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No one who worked at the Daikin America chemical plant 10 years ago will forget the explosion that killed three people, said Forrest Keith, Daikin community relations manager.
That memory helps motivate employees to do everything they can to prevent such a tragedy from recurring, he said, and the proof came Thursday when the Occupational Safety and Health Administration presented Daikin with its prestigious Star Award.
1 of 40 in state
Daikin becomes one of 40 other work sites in Alabama to have earned OSHA’s highest safety level and among 1,532 nationwide. Less than 250 chemical plants in the United States have earned the Star Award.
“The main benefit for us is we go home safe after a hard day’s work,” David Hendrixson, vice president and plant manager, told employees and guests at the celebration marking the achievement.
To receive a Star Award, a work site must be an approved member of OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program. The program requires partnerships among management, labor and OSHA to implement a safety and health system.
The VPP sets stricter criteria for safety than normal OSHA standards. A team of OSHA inspectors spends a week at the work site to gauge the company as one of three levels of compliance.
The Star Award is the highest and goes to companies that achieve injury and illness rates at or below the national average for their respective industry.
Daikin has shown improvement in worker safety every year since 2001 and saw injuries drop from 57 in 2001 to 4 so far this year.
Difficult achievement
Daikin America Chairman Cliff Adams said the Star Award is a difficult achievement for any manufacturer and especially for a plant that handles chemicals.
“The main thing I like about it, is it involves employees. It’s something where employees have to buy in. They have to be committed to it,” he said.
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