ABB's New Berlin campus and Fort Smith Drives Center are central to the company's focus on promoting safety, ABB said.
By exceeding 2,500,000 hours without a lost-time incident at the ABB New Berlin campus and Fort Smith Drives Center, the drives business of ABB in the U.S. has proven that these two key characteristics drive bottom line performance. The quarter-billion number sets a record at the campus, and is inclusive of the drives business unit, along with six additional business units located there.
At the company’s New Berlin facility, the number of employees has increased to more than 100 volunteers serving on numerous Safety committees. The strong emphasis on "safety first" helped the campus be the first ABB facility in North America to achieve the OSHA VPP Star Level of performance. In the Fort Smith, Arkansas facility, ABB employees are reportedly engaged, and actively volunteering in the Safety programs. Support for, and active engagement in, the whole Low Voltage Drives Management Team also is helping to create a Safety Culture that translates directly to performance.
Visual reminder – and thank you
As a visual and practical reminder of their safety consciousness, ABB is presenting to each employee at the New Berlin campus, and employees at the Fort Smith and Greenville Drives facilities, a sun visor to assist in keeping their automobiles cool and safe during the summer heat.
George Lord, managing director of Operations for the New Berlin and Fort Smith campus, notes the safety imperative that challenges, constantly, employees to be creative in making real and practical ABB’s Environmental, Health and Safety culture. The Change Excellence team came up with the idea for the visors as a continuing reminder of safety both at work and home, he said. The visors have a red ABB logo and banner which says, “Continue to Shine in Safety.” Aaron Aleithe, vice president and general manager of Low Voltage Drives states the mantra clearly: “Our goal is to make the New Berlin Campus a flagship for Safety for all of ABB.”
ABB Group
– Edited by Chris Vavra, Control Engineering, www.controleng.com
