Monday, May 5, 2008

A Safety Culture

I was struck with the celebration that occurred at LPI this past week as it isn’t often that an organization takes the task of safety to the heights they have. They have achieved almost a million man hours with no lost time due to an injury. That’s not on the heals of luck but rather on a continued hard focused effort to have and maintain an safe environment. They have enrolled in the state sponsored Volunteer Prevention Program which is type of partnership with the state and OSHA to self direct their safety program. They have a very active safety committee which directs their safety effort. These actions have netted them the Mn Star Worksite designation.

As Mike Fiterman, CEO of Liberty Diversified Industries, the parent company to LPI stated they have an obligation to each employee to operate a safe environment. Each employee needs to return home at the end of the day with all the parts he came to work with. The celebration was one of honoring each employee for their commitments towards a safe environment. The celebration included representatives from Minnesota Department Labor and Industry. Commissioner Steve Swiggin congratulated them stating that LPI has a better safety record than 87% of all industries in Minnesota.

I believe we all have something to learn from these efforts. Being safe is something we can get excited about. Having a safe employment situation is possible with hard work and dedicated effort. The lack of lost work days due to injury at the job is worth celebrating and TRULY is a worthy goal. Accomplishing that goal requires a work ethic to operate in a safe manner and as such LPI has been successful in accomplishing that culture. Congratulations to the employees at LPI for your success!