Today OSHA announced that they have placed International Paper (IP) into their Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP) following a combustible dust ignition incident involving fly-ash at one of their facilities. This development is HUGE in the respect that IP was once one of OSHA’s top participants in the Voluntary Protection Program. To go from one of OSHA’s top performers to the SVEP is quite a shock to a safety pro who sort of grew up stealing IP safety programs for use at Westvaco. I can still remember the very first VPP Star site I ever visited was an IP plant and I was so impressed it left a lasting impression on me to this very day. I always morn the loss of life, especially when it was a workplace accident that could and should have been prevented, but to place a company in the SVEP implies they are a “severe violator” and how can a company be such a presence in the VPP and be in the SVEP. (FYI… in 2013 IP had 49 VPP sites). I get the SVEP and believe in it’s need for OSHA to effect change in workplace safety; and I even could see the rationale behind DuPont… multiple fatalities at multiple facilities over a several year period. But how does a company with 49 VPP sites in 2013 make it to the SVEP in 2015? I understand IP had four (4) employee fatalities and one (1) contractor fatality in 2014 and this is UNACCEPTABLE, but when your using OSHA measurements and your rates are: