Innovation Award: Small-sized Company
Founded in Detroit, Michigan more than 70 years ago, Univertical Corporation moved its operations to Angola, Indiana in 1997. Univertical Corporation is a copper foundry and chemical manufacturer that makes products for use in the plating industry. Currently, the company has gone more than 850 days without a loss time incident. Most recently, the site revamped its training program, including maintaining a database to house this training. The importance of this major re-work and undertaking was the addition of ten new employees and two new manufacturing processes. Safety-related training programs for lockout/tagout and confined space were completely revised to include more hands-on training, along with detailed classroom-oriented training. In addition to this change, the company’s six employee safety committee recently rewrote several written safety and health programs.
Innovation Award: Medium-sized Company
Acument Global Technologies is a manufacturer of threaded fasteners for the automotive, electronic as well as other manufacturing industries. The company’s site in Rochester, Indiana employs more than 100 workers. Employees at all levels of the organization are involved and engaged in the company’s workplace safety and health program. Employees serve on the EH&S Team and discuss work-related incidents and other topics such as machine guarding issues, Job Hazard Analyses (JHAs), ergonomics as well as employee safety and health suggestions and concerns. To increase employee participation in worker safety and health activities, an employee suggestion program was implemented, and all employees are encouraged to participate. Suggestions are entered into the EH&S database and are posted for employee review. Employees that submit safety related suggestions are awarded points. Those suggestions that are approved and implemented by the EH&S team are awarded more points. Points are reviewed monthly and prizes are given based upon these safety suggestions. Recently, the Rochester site surpassed 1.5 million man-hours (6 years) without a loss time injury. Since 2007, the Rochester site has reduced recordable injuries by nearly 65%.
Innovation Award: Large-sized Company
Comprised of Union Hospital, and a network of other practice locations in Terre Haute and Clinton, Indiana, Union Hospital, Inc. is the largest medical center in the area. The network employs more than 2,300 employees. Safety Ambassadors have been established for each department and the safety and health committee. Through the efforts of the safety ambassadors and the safety committee, many safety areas have been addressed. Key areas addressed by the ambassadors and safety committee included Union Hospital’s patient handling program and workplace violence. The safe patient handling program included the installation of overhead ceiling lifts to decrease worker injuries associated with lifting patients as well as to improve patient satisfaction and quality of care. Additionally, trained and competent security officers were added to the emergency department to thwart assaults and acts of violence. Monthly, employees receive education on safety topics specific to the healthcare industry. Union Hospital has developed a culture of safety awareness and empowerment of the employees to address occupational safety and health issues.
Education & Outreach Award: Small-sized Company
USALCO Michigan City Plant is a manufacturer of alumina-based chemicals for municipal water treatment plants as well as industrial customers. Employing ten workers, the Michigan City, Indiana facility is a division of its parent company, USALCO, LLC. In 2010, the site achieved certification in the Indiana Department of Labor’s INSHARP program. Recently, the site implemented a safety tracking system to maintain all safety improvements to the site. In just over a year, this safety tracking system identified approximately 140 potential hazards and to date has closed 120 of them. This particular site has gone more than nine years without a lost time incident. Quarterly, company management participates in meetings addressing worker safety and health. The site has developed best practices that continue to serve as examples for other USALCO sites.
Education & Outreach Award: Medium-sized Company
Operating since 1923, the last 60 of those years in Indianapolis, Peerless Pump Company designs, develops, engineers and manufactures pumps and packaged systems. Peerless recently implemented a Safety and Health Management System which was integrated with the ISO 14001 environmental management system to create an Environmental Health and Safety Management System. Both supervisors and employees conduct audits to ensure worker safety and health. This system has increased employee awareness of and participation in occupational safety and health-related functions. As a result of the heightened awareness, Peerless Pump’s 2010 Total Recordable Case (TRC) rate is more than 70% below the national average for their respective industry. The company also reduced recordable injuries and illnesses from a seven-year high of 14 in 2004, to four in 2010. Peerless Pump’s Days Away Restricted and Transferred (DART) rate was also reduced by more than 85% from 2004 to 2010.
