American Packaging Corporation Story City/Flexo Center of Excellence recertifies STAR designation from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration as part of the agency's Voluntary Protection Program (VPP). The VPP program recognizes businesses and its employees that demonstrate excellence in occupational safety and health.

STAR status is the highest VPP designation awarded by OSHA and indicates a facility has achieved injury and illness rates below its industry national average, and demonstrated to OSHA that its safety and health management systems are exemplary. APC Story City has maintained injury and illness rates more than 50% below the industry average since its original VPP-STAR certification in 2008.

VPP sets performance-based criteria for occupational safety and health management systems. OSHA’s verification includes an application review and a rigorous onsite evaluation by a team of OSHA safety and health experts. The VPP evaluation team gave APC special recognition for several best practices related to hazard controls. The use of state-of-the-art automation as an engineering control, substitution of hazardous chemicals with less hazardous alternatives and the use of administrative controls to reduce or eliminate ergonomic hazards were specifically cited.

The VPP team also noted the involvement and pride APC employees have in their safety program which was clearly evident in the interviews and questionnaires conducted during the audit. The VPP team is confident APC will continue to strive for and sustain world class safety performance.

“With only a small number of manufacturing facilities across the nation achieving VPP STAR status, it is a great accomplishment to continue our certification and become a model of excellence for other manufacturers to emulate,” said Ray Graham, VP of Operations at a recent awards ceremony. “This would not be possible without the efforts of each and every employee's commitment to creating a safe work environment by identifying and eliminating potential safety hazards”.