revenue currently under divestment
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