National Safety Council Presents Awards for Outstanding Achievements in Safety & Productivity

9/27/2002

From: Joe Larkin of the National Safety Council (NSC), 630-775-2303

ITASCA, Ill., Sept. 27 -- The National Safety Council (NSC), in cooperation with Aon Corporation and Cambridge Integrated Services Group, Inc., has announce the winners of the Awards for Outstanding Achievements in Safety & Productivity. The competitive awards, led by the NSC's Research & Statistical Services Group, honor strategic intervention efforts that have shown significant impact in safety performance as well as productivity. The winners will be recognized at the NSC's Congress & Expo Opening Session on October 7, 2002 in San Diego.

NSC President Alan C. McMillan, said, "We congratulate the winners of the Awards for Outstanding Achievements in Safety & Productivity for their efforts and for their commitment to improving safety performance and productivity. This is the type of commitment to safety that the Council encourages every company to adopt. These companies have proven that safety and productivity go hand in hand."

Participating organizations submitted case studies documenting their states of safety and productivity before and after intervention. The top five winners will receive financial awards as well as publication in Case Studies in Safety & Productivity, an NSC publication.

"Through this award, we aim to showcase real life examples of how safety can be a valuable investment which not only saves lives and reduces suffering, but is critical to an organization's sustainability," said Dr. Mei-Li Lin, executive director of research & statistical services group at NSC. "These case studies will become important resources for safety and cost-minded professionals alike."

The First Place winner was International Truck and Engine Corporation (Ohio), a truck manufacturing company. The company's Ergo Dolly is an outstanding example of cooperation among management and line workers in assembly line redesign.

The Second Place Winner was Lockheed Martin Enterprise Information Systems, an information technology business. The company's software-triggered work breaks reduced repetitive stress injury at computers -- a fine example of ergonomic pacing at the computer workstation.

The three Third Place winners were Delphi Automotive Systems, a car parts manufacturer, for a collaboration between union and management that led to a paradigm shift recognizing safety as a leadership responsibility; General Motors Vehicle Manufacturing - Lansing Craft Centre, a car manufacturer, for achieving an 80 percent improvement in safety performance through recognition, communication, and visibility of safety in relation to productivity; and Hancor Inc., a drainpipe manufacturing company, for integrating safety into the manufacturing process and reducing recordable injuries by 52.6 percent.

The award winners will present their case studies to an international audience at a special session of the Congress & Expo, the world's largest annual convention in the safety and health industry.

The National Safety Council, America's safety and health leader for 90 years, is a nongovernmental public service organization with 50 local chapters around the country and members representing 37,500 business and labor organizations, schools, public agencies and private groups.