Cintas’ South Bend Location Gets VPP Status

Cintas' General Manager Matt Nichols (holding plaque, left) receives a plaque from the Deputy Commissioner of Labor for IOSHA Tim Maley (holding plaque, right), honoring the South Bend location's VPP status. Cintas' employee-partners from the South Bend uniform rental plant joined Nichols and Maley in the photo.

Cintas Corp. recently announced that its South Bend, IN, uniform rental facility received Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Star certification from the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration (IOSHA). Cintas ranks 12th in the United States for the overall number of VPP sites, according to the release. The South Bend location became the 25th Cintas facility in the U.S. to receive VPP designation since 2011.

“We are extremely proud of our South Bend employee-partners and their managers for earning the esteemed OSHA VPP Star Award,” said Rick Gerlach, senior director of safety and health. “In order to earn this recognition, our management and front-line partners worked closely together toward the common goal of every partner going home to their loved ones at the end of the work day safe and healthy. Our partners look forward to mentoring neighboring companies to protect the safety and health of their employees and achieve safety excellence.”

The South Bend facility began working toward VPP designation nearly three years ago, the release said. To receive VPP status, the plant had to improve its operations with ongoing training, rigorous audits and collaboration between management and employee-partners.

Matt Nichols, the branch manager of the South Bend location, said that “the efforts to instill a safety-focused culture at the South Bend facility has become engrained in our daily lives both at work and in our homes.”

Cintas has approximately 330 facilities worldwide that are actively pursuing VPP recognition by OSHA or the equivalent under a similar certifying body, the release noted. This includes operations in the U.S. Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico and Honduras.