WASHINGTON - Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Jonathan L. Snare today made an important announcements regarding OSHA's Voluntary Protection Program (VPP).

General Electric's (GE) Infrastructure - Security facility in Dublin, Ireland, became the first site accepted into Ireland's VPP Pilot Program. The Assistant Secretary said that this was a "shining example of excellence attained in safety and health in the workplace."

GE Infrastructure is the first site recognized under Ireland's VPP program, the first country to implement a program modeled on OSHA's highly successful VPP. The health and safety agencies in Ireland and Northern Ireland joined with OSHA to sign an agreement last year to collaborate on the development of a VPP pilot project for their governments. The joint initiative was a result of the 3rd U.S.-European Union (EU) joint conference on occupational safety and health in Lemnos, Greece, in 2003. The pilot started with eight companies, all of which have parent companies in the United States already participating in VPP.

Assistant Secretary Snare recognized this accomplishment during his remarks at the recent Voluntary Protection Programs Participants' Association (VPPPA) conference in Dallas, TX.