Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems announced Tuesday its distribution facilities in Montreal, Quebec, and Mexico City, Mexico, have reached major milestones of 15 and 10 years without a recordable injury accident.
The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) defines a recordable accident as a workplace injury that requires medical attention beyond first aid. In addition to its success in the aforementioned facilities, Bendix says five of its others facilities also have gone more than six years without a recordable injury.
“Bendix is driving to zero injuries across the company – this goal is top of mind for all of us – and the accomplishments of our Montreal and Mexico City facilities help demonstrate the feasibility of reaching that goal,” says Carlos Hungria, Bendix chief operating officer.
“Both are distribution centers where challenging work happens. And though they are smaller in scale than our large production sites, both engage in the same robust set of safety activities that those larger sites do. Their achievement is an example and inspiration to the entire company.”
Bendix Director of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Maria Gutierrez states like the larger facilities, the Montreal and Mexico City locations follow Bendix’s standardized preventative and corrective safety programs as well as procedures that empower employees to improve safety. As part of this effort, all Bendix locations operate safety teams and institute monthly training, audits, and inspections.
Among the standardized safety protocols are lifting guidelines, which Bendix says require that materials over a designated weight be lifted by two people. Packages are color coded to show which ones require a two-person lift. Employees are committed to following protocol, even if it takes additional time.
“We never forget that behind every safety statistic is a person,” says Gutierrez. “While we’re proud of the milestone numbers, what we’re really celebrating is 15 and 10 years during which nobody has been injured. And that can happen only because the men and women who work so hard for Bendix bring intentional, focused effort to keeping themselves and their co-workers safe – each day, every day, one day at a time.”
