Precise Technology Excelsior Springs Plant Recommended for OSHA STAR Status
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EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, Mo., Oct. 5, 2005 -- Following two years of intense preparation and a detailed OSHA evaluation, Precise Technology's Excelsior Springs injection molding facility has been recommended for STAR status in the agency's Voluntary Protection Program (VPP). The VPP STAR program is the most demanding and prestigious U.S.
government award for excellence in safety, according to Precise Director of Compliance and Customer Advocacy Bob Botti, and STAR status has been achieved by just 31 companies in the state of Missouri.
"Precise is committed to ensuring that we have not only a safe, but a healthful work environment for our employees,"
Botti says. Headquartered in North Versailles, PA, Precise is one of the country's largest contract injection molders and mold manufacturers, serving the healthcare, consumer packaging, personal care, and food and beverage markets with plants located throughout the United States and in Europe.
The company's goal is for all Precise facilities to achieve STAR certification by the end of 2007. Excelsior Springs is the second Precise plant to enter the STAR program, along with Precise West Lafayette. But in OSHA's Region VII - which includes Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri - Excelsior Springs is the only Plastic Injection Molder to be recommended for STAR.
To apply for OSHA's VPP program, facilities must have had their Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) in place for more than a year and incident rates below industry average for two of the preceding three years. Facilities are then subjected to a four- to five-day process that includes full auditing of documentation procedures, a wall-to-wall facilities inspection, and interviews with dozens of employees. STAR auditors then submit their report to OSHA for a final decision on STAR status.
Precise plants begin working toward this goal by implementing the company's Safety Training and Observation Program (STOP), a behavior-based program involving management and employees. The Excelsior Springs plant used STOP to bring more people into the safety program locally, expanding their safety committee and training employees to do work-area and facility audits, according to Plant Manager Ross Akers. The work-area audits were especially productive.
"Sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees," Akers says. "When we gave employees the opportunity to step back and observe, not only did it raise their awareness, but it gave us some good ideas as well."
The plant also took advantage of free safety resources offered by the Missouri Department of Labor. "They had a third-party set of eyes observe their system so they got a good gauge of where their safety program was," Akers explains.
Both Akers and Excelsior Springs Safety Coordinator Marcelle Wilson were instrumental in steering the plant toward success. Wilson scheduled all STOP training, attended each facilities walk-through, and kept up to date on all OSHA requirements, leveraging her quality auditing background to help prepare for the VPP audits. "She assured that we stayed on the beam, so to speak," Akers says. And the plant's maintenance department played a key role by helping remove identified hazards from the facility. "The support of the maintenance department is critical," Botti says.
But both Botti and Akers say that the entire staff deserves recognition, as this was truly a team effort. "It starts with management commitment and employee involvement," Botti says. "And when you walk into that facility, it's there. You see it. You feel it. It's a heck of an accomplishment to have that, where everybody's working together toward the same end result."
As other Precise facilities work toward their STAR certification, Akers advises fellow plant managers to provide employees with the support they require to be successful, and to make employee participation in the safety program a major goal. "The higher your participation rate, the better off you're going to be," states Akers. He also says that achieving STAR status is well worth the effort, not only for the safety benefits, but because of the pride that the workforce as a whole felt in the accomplishment.
"It's a really elite achievement," he says. "I'd do it again in a heartbeat."
For more information, contact:
Robert Schiavone
(412) 823-2100 X 5073
Robert.Schiavone@precisetech.com
http://www.precisetech.com
