Thanks to a relentless commitment to safety, the Veolia Hazardous Waste team in Puerto Rico has become the only environmental services provider on the entire island to be recertified with Guanin safety status – the highest standard for safety under Puerto Rico’s volunteer safety inspection program for industry and business.
The Guanin designation, which the Puerto Rico team has maintained since 2009, is similar to the elite VPP Star designation applied to qualifying businesses in the U.S. under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The designations are earned only after businesses pass a series of rigorous voluntary inspections conducted by independent safety regulators.
“We are immensely proud to be recognized with this elite safety designation, which places Veolia a notch above the rest of the industry because of our commitment to meeting the stringent requirements of the Guanin program,” said Tomas Rivera, Satellite Business Manager for the Veolia team in Puerto Rico.
Tomas pointed out that in Indigenous culture, Guanin represents a god who overcomes obstacles to achieve perfection, which is why the Puerto Rico Department of Labor chose the name for the highest safety level designation. The department oversees the program, and works closely with companies that volunteer to participate.
Tomas said the Veolia team has been recertified several times over the years, a process in which Department of Labor inspectors award recertification after closely observing operations at the Veolia facility for several days in a row.
“They could see that safety is something we live, every hour of every day,” Tomas said.