Nine Ohio Companies Lauded for Workplace Safety

The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) has announced that nine Ohio employers are semi-finalists in the annual Safety Innovations Competition, which recognizes employers that implement innovative solutions to reduce the risk of workplace injuries and illnesses. The competition helps foster innovation in occupational injury/illness prevention and encourages employers to share their creative solutions to reducing the risk of injury for their employees.

A panel of safety, ergonomics and industrial hygiene specialists from the BWC Division of Safety and Hygiene selected the nine semi-finalists after reviewing applications from employers across Ohio. They scored the applications on the following criteria, risk reduction, innovativeness, cost savings and potential impact.

The finalists include:

Ashland, Inc. , Dublin (Franklin County) for its ergonomics Kaizen process.
AWP, Inc., Kent (Portage County) for its contractor grade bedslide.
City of Cuyahoga Falls, Cuyahoga Falls (Summit County) for its underground cable puller.
Cooper Farms Feed & Animal, Fort Recovery (Mercer County) for its hog loader.
Midmark Corp., Versailles (Darke County) for its automatic guided carts.
Northcoast Recycling Specialists, Wickliffe (Lake County) for its hydraulic core stripper
Nucor Steel Marion, Inc., Marion (Marion County) for its r-factor rolling process.
Tri America Contractors, Inc., Wheelersburg (Scioto County) for its pipe fabrication transporter.
Whitacre Greer Co., Alliance (Stark County) for its bin area material feed air cannons.

BWC specialists will visit the semi-finalists to further evaluate the innovations and five finalists will be selected to attend the BWC Safety Congress and Expo (OSC16) on March 9 and 10, 2016, where they will present their innovations to a panel of independent judges.

Cash prizes ranging from $1,000 to $6,000 will be awarded to five finalists based on the judges’ scoring. Conference attendees determine the recipient of the $1,000 People’s Choice award.