The Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation (BWC) recently announced 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.
“Ohioans have always been pioneering and these awards celebrate Ohio employers who bring that creativity and resourcefulness into their workplaces in order to protect their workers,” said BWC Administrator/CEO Steve Buehrer.
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 at the Columbus Convention Center, 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.
Administrator Buehrer will present the awards during a ceremony at OSC16 on March 10, 2016.
Author Kori Shafer-Stack, Editor, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is an expert in post-injury response procedures and part of the Amaxx team helping companies reduce their workers compensation costs by 20% to 50%. www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com. Contact: [email protected].
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