Safety at Resolute in 2015: millions of injury-free hours and three awards

There’s a lot of talk about occupational health and safety in our operations, but are we walking the talk? From the numbers we’re seeing and the recognition we’re earning, the answer is a resounding YES.

Until we calculated the numbers for 2015, 2014 was our best year ever in terms of safety performance. Our OSHA incident rate then was in line with world-class safety performance. And we also saw a significant 22% reduction in total recordable injuries compared to the year before.

Now that we’ve got the latest statistics, the numbers we are seeing are even more impressive and inspiring: by end of 2015, our OSHA injury rate company-wide was 0.66 (a world-class OSHA rate is 1.0.), which is a 20% reduction in total injuries over last year.

Many of our operations are reaching the milestone of 250,000 hours worked without an OSHA recordable injury. For many facilities, this represents more than a year of work hours. And then there are several operations that appear to have made it into a competitive sport.

SAFETY BY THE NUMBERS. So far, Maniwaki, QC, holds the record to beat with 1.5 million hours without a recordable injury. They’re followed by Baie-Comeau, QC, (1.25 million), Thorold, ON, and Catawba, SC, (over 1 million).

Grenada, MS, and Baie-Comeau, QC, have 750,000 hours each, and in the 500,000 club are Calhoun, TN,, Thunder Bay, ON, Fairmount, WV, Hydro-Saguenay, QC, (10 years!), Resolute-LP–Larouche, QC, (more than 5 years), Resolute-LP–Saint-Prime, QC, (more than 7 years), Mauricie Woodlands, QC, and Menominee, MI.

Congratulations to everyone involved in achieving these important milestones!

INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION FOR SAFETY. There are many more health and safety successes in the works and all that effort isn’t going unnoticed. Two international organizations and one North American organization recognized Resolute employees for their excellence in safety.

Here’s a quick round up of the 2015 awards we earned for our safety performance:

• Health, Safety & Environment Program of the Year. We won the highest honor in the Canada and U.S. category of the 12th Annual International Business Awards (Stevie^® Awards) by showing how our policies prevent workplace accidents and injuries, and increase safety awareness.
• Managing Risk Award. We won the highest honor in this category of the 7^th Annual Pulp and Paper International (PPI) Awards. It recognizes companies that have made major improvements in property loss prevention and health and safety records in recent years.
• AF&PA Leadership in Sustainability Award for Safety. Our company was honored to accept the American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA) Leadership in Sustainability Award for Safety, specifically for Resolute’s “Working Towards Zero Incidents” objective. We were also one of only seven companies to receive an AF&PA Better Practices, Better Planet 2020 Award in 2015.

More recent blog posts on our safety achievements:

Resolute wins Gold and Silver Stevie® Awards in 2015 International Business Awards

Thunder Bay Safety Award Generates $5,000 for Ronald McDonald House

Baie-Comeau achieves 1,000,000 hours without a recordable injury!

Resolute Wins Multiple Sustainability and Women in Business Awards