Star Plastics has no lost-time incidents for 5 years

Ravenswood, West Virginia-based Star Plastics says it has made safety its first priority since its founding in 1988. Nov. 29 the company says it officially completed five years without any lost-time incidents. The company’s record is seven years without a lost-time incident, which it achieved in the late 1990s.

“We’ve been working to get back to that record and beyond,” says Mike Moran, plant manager of the company’s Ravenswood facility.

The company says it has not had an incident requiring time away from a shift in five years. “The first time we miss anything that’s scheduled, that’s lost time, and that’s an ‘incident’ in our book,” the company states in a news release announcing its achievement.

Star Plastics also achieved one year with no Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordable incidents Dec. 15. This means no incident that required medical treatment beyond first aid occurred at the company’s plant.

“It starts with good training,” says Moran, “and correcting unsafe behaviors as they happen—mainly coworkers helping coworkers. We do a lot of self-policing.”

Several years ago, Star implemented an environmental, health and safety (EH&S) walk-through. “Our safety team, comprised of a variety of management and team leaders, do walk-throughs at each facility every other week,” the company says. “We cover different areas of the plant while reviewing a specific checklist in order to see the plant with fresh eyes. The goal is to determine if there are any potential environmental, health or safety concerns that we can address before they become an issue.”

The company says it has implemented several facility improvements that have resulted in a direct, positive effect on safety, including a powered roller system, lighting and layout improvements, equipment to help with the removal and installation of heavy molds, pre-emptive roof repairs and improved work procedures.

When our employees are safe, they can focus on producing high-quality products,” Star Plastics adds.

“We care about our employees and strive to create an environment where they can thrive, grow, learn and improve,” Moran says. “The biggest thing for me is that our employees get to go back home after work safe and sound every day to spend time with their loved ones, safe and injury free.”