INDUSTRY news
NIBCO Wins Metalcaster of the Year from Modern Casting Magazine NIBCO INC., a global supplier of
valves, fi ttings and fl ow control products based in Elkhart, Ind., makes business goals including safety an organizational culture taken to a personal level with each associate. Safety is the number-one core value the company adheres to, accord- ing to Chairman and CEO Rex Martin, followed by integrity, teamwork and continuous improvement. T is organiza- tional approach to safety is why Modern Casting magazine selected NIBCO as the 2013 Metalcaster of the Year. Since the late 1990s, the company has implemented a new approach to safety including a program called Target Zero. All fi ve NIBCO metal plants won the American Foundry Society (AFS) Safe Year awards for 2012. Its casting facilities in Stuarts Draft, Va., and Nacogdoches, Texas, won the 2012 AFS Millionaires Safety Award for two million and one million hours worked, respectively, with- out a lost time injury or illness. “T e biggest safety improvement is
awareness and ownership,” said Mar- tin. “Management has changed the culture, helping associates understand that nothing they do at work, here at NIBCO, is worth getting hurt for, ever. And we’re continuously improving.” NIBCO’s safety vision promotes a
work environment free of injury, ill- ness and accidents. T is is achieved by encouraging all associates to care about each other’s safety, health and well being; eliminating or controlling recognizable hazards; and making each worker a safety champion on and off the job. T e company’s eff orts serve as a model of excellence for the metalcasting industry.
Every Day Is a Safety Milestone Target Zero is an internal auditing
system NIBCO launched in early 2000 based on OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) and the company’s in- house standards. NIBCO tracks several safety metrics in all facilities, including the total recordable case incident rate (TCIR); days away, restricted or trans- ferred (DART); days away from work (DAFW); days restricted or transferred (DRWA); and workers compensation cost. Since 1998, the company’s fi ve- year average TCIR has dropped from fi ve to less than two. Since 2001, its three-year average DART rate has gone from 1.75 to 0.5. Some of the company’s facilities
are already VPP certified, including its metalcasting facility in Reynosa, Mexico, and the Stuarts Draft and Nacogdoches metalcasting plants
will be the next to apply. Communication is a vital part of
safety at NIBCO. One safety initiative that arose from employee input is the companywide glove program. “It’s an open forum,” said David
Goodling, vice president, supply chain. “Whenever somebody has an idea, and it can be as informal as telling your manager, we keep a list and we action those ideas. It might not be feasible to implement or it might fall at number 20 instead of a top priority, but we look for the lowest hanging fruit. T en we circle back to the associates who came up with an idea and let them know it’s still being considered.”
Behavioral Observations and Followup
T e Nacogdoches plant imple- mented a customized behavioral safety program six years ago, which involves staff observing departments other than their own. T e program includes a fi ve to 10-minute housekeeping and obser- vation period, with a written para- graph about what was observed. T e observer receives a copy of the job description, the proper PPE and what to look for. Approximately 70 inspec- tions take place each week followed up with a weekly discussion meeting. One of the fi rst things this program
uncovered was a need to do a lighting study, to help workers see better and do their jobs more safely. NIBCO has rolled that out to other facilities and changed the lighting. “Our goal is zero accidents, so
we’ve taken it down to, for example, if you scrape yourself, no matter how insignifi cant you may feel that it is, we want it reported,” Goodling said. Safety is discussed at the beginning and end of every meeting, and new as- sociates are indoctrinated with it before they start. Shortcuts are not acceptable, and violating a safety policy is a termi- nable off ense. “Without the people in the plant
Safety is an integral part of the corporate culture at NIBCO. 8 | METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING | Jul/Aug 2013
changing the ways they action things on the fl oor, we’d never have been able to make the great strides we have in safety,” Goodling said.
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