Fergus, Ontario—The employees of A. O. Smith
Corporation’s offices and distribution
center in Fergus today were presented with the Lloyd B. Smith President’s
Safety Award for excellence in workplace safety.
President and Chief
Operating Officer Kevin J. Wheeler praised the Fergus team for their efforts,
noting they were the first Canadian facility to earn the award in its 63-year
history.
“Many people think of safety
as a factory-only activity, but this team knows better,” Wheeler said in
presenting the award during a special ceremony at the facility. “You have done a remarkable job of
identifying possible hazards, preventing accidents, and continually improving
the working conditions in the Fergus facility.”
The award is given annually
to the A. O. Smith facility that achieves the best overall performance in workplace
safety during a calendar year. A total
of 23 facilities worldwide were evaluated based on statistical measures as well
as evidence of having a comprehensive, sustainable workplace safety program.
To earn the Lloyd B. Smith
President’s Safety Award, each company facility is evaluated based on three
statistical categories:
- Lost workday case incidence rate--This
measure relates to the most serious, work-related
injuries or illnesses that result in one or more lost work days;
- Recordable case incidence rate--Recordable
incidents are significant, work-related injuries or illnesses beyond first aid
as defined by the U. S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA);
- Lost workday incidence rate--This category
measures a facility's total number of lost work days and provides a measure of
accident severity.
Fergus employees have spent
a great deal of time focused on the special safety needs of a distribution
facility, according to Operations Manager Robert Henderson. Among the projects were the implementation of
a new emergency management plan, an enhanced forklift safe driving program, and
a pedestrian awareness Kaizen event.
Spearheading the efforts is
the Fergus Joint Health and Safety Committee co-chaired by Mary Shannon and
Emerson Woods with members Paul Schwantz, Joanne Whitney, Garfield Smith, and
Henderson. The team meets monthly to
review safety data and any trends in the facility as well as to discuss safety
training. The team also conducts monthly
inspections throughout the facility to identify potential hazards or unsafe
working conditions.
“During 2016, the committee
did a lot of work to improve safety processes in the plant,” Shannon
observed. “They revised accident
reporting process that includes near misses.
The process is designed to identify the root cause of the accident or
near miss and develop a corrective action that everyone involved must sign off
on.”
All data are entered into an
online dashboard that is available to every manager and supervisor in the
facility. In the event of an accident or
near miss, all managers and supervisors receive email notification of the
incident.
Employee involvement in the
facility’s safety initiatives is encouraged.
Fergus installed a new dock lock program to prevent trailers from
pulling away from a loading dock during loading or unloading. Employees took part in the Kaizen event to determine
the new equipment that was installed on all the docks as well as the improved
process. A Kaizen team also was formed
to review pedestrian safety in the warehouse and distribution center and
develop new rules for employees walking through the area.
Over the last several years,
the company has made improvements to the building to make Fergus more energy
efficient. As part of this effort, the
team retrofit all forklifts in the distribution center with catalytic converters
to prevent any build-up of carbon monoxide from forklift exhaust. They also
conduct quarterly emission tests on all forklifts to maintain exhaust levels
below legislated thresholds. As part of this effort, the team installed carbon
monoxide detectors throughout the warehouse area.
“Safety is first and
foremost in Fergus,” Henderson said. “No
single water heater is more important than our people’s safety.”
The Lloyd B. Smith
President’s Safety Award is the A. O. Smith Corporation’s highest honor in the
field of workplace safety and the company’s longest-running employee
recognition program. It is named after
the late Lloyd B. Smith, a former chairman and chief executive officer of A. O.
Smith Corporation and the great-grandson of the founder of the company.