|
Frito-Lay in Beaverton among ‘best of the best' for worker safety
Frito-Lay's Beaverton facility was honored by Oregon OSHA on October 17
for an exceptional safety record and an ongoing commitment to worker safety
and health.
Managers and staff of the Beaverton factory, which produces cookies and
pretzels, received ‘VPP Star Award' status from the Oregon OSHA Voluntary
Protection Program (VPP). The Voluntary Protection Program is a national
program that encourages companies to voluntarily meet rigorous workplace
safety and health management standards to protect workers and reduce injuries,
especially within industries that traditionally have a high injury or
fatal incident rate.
"It is not an exaggeration to say that Frito-Lay's Beaverton facility
is among the ‘best of the best' for workplace safety management.
Oregon OSHA has jurisdiction over 82,000 employers in the state, and currently
Frito-Lay is one of six employers in the VPP program," says Peter
De Luca, administrator of Oregon OSHA. "The Beaverton facility had
an injury lost-workday rate in 2001 which was 44 percent lower than the
industry average for cookie and cracker production. That safety record
is accomplished because every person at the factory makes a commitment
to working safely."
The total rate for worker injuries of all types at the Beaverton plant
last year was 50 percent below the average for that industry.
"In human terms, that means four more people at the Beaverton facility
did NOT miss a day of work last year due to a serious injury who otherwise
would have been injured," says De Luca. "Six additional people
would have also experienced some sort of workplace injury. Those injuries
would not have been prevented without Frito-Lay's commitment to safety."
"VPP is not ‘just another program' that is implemented and creates
paperwork," says Mark Hurliman, VPP-SHARP program manager for Oregon
OSHA. "It is a philosophy that results in improved worker motivation,
continuous improvement, improved communication and reduced workers' compensation
costs."
Frito-Lay Beaverton is one of six VPP sites in Oregon. The additional
VPP sites in Oregon are Kerr McGee Chemical LLC in The Dalles (VPP Star
Award), Georgia-Pacific Toledo pulp and paper mill (VPP Star Award), Georgia-Pacific
Philomath mill (VPP Star Award), Georgia-Pacific Coos Bay mill (VPP Merit
Award), and DPR Construction's Lewis & Clark Campus Housing Project
in Portland (VPP Merit Award).
Frito-Lay employs 110 workers at the Beaverton factory. Over fifty workers
were interviewed by the Oregon OSHA evaluation team to assess workplace
safety prior to the recommendation for ‘STAR' status.
Oregon OSHA offers a variety of conferences, on-site training, educational
resources and consultation services to help Oregon employers create safer
workplaces and reduce the amount of productivity lost due to injuries
which occur at work.
For questions regarding VPP, please contact Oregon OSHA's VPP-SHARP Program
Manager, Mark E. Hurliman
at (503) 947-7437, or toll free in Oregon at 1-800-922-2689. You
can find out more about VPP on Oregon OSHA's website, www.orosha.org
###
|
