Cintas’ Hammond, IN, Plant Gains VPP Status

Cintas Corp recently announced that its rental location in Hammond, IN, recently earned the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Star certification from state OSHA officials.

This certification a high honor and not easily obtained. “We are extremely proud of our Hammond employee-partners and their managers for earning the esteemed OSHA VPP Star Award,” said Sr. Director of Safety and Health Rick Gerlach. “At Cintas our partners care deeply about each other and every partner is focused on being safe and making sure that everyone goes home to their loved ones at the end of the day, safe and sound.”

The plant is the 26th Cintas facility in the United States to receive VPP Star designation since 2011, according to a news release. Starting in 2014, the Hammond location, began working toward its goal. However, it wasn’t an easy task. The award requires “employee-partners” and managers to actively participate in ongoing training and rigorous audits in a collaborative fashion.

“We have a strong safety culture and our employee-partners initiated this journey. As we read news of other Cintas locations around the country starting to certify as VPP Star, we asked, “Why not us?” said Jason Rieger, general manager of the Hammond plant, which employs 115 people. “The teamwork and dedicated employee-partners helped us achieve this outstanding recognition.”

All of Cintas’ nearly 330 facilities worldwide are working toward, or have already received VPP recognition or a comparable recognition available in Canada, Mexico and Honduras, the release said