The U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) presented eight safety awards this year to Michelin manufacturing plants in the United States, as well as a Leadership Award to the company for taking an innovative approach to worker safety.
USTMA recognized four Michelin sites with Excellence Awards for worker health and safety. The honored Michelin plants include: light truck and passenger plant in Dothan, Alabama (US4); Earthmover plant in Lexington, South Carolina (US7); as well as the Michelin Tweel facility in Greenville, South Carolina (TWEEL); and a tread-production facility in Asheboro, North Carolina (ASH-Oliver).
USTMA presented three Michelin plants with Improvement Awards, including: Ardmore, Oklahoma (US9); Greenville, South Carolina (US1); and Tuscaloosa, Alabama (BFG3).
USTMA’s Safety and Health Improvement Program (SHIP), created in 1981, has traditionally recognized member companies for excellence and improvement in worker health and safety. This year, USTMA expanded the program to recognize member companies for the proactive steps taken to improve workplace safety and health culture.
“At Michelin, the safety of our employees is our first priority, so the SHIP awards help us measure our results and make progress,” said Scott Clark, chairman and president of Michelin North America. “We are pleased to be recognized this year for the innovative approach our employees are taking to improving safety in our manufacturing facilities. Their engagement is helping ensure safety is the focus in all of our sites.”
Two categories of awards are presented to companies that demonstrate workplace safety excellence and improvements, which are measured by the incidence rate for injury cases. The “Excellence” category is for facilities that achieve a “Days Away Restricted and Transfers” (DART) rate that is 75 percent better than the average achieved by plants that provided data to USTMA. The “Improvement” award is for plants that achieve a DART rate that is both 10 percent better than its rate in the previous year and the same or better than the USTMA average incidence rate.
“USTMA members share a vision for the U.S. tire manufacturing industry of zero injuries in the workplace,” said Anne Forristall Luke, USTMA president and CEO. “USTMA’s annual SHIP Awards demonstrate our members’ progress toward meeting that vision.”
Forty-seven plants — including tread-rubber manufacturing, inner-tube manufacturing, aircraft-tire manufacturing, and tire manufacturing — from USTMA member companies supplied data for the annual survey to be eligible for awards. The data supplied to USTMA is identical to information provided to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, which publishes annual injury and illness information on all industries.
