Services

Safety / VPP

OSHA Strategic Partnership Program

Torcon has successfully established formal OSHA Strategic Partnerships on four of its project sites, including recent signing ceremonies at Columbia University's new Geochemistry Lab and UMDNJ's Regional Biocontainment Lab.

The Strategic Partnership, like VPP, is one of OSHA’s Cooperative Programs. This program positions OSHA as an encouraging partner rather than a feared enforcer, and brings together the contractors, the trade organizations and OSHA to set common goals for maintaining and improving safety and health on projects. This platform is best suited to the construction industry and embraced by Torcon.

The Strategic Partnership program is comprised of four basic principles:
Management Commitment and Employee Involvement
Worksite Analysis
Hazard Prevention and Control
Safety and Health Training

Torcon looks forward to collaborating with OSHA on more Strategic Partnerships in the future.

Torcon Safety Program

Torcon is one of the construction industry’s safest firms.
Our company has taken a leadership role in construction safety over the past 15 years through the implementation of innovative safety initiatives. At the forefront of our safety efforts is Torcon's alignment with the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP)—the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA's) most demanding platform.

Torcon is a nationally recognized partner in VPP and has been a member of the VPP Participants Association for more than a decade. Our projects have earned an industry-leading 18 VPP Stars—the highest possible VPP rating. Torcon's VPP record demonstrates true leadership, as our firm is:

• The first construction industry firm to be recognized for multiple Star sites.
  
• The first VPP Guanin ever awarded to a construction site in Puerto Rico. (Guanin is equivalent to Star).
  
• The first VPP Star construction site to ever be recertified.
  
• The first VPP Star pharmaceutical plant site to ever be recertified.

The result for Torcon and our clients has been outstanding safety performance on all of our projects.

A Culture of Safety

All Torcon projects generally operate within VPP guidelines (regardless of Star designation). This commitment to VPP has helped create a culture at Torcon that results in safer, cleaner, more organized sites. The contractors and workers at our job sites understand Torcon's unique safety approach and recognize they will be held to a higher standard. These types of behavioral changes are exactly what Torcon is seeking to achieve through VPP.

Torcon currently has six active VPP Star sites that include hospital projects and active pharmaceutical client campuses. Torcon’s Red Bank headquarters is recipient of our latest VPP Star.

Our pursuit of safe workplaces has also included mentoring subcontractors, client organizations and other construction managers, as well as an active involvement with VPPPA nationally.

Torcon's View of VPP

OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) creates a partnership among OSHA, local trades organizations, subcontractors, clients and Torcon to promote the safest and most healthy workplaces.

VPP recognizes the value of safety management practices that go beyond simple OSHA compliance and rewards Star sites by removing them from routine inspection visits.

Torcon began its involvement with VPP certification at the Novartis Pharmaceuticals Life Science Building construction project in Summit, New Jersey. In May 1993, the project became the only new construction site in the U.S. to achieve Star status. Since 1993, Torcon has earned an industry-leading 18 VPP Stars. Three of our project sites have also been recertified as VPP Stars by OSHA, a process that occurs after three years in the Program.

Torcon believes deeply in the VPP and generally operates all its project sites within VPP guidelines, whether a site is eligible for Star recognition or not. The benefits of involvement in VPP include:

• Improved employee motivation to work safely, leading to better quality and productivity.
  
• Reduced workers’ compensation costs
  
• Recognition in the community for our clients
  
• Improved partnering relationships among all team members.
  
• Continuous quality improvement of programs through the VPP review.
  

The VPP application process is rigorous to assure that only the best programs qualify. VPP sites generally experience from 60 to 80 percent fewer lost workday injuries than would be expected of an “average” site of the same size in their industries. An essential part of VPP is mentoring other companies—clients, subcontractors and competitors alike—in adapting their organizations to VPP.