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Findlay plant safety team members include, seated in front left to right, DuWayne Oakman, Rex Essinger, Donnie Paugh, Bob Brubaker, Rod Nelson and North American Manufacturing Vice President John Bodart; and standing in back left to right, Tom Stauffer, Tim Smith, Luby Lee, Bruce Ream, Steve Adams, Dan Radebaugh, Chick Padula and Jeremy Lamb. At right, Findlay plant Manager Jack Hamilton congratulates team members and other plant representatives for working together to sweep both the two top PEAKS safety awards, earning 12,000 PEAKS points for each plant employee in the process. In the photo below, John Bodart announces the awards to Findlay plant employees.

Findlay Plant Sweeps Top Safety PEAKS Honors

The Findlay plant has earned both of the top 2009 safety PEAKS program annual awards, for "Most Improved Location" and "Top Location," North American Tire Manufacturing Operations Vice President John Bodart announced Thursday during a presentation in the Findlay plant.

"This plant has really taken a leadership role in what is possible," John said, speaking to a group of about 50 representing departments throughout the plant, plant management and corporate human resources and safety leaders.

In particular, John praised the Findlay plant's pilot of an arc flash safety program; the ergonomic initiative in conjunction with Humantech consultants on Risk And Performance Improvement Deployment events, which are similar to kaizen events; and the Findlay plant safety steering committee, which John called "the gold standard" for a group of its type.

"This plant moved to a spot that many, many people didn't think was possible,"
he reflected.

For the 2009 honors, an awards committee examined each plant's safety program's efforts to attain pre-set safety metric goals such as the days away, restricted or transfer rate, lost-time cases, incident rate, workers' comp costs and implementation of safety initiatives.

Among the Findlay plant safety performance standouts:

The DART rate, a key OSHA indicator, dropped by 53 percent compared
with 2008.
Lost-time cases, involving serious injury, dropped by 57 percent compared with the prior year.
Lost-time days dropped by 2,000 days.
Restricted cases, where injured employees work light duty during recovery, decreased by 50 percent.
Restricted days decreased by 51 percent, amounting to 1,500 fewer days.
OSHA-recordable injuries, requiring medical treatment other than first aid, declined by 48 percent.

Accepting the awards, Findlay plant Manager Jack Hamilton credited the combined efforts of everyone in the plant for meriting the honors. Every Findlay plant employee will receive 12,000 points – 6,000 per award -- deposited into his PEAKS account.

"Thank you guys for your efforts," Jack said. "I just want to thank all the Findlay plant employees, the safety committee, safety team, executive board and Findlay plant leadership for your hard work and support. The progress we made this year wouldn't have been possible without you."

John agreed that safety is truly a team effort.

"It really takes caring about your fellow employees," he said. "The work done here was groundbreaking. And I can tell you, the other plants are asking about how to achieve results like these."

Launched in 2009, the safety PEAKS award program includes two annual awards, the "Most Improved Location" and "Top Location" honors. The safety PEAKS program encompasses two recognition areas: Cooper SAFE cards, for employees who work especially hard to promote safety by going above-and-beyond their normal work responsibilities; and in the production areas, incentive points for plants achieving predetermined annual safety goals. Employees may access individual accounts through the program Web site at www.CooperPEAKS.com.

The PEAKS acronym stands for the program’s five key elements: rewarding the People who have made Cooper what it is today; rewarding the Engagement and Achievement that follow; promoting Knowledge; and recognizing Success. It is designed to recognize and reward Cooper people for their ongoing efforts and to benefit those who are leading our most important initiatives.