CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--USG Corporation (NYSE: USG), a leading building products company, celebrated achieving the prestigious Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Star designation from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) at its Gypsum, Ohio manufacturing plant. Officials from OSHA presented the award today to USG Gypsum’s 230 employees during a ceremony at the plant.
The Star is the highest recognition within OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program. To achieve it, employees, management and OSHA work together to implement safety and health programs and processes that go beyond OSHA regulations to further protect employees and promote safe operations. There are fewer than 2,500 worksites out of 8 million in all of the U.S. that hold the Star designation.
“A few years ago the team was challenged with what we can do to further raise the bar on safety and decided that pursuing VPP Star status would modify our safety focus and make us better,” said Bill St. Leger, plant manager. “We greatly value our partnership with OSHA, and it has helped our team become even better at operating a safe workplace.”
USG’s Gypsum plant started us as one of the company’s original plants in 1902. The plant also was one of first to manufacture the company’s well-known SHEETROCK® Brand Gypsum Panels.
The Gypsum plant has an exceptional safety record, working more than 3,640,000 safe work hours and 2,517 days without a lost-time injury.
“Employees here and across the company buy into our core value of safety and own it,” said Don Schaefer, director, Safety and Fleet Operations. “At USG, we want to ensure safety remains the top priority, and the OSHA VPP Star is just one more step in the right direction to keeping our employees safe.”
USG is recognized as an industry leader in safety. USG was a founding member of the National Safety Council, which started in 1914, almost 50 years before OSHA was founded. As a testament to the company’s safety focus, 12 of USG’s manufacturing plants and three L&W Supply branches are OSHA VPP Star worksites.
About USG
USG Corporation is a manufacturer and distributor of innovative, high-performance building systems through its United States Gypsum Company, USG Interiors, LLC, L&W Supply Corporation and other subsidiaries. Headquartered in Chicago, USG Worldwide operations serve the commercial, residential, and repair and remodel construction markets, enabling our customers to build the outstanding spaces where people live, work and play. USG wall, ceiling, exterior sheathing, flooring underlayment and roofing systems provide leading-edge building solutions, while L&W Supply branch locations efficiently stock and deliver building materials throughout the United States. USG and its subsidiaries are proud sponsors of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams and the Canadian Olympic team. For additional information, visit www.usg.com.
