Forest Products Company Has a Sextet of SHARP Sites
Anthony Forest Products' Washington, Ga., laminating plant received OSHA's Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) award yesterday from Paula White, director of the agency's directorate of cooperative and state programs, in recognition of its exemplary safety and health management system. Anthony Forest Products, which has its headquarters in El Dorado, Ark., has obtained SHARP status at all six of its facilities, including sawmills in Atlanta, Texas, and Urbana, Ark..; chip mills in Plain Dealing, La., and Troup, Texas; and another laminating plant in El Dorado.
"Anthony Forest Products is clearly committed to protecting the safety and health of its employees and, with today's award, the company has set an extraordinary example for other U.S. manufacturers," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Edwin G. Foulke Jr. "Anthony Forest Products' investment in employee safety and health was the right thing to do, and I am certain it will provide great benefits in morale, productivity, and competitiveness."
Anthony Forest Products saved more than $1 million from 2001-2006 by working with OSHA's On-Site Consultation Program. The program "was very helpful to us with employee monitoring throughout the plant," said Kim Winfrey, employee health and safety coordinator at the company. "Engineered improvements were made in each department as a result of the analyzed data. All of the On-Site Consultation representatives were very thorough, helpful, and knowledgeable of all the issues during the process." The entire company has about 450 employees; the Washington plan has logged more than 630,000 work hours without a lost-time injury since it began working with the OSHA program.