COLUMBUS, Ohio—The Association for Rubber Products Manufacturers recognized the 2019 Safety Award winners at its Environmental Health and Safety Summit. Hosted July 18 at the Hyatt Regency Columbus, the summit is intended to provide rubber industry manufacturing executives with insights into best practices for safe, healthy work environments through speaker presentations and round table discussions.
Rubber manufacturers were honored for their industry-leading safety records, practices and policies.
"These member companies are making safety a top priority and have gone to extensive measures to assure their most valuable asset—their employees—are safe on the job," Letha Keslar, ARPM managing director, said in a news release.
Receiving Gold Safety Awards for safety performance achievement above the industry average were Zochem Inc. of Dickson, Tenn; Zochem of Brampton, Ontario; and Houston-based Baker Hughes, a GE company. Award winners were considered based on data from their OSHA 300 Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses.
Also at the event, Blair Rubber Co. was recognized for having the lowest rate of incident for a company with 1-100 employees. LMI Mixing L.L.C., meanwhile, was honored for having the lowest rate of incident for a company with 101-350 employees.
Three Safety Best Practice Awards were given July 18, with Smithers taking first place in the category. Zeon Chemicals L.P. placed second and Bruckman Rubber Co. came in third. For consideration for this award, companies outlined their practices regarding safety topics such as employee training, safety audits/walk-throughs and emergency training. Submissions included photographs, video, copies of policies and activity checklists.
Established in 2010, Indianapolis-based ARPM is dedicated to supporting rubber product manufacturers in many facets of business including safety, benchmarking and product quality. The association is comprised of more than 90 member companies.