OSHA News

Golf Ball Plant Becomes 1,000th VPP Site

A plant that manufactures Titleist golf balls is the 1,000th site to achieve "Star" status in OSHA's prestigious Voluntary Protection Program (VPP), the agency announced in October 2003.

Titleist Ball Plant II in Dartmouth, Mass., has more than 400 employees. The plant is the fourth Acushnet Company facility to earn Star Site status. Acushnet, which manufactures golf equipment under the Titleist, FootJoy, Cobra and Pinnacle brands, employs approximately 4,600 associates worldwide.

OSHA's VPP initiative was started in 1982 to promote cooperative relationships among management, labor and OSHA. VPP sets performance-based criteria for a managed safety and health system, invites sites to apply, and then assesses applicants against the criteria. In exchange, participating employers are generally exempt from general-schedule inspections. They are expected to serve as incubators for best practices, and as ambassadors of safety and health management and employee involvement in safety.

For more information, log on to . www.osha.gov/dcsp/vpp/index.html.