JULY 20, 2017, SAN DIEGO (NNS) – NAVFAC Southwest commanding officer, executive officer, labor unions, and safety personnel signed the NAVFAC Southwest Occupational Safety and Health Administration Voluntary Protection Program Management and Labor Commitment Statement July 13 in San Diego.
“Management leadership and employee involvement is a critical element of OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program,” said Jimmy Culpepper, VPP DoD Safety Management Center of Excellence program manager. “This element helps to create an effective safety management system and a positive workplace safety culture. This statement communicates leadership and the collective bargaining units’ support of the organization’s OSHA VPP recognition pursuit.”
This is a significant document and is a momentous sign of current and future cooperation between management and labor on building and maintaining a positive safety culture, promoting a safe working environment, and attaining a higher level of safety excellence by pursuing STAR level recognition within VPP. The signatures provided attest to management and employee representative commitment to VPP and a collaborative working relationship between all parties moving forward.
“This is a great day for our safety culture at NAVFAC Southwest,” said Jennifer Dunaway, Command safety officer. “This commitment illustrates our singularity of purpose to reduce the number of people getting hurt and making our safety program better. A lot of work has been done to date, but we still have a lot to do. I am looking forward to positive change and working with everyone with that singular purpose in mind.”
Speaking at the event were the NAVFAC Southwest Commanding Officer Capt. John Adametz, National Federation of Federal Employees 2096 President Michael Trice, National Association of Government Employees (NAGE) 12-35 President Milton Roe, NAGE 12-25 Vice President Mitchell Perdue, NAGE 12-35 Union Representative John Stafford, NAVFAC Atlantic Safety Manager William Garrett, and Southwest Command Safety Officer Jen Dunaway. President of American Federation of Government Employees John Morris, President of NAGE 12-25 Robert Lovich, and President of the Metal Trades Council Jerry Morehouse were not able to attend but signed prior to the event.
By Mario Icari, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest Public Affairs