Tire makers earn worker safety awards

March 22, 2013

Four tire manufacturers were recognized for improvements in worker health and safety at the Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA) annual meeting.

RMA’s Safety and Health Improvement Program (SHIP), created in 1981, recognizes member companies that achieve significant enhancements in worker health and safety with awards. The SHIP awards encourage and reward a company’s demonstrated commitment to worker health and safety.

“Today’s awards are clear evidence of this industry’s strong and tireless commitment to worker safety,” said Charles Cannon, RMA president and CEO. 

Two categories of awards are presented to companies that demonstrate workplace safety improvements, which are measured by the incidence rate for lost workday cases. The "Excellence" category is for facilities that achieve a Days Away Restricted Transfer (DART) rate that is 75% better than the average achieved by plants that provided data to RMA.

The “Improvement” award is for plants that achieve a Days Away Restricted Transfer (DART) rate that is both 10% better than its rate in the previous year and the same or better than the RMA average incidence rate.

For 2013, three Excellence awards and 11 Improvement Awards were presented.

Excellence Awards

Bridgestone Americas Manufacturing Group, Graniteville, S.C.

Bridgestone Bandag Tire Solutions. Griffin, Ga.

Pirelli Tire LLC, Rome, Ga.

Improvement Awards

Bridgestone Americas Manufacturing Group, LaVergne, Tenn.; Des Moines, Iowa; Morrison, Tenn., and Wilson, N.C.

Bridgestone Bandag Tire Solutions, Abilene, Texas

Michelin North America Inc., Greenville, S.C. (US1); Greenville, S.C. (PRIME); Midland City, Ala. (US4); and Lexington, S.C.(US7)

 The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Danville, Va., and Akron, Ohio;

Forty-one RMA member facilities supplied data for the annual survey to determine the extent of workplace safety improvements. The data supplied to RMA is identical to information provided to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, which publishes injury and illness information on all industries.