Cooper Tire’s Tupelo tire manufacturing plant has earned an Improvement Award in the 2019 Sustainability Awards for Safety and Health from the US Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA). The awards, which honor tire manufacturers for their work in advancing occupational health and safety, were presented at the USTMA annual meeting in Washington DC.
To receive a 2019 Improvement Award, facilities must have achieved a Days Away, Restricted or Transfer (DART) rate, which measures serious injuries and illnesses in the workplace, that is at least 10% better than the prior year and better than the industry average for 2018. Cooper’s Tupelo plant was one of 11 USTMA-member facilities to receive the award this year.
“It is an honor to be recognized by USTMA for the impressive strides the Tupelo plant has made in our workforce safety performance,” said Tupelo plant manager Jim Pritchett. “The most valuable asset we have is our people, so a safe working environment is always our top priority. I am very proud of the Tupelo team and look forward to continuing our safety improvement efforts.”
Jim Cline, Cooper’s director of environment, health, safety and security, said, “At all Cooper facilities across the globe our goal is zero injuries, and we are committed to advancing our programs and processes as we move toward this vision. The team at the Tupelo plant has put safety at the forefront of its operations, and this award is testament to this effort.”
Previously known as USTMA’s ‘Safety and Health Improvement Program (SHIP) Awards’, USTMA renamed and expanded the program in 2018 as the ‘Sustainability Awards for Safety and Health’, to better recognize the proactive steps the association’s members have taken to improve workplace safety and health.
Forty-nine plants from USTMA member companies supplied data for the annual survey to be eligible for the awards. The data supplied to USTMA is identical to information provided to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, which publishes annual injury and illness information on all industries.
