EHS

Humphrey 18

Writing Assignment #2

There are many aspects that ETS uses to rate company safety programs. According to ETS’s website this can be summarized as “support from management and employee involvement; innovative solutions to safety challenges; injury and illness rates lower than the average for their industries; comprehensive training programs; evidence that prevention of incidents is the cornerstone of the safety process; good communication about the value of safety; and a way to substantiate the benefits of the safety process.” EHS awarded the title of 2011 America’s Safest Companies to twelve companies, which include: ACCO Brands Corp., Buffalo Gap Instrumentation & Electrical Co. Inc., Caterpillar Inc., EnPro Industries, EuroKera North America, Fluor Corp., Bribbins Insulation Co. Inc., Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies LLC, Kennametal Inc., Nalco Co., Richard Goettle Inc., and Savage Services. Each had different programs that helped them win this classification, which will be overviewed in this project.

ACCO Brands Corp., based out of Lincolnshire, IL was awarded America’s Safest Company by EHS in 2011. ACCO Brands Corp. was able to receive this award through the hands on work of the senior management team. The senior management team periodically visits manufacturing and distribution locations to review performance as well as meet with employees. They have an audit sheet that they overview which has 70 action items that are categorized into eight elements which include: teammate involvement, recordkeeping and documentation, hazard assessment, prevention, and control, injury/illness investigations, medical management, training and education, environmental, and measurement. Overall, the senior managements concern and constant checking of all of the safety components of their different locations helped them become America’s Safest Company in 2011.

Buffalo Gap Instrumentation and Electrical Co. Inc. also placed on America’s Safest Companies list. Their company has almost quadrupled in size over the last five years and their commitment to safety as a team has kept them free of lost-time incidents. The programs that they implemented to help them achieve this status are management supplying annual training sessions, performing advance audits, and other similar things. They also have safety mentoring systems that help engage the employee in real job situations. Safety is number one in management and helped their company become one of the safest.

Caterpillar Inc. has a large company that reaches more than 180 companies world-wide so implementing strong programs to improve safety is vital with that many employees. In the recent years Caterpillar launched four major safety initiatives that helped them climb to the top of the list. These include: Safety Strategic Improvement Project, Caterpillar Vision Zero, Ergonomic SIP, and EHS Assurance Manual. These programs helped establish clear roles and responsibilities, standardize safety initiatives, establish common processes, and identify fundamental EHS issues.

EnPro Industries is a two-time award winner of this title, so their programs that they have implemented are obviously effective. Every year the company hosts a Safety First event that includes a new safety pledge, highlights commitment to safety, training, and a review of activities. If an injury or significant near-miss occurs the company holds a safety stand down at that facility to make sure to alleviate any problems. By being proactive, this company is doing well on safety regulations.

EuroKera North America removes obstacles to safety to maintain a safe program and company. No equipment is purchased or installed without doing a safety evaluation, and once the equipment is installed it does not go online until a full risk audit is conducted. The president takes time to send handwritten notes and gift cards to employees who have 100% daily participation rate and tries to keep his employees involved in the process of staying safe.

Fluor is also a two-time winner of the award, and was an easy choice, according to EHS. Fluor has a ZERO Incident Program that is based on the fact that no job is worth injury, safety can be managed, and safety is a condition of employment. They base their safety program off careful management and helping employees dedicate to safety.

Gribbins Insulation Company bases their company on a common thread; safety. Management attends safety meetings, reviews incident investigations, and helps by allocating resources to the safety department. They also have implemented a safety exam that all employees must pass in order to start working. There are mentors that are assigned from the safety department to help ensure everyone is completing their job safely.

A commitment to safety helped Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies LLC become one of the safest workplaces. The program that helps them is their progressive safety-related program that introduces policy to communicate safety and removal of excess sharps to be removed. If there is anything noticed that could become a safety hazard it is reported and a full investigation pursues.

Kennametal Inc. uses the fact that safety will help business as well as employees. Their Find and Fix program helps make them competitive for safety awards. Through this program employees are rewarded for finding unsafe behaviors and conditions and fixing them. This way they are making employees realize and fix the problems so they become more aware of them.

