“These award winners recognize that their workers’ safety is the number one priority,” Governor Rendell said. “Their outstanding efforts and achievements show what is possible when cooperation between businesses, employees and unions is maximized to improve the safety of Pennsylvania’s workplaces.”
There are more than 7,800 businesses that have made their workplaces safer by forming state-certified workplace safety committees. The committees cover more than one million of Pennsylvania’s workers. State certification entitles businesses to a 5 percent annual workers’ compensation premium discount. Collectively, more than $300 million in workers’ compensation premium savings have been realized through the program.
“The best workers’ compensation policy is to prevent injuries,” Labor & Industry Acting Secretary Sandi Vito said as she presented the awards. “Employers who invest in workplace safety not only benefit economically from avoiding the direct costs of accidents, primarily medical and workers’ compensation costs, but also from eliminating dollars spent for indirect costs such as lost production, hiring and training replacement workers and accident investigation costs.”
The two-day Governor’s Occupational Safety & Health conference draws more than 1,000 safety and health care professionals, business leaders, workers, educators and government leaders from across Pennsylvania. The conference provides a forum to discuss the importance of safe working environments and exchange knowledge about best practices in workplace safety.
The 2008 Governor’s Award for Safety Excellence recipients are:
- Allegheny County: U.S. Steel - Mon Valley
- Bucks County: Med-Tex Services Inc.
- Chester County: Weston Solutions Inc.
- Crawford County: Channellock
- Dauphin County: MI Metals Inc.
- Lackawanna County: General Dynamic Land Systems
- Lebanon County: Bayer Healthcare LLC
- Montgomery County: MONTENAY Energy Resources
