The Voluntary Protection Programs Participants’ Association has a message for its members and anyone else interested in OSHA compliance assistance: Don’t worry, it isn’t going anywhere.

Sure, OSHA’s proposed budget contains a 4.1% decrease in the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) budget, and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said OSHA would take additional funding away from VPP to redirect toward enforcement.

But in a Web video, VPPPA Executive Director Davis Layne tells association members that the final word hasn’t been written about VPP funding yet.

Layne notes that Congress still has to pass the budget proposed by President Obama and that the legislative branch has the authority to restore VPP funding.

He encourages VPP companies to contact their representatives and senators and ask for their support.

VPPPA also notes that not all the rhetoric from Obama administration officials about compliance assistance programs has been negative. OSHA administrator David Michaels called VPP “the best model” for safety management systems that prevent injuries.

Michaels has also invited VPPPA to work with OSHA to find other ways to fund VPP and ensure it continues to thrive.

At this time when the federal budget is tight, do you think the government should continue to fund VPP at its previous levels, or should member companies be responsible for finding alternative funding? Let us know what you think in the Comments Box below.

Tags: David Michaels, Hilda Solis, OSHA compliance assistance, VPP, VPPA