^{March 6, 2024} L.E. Myers’ Decatur, Ill. District Earns OSHA’s VPP STAR Status

Advancement sees Decatur become the third MYR Group district to reach highest grade

Thanks to years of tireless dedication and an unwavering commitment to maintaining and improving safety standards, the L.E. Myers Decatur, Ill. district earned STAR status in OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) – its highest grade – in January.

Few organizations achieve STAR status, stringently reserved for organizations that develop and implement continuous improvement in workplace safety and health management. These programs must result in injury and illness rates below the national averages for their industries.

“Congratulations to the L.E. Myers Decatur district for achieving STAR Status in the OSHA VPP program,” L.E. Myers Regional Vice President Danny Gessman said. “The STAR program is designed for exemplary worksites with comprehensive, successful safety and health management systems. Companies in the STAR program have achieved injury and illness rates that are far below the national average of our industry. These sites are self-sufficient in their ability to control workplace hazards. This is a prodigious achievement. Keep up the good work!”

The Decatur district’s advancement to STAR comes after maintaining Merit status in the VPP program since 2018. Over those five years, L.E. Myers’ leadership needed to dedicate time and resources to not only meet OSHA’s standards for VPP participation, but go far beyond the minimum to demonstrate the “exemplary achievement” in health and safety that STAR status members are required to uphold.

The only way to achieve STAR status – and maintain it – is through the daily dedication of every employee in the district, which they showed relentlessly over the past five years.

“You and your employees should take great pride in having reached the top tier of VPP participation,” OSHA’s Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Douglas L. Parker said in a letter to District Manager Scott Tibbetts. “Your dedication and perseverance have allowed you to set your safety and health benchmark at a level to which few organizations aspire. On behalf of OSHA, I extend my thanks to you and your employees for your commitment to excellence, VPP, and the principle of continuous improvement.”

Now that the Decatur district earned STAR status, the commitment to health and safety only grows stronger. All organizations that reach the top tier of the VPP program must undergo three-year audits, rigorous onsite evaluations, and an ongoing renewal process. Just more opportunities for the Decatur district to continue proving its excellence in health and safety performance and further signify its place among the best in the industry.

With their advancement, Decatur becomes the third district in MYR Group to reach VPP’s STAR status along with L.E. Myers’ Chattanooga, Tenn. district and Sturgeon Electric Colorado (Transmission & Distribution as well as Commercial & Industrial), which have both maintained the highest grade since 2008.

“We are extremely proud to welcome the Decatur district of L. E. Myers to our faction of MYR Group district locations achieving VPP STAR Status,” MYR Group Vice President of Safety Operations Jim Foley said. “They join the L.E. Myers district in Chattanooga and the Sturgeon Electric T&D and C&I operations in Colorado to earn this significant accomplishment.

“VPP STAR status is a major undertaking and requires a collective effort from safety, operations, and our field employees to achieve and then maintain, especially in our category of a ‘mobile workforce’.”