SEP10-01: PSNS & IMF Recertified as VPP Star Site
From Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility Public Affairs Office

BREMERTON, Wash. - Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF) employees celebrated the recertification of the Bremerton site as an Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) Star Site in the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Sept. 8.

To qualify for VPP status, sites must meet or exceed all OSHA standards and submit to a rigorous OSHA review of their programs.

"[This recognition] demonstrates what happens when you listen, take action, get the results of those actions with safety, going home with all 10 fingers and 10 toes, being safe everyday," said PSNS & IMF Commander Capt. Mark Whitney. "Actions, listening and making sure we follow through is critically important. That doesn't happen all by itself. It happens with great partnership."

OSHA's certification team visited the Bremerton site in mid-March and at the end of their evaluation, recommended the shipyard for recertification.  Employees, labor organizations and management contributed to the command's success in safety.

"The accomplishments you have made over the last few years are terrific," said OSHA's Regional Administrator Richard Terrill. "The VPP Star is not just an event, it is a process and most importantly, it is a cultural change.  You now, from these past three years, are 30 percent below the shipyard average for both total cases and loss time illness and injury rate."

Out of more than 4 million worksites in the United States, just more than 2,000 have been designated as VPP Star Sites.  PSNS & IMF's Bremerton site raised the Star Site Workplace Flag for the first time during a ceremony held in April 2006.  The Bangor site received Star Site status in January 2009.  PSNS & IMF is the only Navy command to have two VPP Star Worksites.

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