A new initiative for the QASC is to recognize a member organization with a “Safe Employer” Award. Any QASC member may nominate their own company or another company for this prestigious award where safety professionals pay homage to other safety professionals.Click here, qasc@adams.net , to request the Excel Version of the application to submit online.
The Safe Employer Award program was established to honor a Quincy Area Safety Council member for their outstanding safety program.
The council board voted to accept the entry from Harris Corporation, Broadcast Communication Division, Quincy, IL as the “Safe Employer 2011”. Thanks to Carla Carlstead, RN, BSN, COHN-S, from Harris Corporation for the time and effort she expended in preparing the following information which highlights the company’s dedication to safety and, in particular, to employee engagement.
“Safety is a significant part of our new employee orientation. Bulletin boards contain Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Committee minutes, Medical First Responders, HazMat Response Team, Safety/Evacuation Maps, and graphic displays of our EHS Metrics. All of our EHS policies and procedures, including facility chemical list, are available to all employees on the Division intranet site, as well as EHS Management Review and minutes, all past EHS Committee minutes, and a variety of other related links. Each manufacturing area also posts a “Safety Cross” which identifies any ‘near miss’ incident or OSHA recordable, as well as the corresponding corrective action”, says Carlstead. In the last 5 years, Harris has experienced a 54% reduction in the OSHA Recordable Incident Rate and a 72% reduction in the OSHA Lost Time Incident Rate.
Carlstead noted, “We have a very active EHS Committee that is a cross-sectional representation of all employees and all shifts. We exercise an open door policy and encourage hazard identification to proactively reduce risk. These efforts are part of our very robust Hazard Identification/Risk Reduction program, which was formalized about 5 years ago as part of our OHSAS 18001 Certification (Health & Safety counterpart to ISO 14001 Environmental and 9001 Quality, which we also have). We have a large library of training opportunities available and maintained on-line. Required training is assigned by job description and by the employee’s manager. Employees may also voluntarily select additional training, and all training transcripts are available on-line. Training that does not lend itself to this training vehicle or to the degree of specificity are provided in person by qualified trainers. Supervisors attend Safety Responsibility Training, and we have a team of engineers and managers that have had formalized training in Ergonomics. Continuing education is also a regular part of certification requirements for Health and Safety personnel.”
The HR organization at Harris tracks employee volunteerism in the community and reports to the Corporate organization for recognition through Corporate eBlast and/or the Corporate Annual Responsibility Report. Besides sponsoring 2 Red Cross blood drives on site and during work hours, and the Alzheimer’s walk, additional charities have received monetary donations. Employee insurance covers preventative medicine, and provides additional health counseling and resources to employees and their families. An on-site flu immunization clinic is provided with a subsidy for employees. A 0.7 mile walking path was constructed on site this year to assist employees with their fitness in a peaceful area away from traffic and buildings. A fulltime RN is also available to assist employees with medical issues and questions ranging from travel immunizations to monitoring blood pressures.
Harris is a Drug Free Workplace and utilizes post offer and post accident drug and alcohol testing. Harris deployed 5 AEDs in 2005 and maintains a robust list of certified Medical First Responders. The EHS Committee is very active and performs quarterly EHS inspections, with the highest scoring department being rewarded with a free meal and recognition. Internal safety audits are conducted twice a year, in addition to semiannual OHSAS 18001 audits from an outside agency, and an exhaustive Corporate audit every 3 years . Harris actively seeks to reduce hazards as they are identified by the Job Risk Assessments, involving the employees directly involved in the process. They also have an active 5S program that is maturing and providing visual improvements.
Carlstead explains, “Our Health & Safety Management System is multi-faceted”, but I will focus on our Ergonomics Program, which addresses and tracks Ergonomics from both repetitive motion and over-exertion perspectives. Since repetitive motion illnesses take time to present themselves, any measure must be sustainable and patience exercised in tracking and measuring results. The first step to success in any program is getting management commitment. We then developed a company specific training, highlighting both good and bad examples of ergonomics in our work environment. The first employees to be trained were our R&D engineers, since they design the products our employees build. We also trained a core group of employees to serve as assessors, to respond to complaints and concerns, and evaluate for improvement. We also had an outside firm contracted to evaluate our 7 most challenging processes. ALL employees are required to be trained in ergonomics and encouraged to identify issues, abate what they can, and share the ones they can’t improve with the health and safety personnel. Our nurse also developed stretches specific to each department and the ‘Ergo Minutes’ were scheduled for three times throughout the day, between breaks and lunch.”
Injury trends indicated that the vast majority of Harris’s worker’s compensation claims (2.8 per 100 fulltime employees each year) were coming from ergonomic-related issues. These types of injuries were also the most expensive claims, both in direct cost and lost and restricted duty. As proof of success with the project, Harris has not had a worker’s compensation claim related to an ergonomic issue (repetitive motion or overexertion) in over a year. In a time of inflationary medical costs, Harris has virtually eliminated their worker’s compensation cost associated with these significant injuries and illnesses, as well as kept their employees working at full duty.
Congratulations to Harris Corp. for earning the 2011 Safe Employer Award from the Quincy Area Safety Council!