PEARL RIVER – Wyeth pharmaceuticals’ manufacturing and research facility in Pearl River Monday was given the highest recognition for workplace safety and health from the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Wyeth became the 2,000th site in the country to receive the Voluntary Protection Programs ‘star.”

The company’s Rockland County senior director of environmental health and safety, Eric Nelson, said the company practices the highest levels of safety and health programs to achieve injury and illness rates at or below the national average for their industry and demonstrate their ability to control workplace hazards.

“It’s not just having a written program; having a written program on a shelf doesn’t do much. You have to make sure that you are actually doing what that program says, so we spend a lot of time training employees and making sure they understand how to do their jobs correctly and safely,” he said.

The Pearl River facility is the eighth Wyeth site to have received the OSHA “star” award.

Wyeth manufactures Prevnar infant pneumococcal vaccine, Mylotarg, which is used to treat bone marrow cancer, and Centrum vitamins.