Effectiveness of OSHA VPP Safety Interventions to Reduce Injury and Illness Rates within the pharmaceutical industry

This research study on the Effectiveness of OSHA VPP Safety Interventions to Reduce Injury and Illness Rates (IIR's) within the Pharmaceutical Industry was conducted to examine the correlation among the implementation of the OSHA's VPP program and the reduction of workplace injuries beyond the entry level. In this research study the lost time and recordable injuries were reviewed and analyzed. In this research study the improvement at OSHA's VPP overall performance on safety at those facilities that had applied this process was also examined. This research study employed a questionnaire survey which was conducted to look at the perception of employees about the effectiveness of their safety culture. This research was conducted to determine if pharmaceutical company's IIR's were lowered beyond the entry level by participating in the OSHA's VPP. As part of the OSHA VPP certification process, the IIR's of the company have to be 50% below the industry average to receive certification and to remain in OSHA VPP. However, these same companies were questioning as to whether these improvements were enough, and if IIR's could be driven down even further – ultimately reaching the magic number of zero. Another primary goal was to determine if OSHA's VPP process by its self had improved overall performance on safety at those facilities that had applied this process. This was accomplished through an employee perception survey. An employee perception safety survey was administered to three pharmaceutical companies selected for this dissertation. All of these pharmaceutical companies were certified OSHA VPP sites. The research findings indicate that there is statistical evidence that the data obtained from the OSHA injury and illness records show a reduction in injuries after OSHA VPP certification. Also, there is statistical evidence from the employee perception survey that OSHA VPP positively impacts a company's performance and adds value to the preliminary effects of the safety and health (S&H) performance in the reduction of IIR's. Therefore, for the three pharmaceutical companies included in this research, there is statistical evidence for the reduction of injuries after implementing OSHA VPP, and therefore it is suggested that other pharmaceutical companies take advantage of these benefits.