Nalco Co. has safety integrated into all pieces of the business. They introduced the PORTA-FEED delivery system, which helps reduce handling of chemicals, as well as developed an in-house model for safety. They gauge and track their safety internally to make changes. These changes they made helped them have a 40% global injury rate improvement from 2006-2010.

Richard Goettle Inc. views safety as a value so that it remains a high priority. A large amount of employees have received OSHA training, as well as all employees are encouraged to ask questions and have ideas about safety at any time. They make sure management assesses safety situations and keeps environments safe for all employees.

Savage Services was the last on the list of America’s Safest Companies. Their program requires the involvement and commitment of all employees. Their Safety Specialist program makes employees a safety specialist for a period of time to help keep everyone safe.

After looking at the different programs and ideas implemented by America’s Safest Companies, I believe there are few underlying ideas across all of them. I believe that involvement of all employees is important because that keeps everyone involved with what is going on and makes sure that all employees are dedicated to safety. I believe education is another underlying part of keeping companies safe. If employees are educated about safety regulations and how to stay safe they would understand more of what they should be doing and how they could be helping stay safe.

Writing Project #2

Due: Thursday, October 18th

50 Points

Assignment Description

Go to EHS Today online and read the information provided about America’s Safest Company Conference 2012. Click here: http://ehstoday.com/mag/asc-acco-brands

Write a 2-3 page paper providing your answers to the following questions:

1. What criteria does EHS Today use to rate company safety programs?

2. Read the profile on each winning company. Discuss the programs that gained them recognition as one of America’s Safety Companies.

3. What ideas did you learn that are most important to your learning as a future safety professional?

Written Communications

Good writing is a core competency for safety professionals and is a skill that is highly valued by employers. The importance of clear, thoughtful writing will be stressed in the course. Good writing will be rewarded and poor writing will be penalized. Throughout the term, you will be expected to make your best effort in expressing yourself in a professional manner in writing.

Note: When you turn in your first written assignment, if it is apparent that your work does not meet professional standards, you will be encouraged to use the Indiana State University Writing Center to help you revise your paper for resubmission and re-grading.

The Indiana State University Writing Center strives to help students become strong, independent writers through a variety of programs and services. The services are available to both on campus and distance students. The consultations between students and Center staff, either face-to-face or online, work to enable students to learn productive habits in pre-writing activities, drafting, revising, editing, and incorporating research. 

You can find the Indiana State University Writing Center on campus in the Cunningham Memorial Library.

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Written Communication Skills Rubric

Intended Outcome: this written communication will demonstrate professional level writing skill which meets the following basic criteria:

· No writing errors (spelling, punctuation, capitalization, sentence structure, word choice)

· Clear

· Concise

· Follows assignment instructions

Performance Area	Rating = 4	Rating = 3	Rating = 2	Rating = 1	Score
Structure	Written work has clear and appropriate beginning, development and conclusion. Paragraphing and transitions are also clear and appropriate.	Written work has adequate beginning, development and conclusion. Paragraphing and transitions are also adequate.	Written work has weak beginning, development and conclusion. Paragraphing and transitions are also deficient.	Organizational structure and paragraphing have serious and persistent errors.	4
Content	The length of the written work provides in-depth coverage of the topic, and assertions are clearly supported by strong evidence.	The length of the written work is sufficient to cover the topic, and assertions are supported by evidence.	Written work does not do an adequate job of covering the assigned topic, and assertions are weakly supported by evidence.	Written work does not cover the assigned topic, and assertions are not supported by evidence.	4
Mechanics	Written work has no major errors in word selection and use, sentence structure, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.	Written work is relatively free of errors in word selection and use, sentence structure, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.	Written work has several major errors in word selection and use, sentence structure, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.	Written work has serious and persistent errors in word selection and use, sentence structure, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.	4
Follows Assignment Instructions	The written work followed all instructions.	Missed one of the instructions	Missed more than one instruction	Missed so many instructions that it does not appear that the student read them.	4
Column Totals					16
Overall Score (Earned score/16 x 50 points)	50
If I was screening you for employment in an entry level safety professional position in my department and using this written work as part of the screening process, would you be given further consideration for employment?
Yes	Provisional	No
X
Instructor’s Comments Exemplary paper!