Alcoa facility receives NSC safety excellence award

Alcoa announced August 14 that for the fourth year in a row it’s Lafayette, Ind., facility was awarded an Occupational Excellence Achievement Award for Safety Excellence in 2007 from the U.S. National Safety Council. The award recognizes employers that have injury and illness rates involving days missed from work equal to or less than 50 percent of the rate compared to similar industries and have no fatalities during a calendar year.

“We hold the safety and health of our employees as a core value of our organization and each of our 800 employees works every day at achieving employee safety. It is gratifying to see our progress being recognized by the National Safety Council,” said Diana Perreiah, director of Manufacturing Lafayette.

Among many of the significant activities the Alcoa Lafayette plant has taken to help achieve these results include the deployment of continuous improvement events called safety “kaizens,” an enhanced on-boarding and training process comprising three weeks of initial safety and skills training for new employees, use of a pre-job self assessment prior to start of shift and any at-risk job for maintenance employees, and the implementation of high visibility clothing for many employees.

The Lafayette plant produces aerospace components and aluminum extrusions and tubes for customers worldwide.

The National Safety Council is a private, non-profit international organization with more than 60 chapters worldwide. Its mission is to promote policies and practices that can help reduce unintentional injuries and deaths in workplaces, on the highways, and in the home and community.

About Alcoa

Alcoa is the world leader in the production and management of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum and alumina combined, through its active and growing participation in all major aspects of the industry. Alcoa serves the aerospace, automotive, packaging, building and construction, commercial transportation and industrial markets, bringing design, engineering, production and other capabilities of Alcoa's businesses to customers. In addition to aluminum products and components including flat-rolled products, hard alloy extrusions, and forgings, Alcoa also markets Alcoa wheels, fastening systems, precision and investment castings, and building systems. The company has 97,000 employees in 34 countries.