Latrobe, Pa.-based Kennametal Inc. is recognizing six company projects for reducing ergonomic risk, cutting energy consumption, strengthening safety training and making other EHS improvements.
The company, which makes metalworking tools and mining and construction equipment, noted that it received 56 nominations for its 12th annual Environmental, Health and Safety Excellence Awards.
"Our Annual EHS Awards give us an opportunity to applaud and honor teams across our company for their tremendous demonstration of leadership and their passion for keeping our employees, communities and environment safe," Kennametal CEO Carlos Cardoso said.
The 2013 award winners fall into two categories: people and environment. They are:
- Kennametal's Tianjin, China, facility (Presidential Award for 100 Percent Safe People), which is being recognized for its implementation of a safety onboarding program that consists of an introduction to the company's management-based safety process and is followed by a series of exams to ensure that all new hires understand Kennametal's safety initiatives.
- Kennametal's Bangalore, India, facility (Presidential Award for 100 Percent Safe Environment), which improved its milling process by implementing alternative water-based solutions.
- Kennametal's Victoria, British Columbia, facility (first place, 100 Percent Safe People Award), which launched an aggressive ergonomic-risk program to prevent strain injuries. The site-specific program offers workshops on strain prevention, reference guides to safe work practices and job-specific stretching tips to help prevent injury.
- Kennametal's Victoria, British Columbia, facility (first place, 100 Percent Safe Environment Award), which updated its lighting fixtures, resulting in energy savings of more than $24,000 per year and more than $53,000 in energy rebates and incentives from the local power provider.
- Kennametal's Rogers, Ark., facility (second place, 100 Percent Safe People Award), which was able to reduce the risks of manual welding by implementing a robotic welding machine. The machine significantly decreased ergonomic risks among workers and increased the quality output of welds.
- Kennametal's Xuzhou, China, facility (second place, 100 Percent Safe Environment Award), which significantly reduced energy consumption by replacing its existing cooling tower with a newly designed automatic cooling system.
Cardoso, along with an external panel of judges representing various EHS institutions, selected the winners. The criteria included leadership, innovation, facility collaboration, employee benefit, measurable cost and risk reduction and improvement in business operations and quality.