A ribbon cutting by the Monett Chamber of Commerce during Safety Day at the SAPA aluminum factory in Monett took place last week. Plant manager Steve Reid, center, cut the ribbon. |
The use of
annual safety days has increased exponentially over the past number of years. Some
companies have even expanded the concept of a annual safety day to a safety
week (shout out to Alba in the Middle East!) More and more companies now realize
the importance of taking one day to emphasize the continued importance of
safety at their location(s). The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has a recent story
of one individual plant who had their annual safety day.
Aluminum
manufacturer SAPA, the new company that formed last year, celebrated Safety Day
for the first time in Monett on Thursday. Monett on Thursday, October 2, 2014.
Company
officials made presentations, led activities and hosted a lunch for the
employees. SAPA formed out of a merger with Hydro Aluminum, the previous owner
of what had been the Wells Aluminum plant in Monett, and Orkla. The new
company, with 23,000 employees in more than 40 countries, finalized its
organization in September 2013. Its headquarters are in Oslo, Norway.
"This
is a day to step back, focus on safety and see how important safety is to us as
a company and as individuals," said Ryan Nall, environmental health and
safety manager for the Monett plant.
"We're
trying to start a new tradition with SAPA," said Steve Reid, plant
manager. In past years, Reid recalled the main emphasis was on production, and
it was not uncommon to have 8-14 reported incidents involving injuries a year.
Reid was involved in two incidents, one where he was hurt. The Monett plant has
had one reportable incident in the past two years.
Charles
Carter, human resources lead person for SAPA's Midwest region, came to Monett
for the occasion. In the region, Carter said SAPA has only one other casting
facility, in Yankton, S.D. Three plants in Indiana, in Connersville, Elkhart
and North Liberty, all concentrate on extrusion.
"This
plant is very unique," Conner said. "There are good people who have
worked here for some time, several for 25 to 30 years. They've done an
excellent job keeping the casting facility right in step with other locations.
"We're
switching from the Hydro legacy to SAPA, and they have represented SAPA very
well."
Jeff
Meredith, executive director of the Monett Chamber of Commerce, spoke during
the luncheon about the importance of safety in keeping Monett operating as an
industrial center. The combined workforce more the $250 million in income and
benefits paid to employees a year and multiple billions of dollars in goods and
services.
According
to Chamber studies, 60 percent of Monett workers live outside the city limits.
Meredith said people would not be willing to drive to work if they felt in
danger of losing an arm or not going home again.
"If
not for you all being safe, we'd not have these jobs," Meredith said.
"You are the driving force that makes Monett grow. Safety: It's the right
thing to do."
Winners
of the various contests received $50 gift cards. Games and winners were: blackjack,
John Garrett; chip and putt, Kevin Hilton; basketball shoot, Jared Holt;
beanbag toss, Charlie Weston; and forklift challenge, Jim Holland.
In the
drawings held after lunch, Travis Heseman won the grill. Kyle Willkins won the
generator.
Congratulations
to the employees at Sapa Monett for taking time away from their jobs to be
reinvigorated on why safety is important to Sapa. On Thursday, October 2 the
Aluminium Plant Safety Blog was invited to attend Sapa’s largest facility in
Cressona, Pennsylvania in the USA. Throughout the Sapa network of over 100
facilities annual Safety Day took place too on. The safety program at Sapa
Cressona mirrored Sapa Monett’s in many ways. Sapa Cressona had several safety
games (exercises) focused on teamwork, hazards, and safety. One of the team
building exercises required a team of five individuals to move a marble (yes a
marble) through a series of individual plastic pipes in a straight line over fixed
distance of approximately 10 meters. The fastest team won a sizeable cash
prize. Another exercise involved a team of two individuals. One individual was
blind folded while the other was instructed to verbally guide their sight impaired
through a maze. On the ground the maze had areas that if stepped upon would
result in a time penalty. The quickest team won. Both exercises emphasized the
importance of teamwork. Teamwork plays an important role in the overall safety
of a plant. The best plants in terms of safety are the plants where the workers
look out for each other. They are not afraid to tell someone that what they are
doing is unsafe. Just imagine how many injuries could have been prevented and
lives saved if someone told the worker before the upcoming incident that they were
working in an unsafe manner. Just imagine.
Hopefully
the reader will take the initiative and speak out when it necessary to correct
an unsafe work manner that is observed. If you don’t and an incident does
occur, you may be haunted with the thought of “what if I had spoken up”… There
might be a reader who is shy, scared, and would feel uncomfortable telling
someone that what they are/were doing is unsafe. The APSB can relate to your
feelings. But, sometimes, just sometimes it is worth stepping out of your shell
to speak up. Even if that person is your superior. You have to be polite and
respectful. Simply explain what you observed and you are concerned about their
safety. You can do it.
Back to
teamwork. Teammwork when encouraged can have positive results. In every team
athletic competition there is always a captain or individual whom leads the
other teammates toward their goal. The goal for our industry is zero incidents.
One executive recently told the APSB, the goal is simple for every worker to go
home with everything they brought to work. The captain of an aluminium company
is the chief executive. No matter how good the plant manager and safety manager
are, without the active support of the chief executive zero accidents is a
finish line that keeps moving farther away. No finer examples of chief
executives who actively support and champion safety within their companies than
the leaders of the various large and small aluminium companies in our industry.
These
individuals each have taken their own unique approach to safety within their
own company. Not only have their workers benefited, but so have our industry.
The Aluminium International Today has just begun a biannual feature with
interviews of chief executives on safety related topics. The first interview is
with Sapa Group’s Svein Tore Holsether. Here is
the link to the interview (here).
Please
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