Education & Outreach Award: Large-sized Company
With worker injury and illness rates more than 80% below the national average for their industry, Raytheon Technical Services Company continues to make occupational safety and health a top priority. Raytheon Technical Services Company, located in Indianapolis, employs more than 1,100 workers. These employees design, rebuild, modify and assemble equipment for the United States military as well as other customers. As a visual indicator of safety performance, the company utilizes flags, which are posted outside of the facility at parking lot entrances. A green flag indicates that no recordable incidents were experienced in the last 48 hours. A yellow flag indicates that a recordable injury occurred. Finally, a red flag indicates that lost work time incident occurred in the last 48 hours. To engage employees in occupational safety and health-related activities, the site produces a monthly EHS poster. The company also uses a safety token program to provide incentive and on-the-spot recognition to employees that perform unsolicited actions. This includes using proper lifting techniques, appropriately using PPE and reporting a safety issue. Employees benefit from these activities as the activities encourage involvement and help build the company’s safety culture. In 2008, the site celebrated 18 million hours without a lost time incident.
Education & Outreach Award: Construction
With more than 40 years dedicated to worker safety and health, Mr. William D. Mott is the recipient of the 2011 Governor’s Workplace Safety Award for education and outreach in the construction industry. Mr. Mott joined Huber, Hunt and Nichols, today known as Hunt Construction Group, and was nominated by his coworker, Kevin Turner, as a result of the significant impact he has made, not just at Hunt Construction but within the construction industry in the elevation of safety as a core mission.
Bill Mott has worked with many industry associations and proactively worked with the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration (IOSHA) on two site-specific partnerships. These partnerships lead to raising the worker safety and health bar on these and other projects. Bill Mott was an early adopter of tracking injuries on jobsites, and using that historical data to be translated to effectively work with those contractors performing traditionally high-risk work.
As a mentor, teacher and advocate, Bill has left a legacy not just at Hunt Construction, but to many in the construction industry. A friend of many people in this room, and well known to many others, it is my privilege to present the Governor’s education and outreach award in construction to William D. Mott.
All employees on-site have received the OSHA Construction Safety 30-hour training course. In the more than 40 years of construction safety, Mr. Mott has mentored many regional and site safety personnel as well.
Education & Outreach Award: External
Located on 40 acres in Tipton County, Monsanto’s Windfall Soybean Production facility employs 25 employees. In 2009, Monsanto brought a group of manufacturing businesses within the county together to discuss occupational safety and health concerns. While relatively small in size, the “Tipton Business Safety Exchange” is a group of five manufacturers that work together to tackle worker safety and health concerns as well as discuss ideas and best practices. Worker safety and health initiatives discussed in these meetings have included motor vehicle safety, confined space entry, lockout/tagout and fall protection. Meetings are held in different employer locations, and typically involve a safety audit. This presents an opportunity for participants to develop their hazard recognition skills and offers the hosting site a “fresh set of eyes” for the identification and correction of workplace safety and health hazards. Participation in the “Tipton Business Safety Exchange” also provides an opportunity for smaller companies to be mentored by larger organizations. Monsanto Windfall Soybean Production was also a 2009 repeat winner of this award for their “Buckle Up or Eat Glass” and “Farm Safety 4 Just Kids” campaigns.
Overall Safety Award: Construction
Founded in 1985, Gribbins Insulation Company, Inc. is a commercial and industrial mechanical insulation contractor. The company installs insulation and metal jacketing on piping, duct work, equipment and tanks for commercial, industrial, process and power generating facilities. Newly implemented policies and procedures reduced the number of first aid injuries from 23 in 2009 to 16 in 2010. Gribbins Insulation Company, Inc. did not experience an OSHA recordable injury in 2010. To measure effectiveness of Gribbins’ occupational safety and health program, the company uses leading indicators such as behavior-based safety observations, jobsite audits and root cause analysis. Each month, a report indicating behavior-based safety observations is conducted by employees. In addition, the report summarizes all at-risk behaviors and the motivators leading to those behaviors that employees observe in the field. The company cites a 30% reduction in the amount of violations identified in their jobsite audits.