by Alex Brooks
A ceremony was held at VPS Control Systems, Inc., this week to acknowledge the company’s achievement of SHARP status. The Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) is an OSHA program that recognizes small businesses which operate an exemplary safety and health management system.
[private]The company received a visit from three members of the On-Site Consultation Program from the NYS Labor Department who have been working with the company for two years on improving its safety and health practices, who now recognize the company’s safety and health program as among the best in the country.
Geoff Holodook, New York State SHARP Program Coordinator, presented the company with a banner to hang on its shop floor and a framed proclamation for its office wall announcing its SHARP credential. Holodook said only 1/3 of 1% of American companies become SHARP members. He said the news will be announced on the Federal SHARP website. He commended the assembled staff of the company for their dedication to achieving this goal, and urged them to keep up the good work, saying, “This is one of the factors that makes you a top-notch company.”
Steve Bearup, Senior Safety and Health Consultant, also from the On Site Consultation Program, said, “Many companies express interest in improving their health and safety practices and say they would like to be a SHARP company, but very few are committed enough to achieve it.”
Company President Peter Schaaphok said he feels that improving safety and health practices is good for the company’s bottom line. He values his employees highly, and he said when employees are sick or injured, it damages the company’s productivity.
Marty Abbott, Associate Industrial Hygienist, the third member of the On-Site Consultation team, said it requires cooperation and effort from every employee of the company to institute effective health and safety practices and recognized the employees for their work making the program a success.
Schaaphok thanked the three members of the Consultation team for the time, effort and expertise they had put into working with his company. “I learned a lot working with you guys,” he concluded.
VPS Controls makes premium mechanical control cables using a special design utilizing ball bearings. These work much better than conventional greased-wire-in-a-tube control cables. VPS Control cables are widely used to control brakes on train cars, to release lifeboats on ships and in a variety of military applications. The company’s offices and manufacturing plant are located at 19 Hill Road in Hoosick.
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