OSHA's Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) recognizes plants and other sites as model workplaces that demonstrate the "highest levels" of employee protection and safety. Aside from being a great public relations tool, "star" status in the VPP program exempts work sites from regular inspections, and protects the companies operating them from punishment for standard violations if the violations are promptly corrected. Once in VPP's star program, companies are re-evaluated every three to five years.
So one would think that companies with "star" status in the VPP program would have exemplary workplace and employee safety records? Turns out that is not the case in Connecticut. For example, Covanta Energy operates a waste-to-energy plant in Wallingford, Connecticut. In 2007, while an application by Covanta for recognition of the plant by OSHA as a model workplace was pending, one of the plant's employees, Robert Gootkin, was pinned against a wall and crushed to death by a hopper lid. According to the victim's brother, Gootkin had been working a 12-hour overnight shift alone when the accident occurred, and it took facility personnel 30 minutes to respond to alarms that were triggered by the accident. In response to the accident, the Connecticut legislature passed a bill requiring operators of solid waste facilities to have at least two employees or a camera in the work area when waste is being fed into a hopper. Covanta lobbied against the bill.
Covanta obtained "star" status for the plant in 2008, and retains that status, despite citations by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection for excess dioxin emissions and failing to properly audit its emissions monitoring equipment, and a follow-up lawsuit last summer by the state attorney general for continued violations.
Further inquiries have revealed that at least six of Connecticut's designated VPP worksites have had significant safety or other workplace lapses in recent years.
Another example is the Millstone nuclear power station in Waterford, Connecticut, which was granted entry into the VPP program in 2004 and retains that status today, despite citations last year by OSHA for a serious safety violation (later deleted), and an inspection report last year by the NRC finding that Millstone violated federal requirements five times in three months, including an incident in which plant operators took five days, instead of eight hours, to report a malfunctioning unit to the NRC.
Click here to read about other Connecticut companies still enjoying "star" status in the VPP program despite being cited for workplace safety violations.
