How did Bendix follow up its 2019 recognition as one of America’s Safest Companies? For starters, it achieved the lowest injury rate in its 90-year history. Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC (Bendix) logged its safest year ever in 2020, in the midst of COVID-19 and the pandemic’s contribution to ongoing market volatility throughout the year – and manufacturing-level extremes across the organization.
With a Total Case Incident Rate (TCIR) of recordable injuries that was far lower than the industry average, the five Bendix manufacturing campuses across North America continued to practice preventive and corrective safety programs in support of the company’s zero-injuries goal. Of the company’s 21 North American locations, 18 finished the year with no recordable injuries, also a record.
In 2019, Bendix was recognized as one of America’s Safest Companies, among 15 companies selected for the honor by the magazine EHS Today. The organization dedicated to setting the industry safety standard for commercial vehicles throughout North America remains equally committed to organizational safety.
“To say 2020 was a year like no other is an understatement. The health and safety of our workforce – ensuring that our team members return home in the same condition they arrived – has always been our top priority. It’s a deep passion we all share as we look out for each other,” said Carlos Hungria, Bendix chief operating officer. “Despite the disruptions, we remained dedicated and strong. We came together to support continuous operations, to deliver exceptional results, and – most important – to achieve record safety performance. That’s something we can all be proud of.”
Hungria continued, “The immense challenges of the pandemic added a completely new dimension that none of us could have anticipated. Leveraging the depth of our existing safety processes, policies, and practices to develop and deploy a comprehensive world-class COVID response plan was key to keeping our employees safe and our operations intact. It was a Herculean effort by many talented people, but one made just a little easier with our time-tested foundation already in place.”
By the Numbers
Bendix’s workplace safety performance, measured annually by TCIR, exceeded the outstanding results achieved in 2019. TCIR measures the total number of recordable injuries per 100 workers per year. In 2020, Bendix achieved a TCIR of 0.37, a number that is far below the industry average.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the TCIR for similar manufacturing facilities in 2019 was 2.7. A recordable injury or accident in the workplace is defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA) as a workplace injury that requires medical attention beyond first aid.
Twenty of Bendix’s 21 North American locations improved their performance or had zero injuries. Eighteen sites surpassed the one-year mark without a recordable injury. Other noteworthy milestones for length of time free of recordable injuries include two years at Lebanon, Tennessee, and the R&D centers in Monterrey, Mexico, and Kalamazoo, Michigan.
They join the ranks of the company’s consistently top-performing locations, including Montreal, Canada, which completed more than 17 years of operations with no recordable injuries; and the Mexico City, Mexico, and Vancouver, Canada, locations, which have experienced no recordable injuries for more than 12 years. Additional milestones for length of time free of recordable injuries included 10 years in Sparks, Nevada, and nine years in Irvine, California.
“Last year’s record safety performance is the result of all of us performing countless tasks safely, while looking out for each other,” Hungria said. “No matter where we report to work each day, we take the time to ‘see safety’ by thinking about the potential hazards of every task.”
