28-01-2025
What makes a safe workplace?
Jan. 28—LIMA — Ohio workers took a step in the right direction in 2023, as the 660 reported severe workplace injuries to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were the fewest for the state in the last 10 years.
Establishing a safe and comfortable workplace can lead to fewer injuries, employee retention, loyalty, productivity, and a positive culture.
What goes into having a safe workplace, how often are employees safety trained, and how do they respond to emergencies?
Priority of Safety
In 2023, Plastipak Packaging, Inc., located at 3202 Harding Highway was recognized as America's Safest Company by EHS Today, an American magazine focused on occupational safety and health.
With a safety motto of "Four Seconds to Safety," employees are encouraged to stop, think, and assess before reacting. "Rushing is one of the greatest causes of injuries in the workplace," Courtney Hemond, global communications and brand manager at Plastipak Packaging, Inc., said. Additionally, employees are trained to move their eyes before moving their bodies.
At Nutrien Lima, 2200 Fort Amanda Rd., Lima, the vision is for employees to return home safely every day. This is done as a result of Nutrient maintaining stringent standards and testing for people working on-site, and often going above regulatory requirements set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and other regulators, according to Shaun Spainhower, safety, health, and environmental manager.
Nutrien's annual Safety, Health, and Environmental Summit plays a pivotal role in inspiring employees. "(The Summit) webcasts bring all of our employees and contractors together to showcase safety, health, and environmental initiatives and successes across the organization and inspire the attendees to uphold Nutrien's Culture of Care," said Spainhower.
Safety culture on the rise
Mike Knisley, the secretary treasurer of the Ohio State Building Trades Council is a proponent of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and spoke on the prevalent safety culture within the council.
"For years, safety was nonexistent or rarely in vogue," he said. "I'm glad that there's a mechanism with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration where not just brutalities but we keep workplaces to a minimum of incidents and everybody goes home to their loved ones every single night."
One aspect that has improved according to Knisley is fall protection. "I've watched fall protection evolve for almost 40 years now. When I first started, it was optional and the mandates weren't there," he said. Sometimes it takes the hammer of the federal government to get companies in line."
Although the Ohio State Building Trades Council still works at the Refinery from day to day, Knisley pointed out that they were formerly in charge of turning around the Cenovus Refinery, and since being replaced, he has stood up for the families of Building Trades employees. "You (Cenovus) are penalizing the Building Trades members and the families that they feed because we had a couple of issues," he said. "We still do the day-to-day maintenance, which is good, and some of the projects out there, but to have the turnarounds taken, wiped right off the slate, is costing the community millions of dollars."
Looking at safety in multiple ways
At Cenovus, safety is approached in two different ways, occupational safety and process safety.
"Occupational safety ensures that each of us goes home the same way we started our day," said the Media and Issues Management team. "Process safety ensures that we manage our operations with integrity to prevent incidents and unplanned events."
Through team engagement at Nutrien, stories are shared to help reinforce collaboration and trust throughout the company. "We do this through safety meetings, safety moments, and the Nutrien Safety Connect, a regular email to all Nutrien employees sharing inspiring stories and safety lessons learned from employees across the company," said Spainhower.
Safety training
Plastipak Packaging, Inc., engaging employees in the Plastipak safety program is key to success. "Engaging all of our associates in the Plastipak safety program is the cornerstone of our success," said Hemond. "Whether this be through a safety conversation or a near/miss observation, we value the feedback of our workforce and use these as opportunities to learn from and improve our processes. Touchpoints are intentionally set up between supervisors and the newest team members to encourage learning opportunities and allow for opportunities to ask questions.
"We also pair our new associates with mentors to help them safely integrate into their new roles and encourage them to not do more than they were trained to do," Hemond said.
Much like Plastipak, training begins with an employee first walks into Nutrien. "Non-plant operators will go through a minimum of 40 hours of training where a plant operator's initial training will extend beyond 10 weeks," said Spainhower. "Training is continually ongoing and reviewed, and updated as needed to keep it current and relevant. Operators are required to re-qualify every three years.
Emergency preparedness and response
It is important to remain prepared for any emergency in the workplace, as disaster could strike at any moment on any given day.
Nutrien's emergency preparedness plans are in place and regularly tested. Regularly trained emergency response teams are active at all production facilities, as well as on-call response coordinators on staff. "We conduct regular inspections of our emergency equipment including personal protective equipment, safety showers, fire extinguishers, ladders, forklifts, and more," said Spainhower.
Additional data
Eleven of the 660 injuries reported in the state were in Allen, Auglaize Hardin, Putnam, and Van Wert counties. The city of Kenton reported four injuries, the most of any city in these counties. An average of 777 severe injuries were reported in Ohio per year from 2015 to 2022.
Reach Cade Higgins at 567-242-0351
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