News Feature:
Brea team pulls together to earn the
2009 Chairman’s Annual Safety Award
BREA, APRIL 8, 2010 – The Annual Chairman’s Safety Award recognizes the Vought site that has demonstrated the greatest safety improvement for the previous year - highlighting Vought’s number one priority: Safety.
Vought Chairman David Squier, (left), presents the annual Chairman’s Safety Award to Brea’s Site Manager, Manny Chacon and
General Manager Gary Broda. Dana Dickson (right), Hawthorne General Manager, was on hand to congratulate the Brea team.
David Squier, Chairman of Vought’s Board of Directors, presented the award to Brea for their outstanding safety record of 1 OSHA recordable injury in all of 2009. To put Brea’s accomplishment into perspective: Brea’s recordable rate at year-end was 0.8, whereas the industry average is 4.0 and world class in aerospace manufacturing is considered to be 1.0.
Manny Chacon, Brea’s site manager, could not be happier with this award, which just a few years ago seemed quite the uphill battle. “This was not an easy process,” Manny said, “but the employees came around and they are now excited about practicing safety.”
With a 97% reduction in just 5 years, Mr. Chacon proved that his plan to create a safety incentive program worked and worked very well. Some of the ideas he successfully implement at Brea included:
- Safety Booklet: A bi-weekly booklet focused on a particular safety topic. An employee questionnaire is included and a certain percentage of right answers are given small awards.
- Weekly Safety Slogans are placed on the company’s intranet and kiosk. Random employees are asked if they remember what the slogan is and are given a small prize if answered correctly.
- Safety “Funny” Posters are updated and posted throughout the facility on a monthly basis. Employees look forward to the next funny poster.
- Safety luncheons: Employees are provided with a lunch every 60 days they go without a recordable injury.
Congratulations to Brea for their hard work and safety achievement.
