The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) has recognized Resolute’s proactive approach to health and safety with a 2018 Leadership in Sustainability Award. The Leadership in Sustainability Awards are designed to recognize exemplary sustainability programs and initiatives in the paper and wood products manufacturing industry. Resolute is one of only five companies to receive a 2018 AF&PA Better Practices, Better Planet 2020 Sustainability Award. The Better Practices, Better Planet 2020 initiative is based on an extensive set of sustainability goals for the U.S. pulp and paper industry.
Resolute’s new proactive safety process was a key factor in being selected for the award. Our process involves three components: pre-task risk analysis; proactive near-miss reports; and safety commitment meetings. Emphasizing individual accountability, supervisors review employees’ performance six times a year based on six quality-execution criteria. We then track the number of facilities reporting risk of injury, as well as the effectiveness of the process at each facility. Risk assessments are also undertaken on our operations’ service providers, including maintenance and transportation contractors. As a result of implementing this new process, our OSHA incident rate for 2017 was 0.66, well below our target of 0.90, and 26 of the company’s operations completed 2017 without a single recordable injury.
As an added incentive to improving safety performance, Resolute offers financial awards to facilities for every 250,000 hours incident-free through our Board of Directors Safety Award Program. Mill employees donate the funds to local community organizations focused on health and education. In 2017, our operations donated US$240,000 in their communities, and since the inception of the program in 2010, over US$2 million has been donated.
This is the second consecutive year AF&PA has honored Resolute for its sustainability achievements. In November 2017, the company received an AF&PA Sustainability Award for our greenhouse gas reduction program. Since year-2000, Resolute has reduced its GHG emissions by an industry-leading 76%.
