April 01, 2011
Friday

(SitNews) - More than 300 Alaskans attended the 2011 Governor’s Safety and Health
Conference, participating in training tracks in employer resources, arc flash safety, youth safety, safety education, oil industry, transportation and hospitality, OSHA 10 hour construction course, OSHA 10 hour general industry course.

Information about applying for the Voluntary Protection Program, which recognizes and promotes effective workplace safety and health management through a cooperative program between a company’s management, employees and AKOSH, was also provided.

A highlight of the annual conference is recognition of Alaska businesses that exemplify good corporate citizenship and a commitment to the health and safety of their workers.

Trident Seafoods-Ketchikan North & Trident Seafoods-Cordova South -- One of eleven organizations qualified for the Governor’s Safety Award of Excellence
Ernie Cadabes, Labor Commissioner Click Bishop, Brian Parsons, Paul Schneider, Dan Taylor, Bob Pelkey, Jr.
Photo courtesy Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development

One organization qualified for the Governor’s Special Achievement Award. This award is presented for special outstanding achievements in the field of safety and health. Nominees must show a significant and measurable impact on the community, or must have made documented contributions or enhancements to the field of safety and health. This special award was present to the Alaska Injury Prevention Center and Child Passenger Safety Partners. In 2009, Alaska passed a revision to its seatbelt law that included clarification that most children between ages 4 and 7 need to be secured in a booster seat. Efforts to raise awareness were developed by the Alaska Injury Prevention Center with other partnering agencies. The result was a measurable improvement in the use of appropriate child passenger safety devices from 52 percent to 80 percent, which translates into fewer injuries to Alaska children.

Eleven organizations qualified for the Governor’s Safety Award of Excellence. This recognition is awarded to a group that has demonstrated excellence in safety and health systems that protect employees. Companies must show there is management commitment, employee involvement and a documented system for hazard analysis and hazard reduction.

• Trident Seafoods-Ketchikan North and Trident Seafoods-Cordova South. The Ketchikan plant employs an average of 200 annual workers and the Cordova plant employs 133. Each plant has been a model of safety practices. Ketchikan reduced its DART by 50 percent from 2008 to 2009 and Cordova went from a 3.3 DART rate in 2008 to zero in 2009.

• PCL Construction Services, Inc./Alaska Operations begins its approach to safety at the top levels of management including its CEO and vice president, as well as its health safety director. Its annual District Strategy Safety Plan goes above and beyond corporate and regulatory safety standards, which translated into a Days Away/Restricted/Transfer rate that went from 4.28 to zero from 2008 to 2009.

• AES-Houston Contracting Company, Inc./Valdez Project has consistently set the bar high for safe, environmentally sound, quality work for the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company at the Valdez Marine Terminal for the last three years. Employees focus on being "incident free" on project execution and this is clearly demonstrated by zero TCIRs (Total Recordable Injury and Illness Cases) and zero DARTs for 2008, 2009 and 2010.

• The well being of their employees is one of the driving forces behind the safety program at Cornerstone General Contractors. With a goal of zero incidents and injuries on all its projects, the company improved its DARTs rate from 4.21 in 2007 to zero in 2008 and again in 2009. All supervisors carry current First Aid and CPR cards.

• Coeur Alaska/Kensington Mine employed an average of 146 employees in 2009. Its successes include operating for three years without a single lost time accident over 830,000 safe hours worked. Kensington also maintains an on-site EMS medical facility, which is staffed by Beacon Medical 24/7, 365 days per year. Kensington has three underground Mine Rescue Teams that train bi-monthly for advanced mine rescue, recovery and underground fire fighting. The mine’s motto of "Protecting while Producing" ensures a safe environment for its workers, while producing jobs for Southeast Alaska.

• West Construction Company's safety program starts immediately upon initial employment and at the same time, starts "from the top down," so that its employees and stakeholders all have a stake in safety. West employs an average of 92 employees and has a zero DARTs rate for the last three years.

• Alaska Aggregate Products/Deadhorse Shop and AIC NorthStar Island Support are the first Alaska contractors to be in a partnership program with OSHA–Certificate #001 and have a Health and Safety Excellence insurance rating. Its web-based, automated Incident Investigation/Corrective Action system allows evaluation of trends on project sites. Illness and injury trends are then evaluated for improvements on a monthly basis. AIC/AAP employs an average of 13 employees each annually and both companies have a DARTs rating of zero for the last three years.

• Hawk Consultants LLC is an Alaska-owned firm specializing in project management services supporting client organizations with people and resources to deliver projects safely, on time, on budget and without adverse environmental impact. In 2010, Hawk achieved a milestone of one million hours worked safely without injury (no TCIR or DART). Hawk has never had an injury in its 25 years of existence. This truly remarkable achievement is a tribute to the quality and dedication of its employees.

• ASRC Construction Technologies is committed to providing a safe working environment for all its employees based on the premise that all accidents can be prevented. ASRC believes that results are the product of cooperative teamwork and dedication to continuously improving safety, training and work processes. ASRC has performed more than 650,000 worker hours with zero lost time accidents.

The conference, which is sponsored by the Alaska Safety Advisory Council, focuses on emerging safety and health issues, and advanced safety needs that are unique to Alaska.

Source of News:

Alaska Department of Labor
www.labor.state.ak.us

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