Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems says its Acuña, Mexico, manufacturing campus recently held a celebration to acknowledge the facility’s long period of operation without a recordable injury accident. The facility has seen no recordable injuries since May 2017.
More than 500 team members at Plant II enjoyed food and beverages, entered raffles, received promotional lunch bags and participated in a friendly volleyball competition, Bendix says.
“To put this achievement into context, for manufacturing operations of the type at Plant II – with manually intensive activity, heavy products, and a comparable number of employees – the national average is 40 recordable injuries per year,” says Maria Gutierrez, Bendix director of corporate responsibility and sustainability.
“In addition, for 2016 and 2017, as truck build began its steep and rapid increase, we experienced record sales and production volumes, as well as the influx of new employees to help us meet demand. Those challenges – including the onset of significant overtime – could have easily caused employees to deviate from our established safety processes, but that hasn’t happened. Our team has remained focused at all times on eliminating serious injuries and maintaining high awareness on preventive activities.”
The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) defines a recordable accident as a workplace injury that requires medical attention beyond first aid. Bendix’s Acuña, Mexico, campus – which consists of four, state-of-the-art facilities – began operations in 1988. Plant II, which opened in 2000, is focused on remanufacturing and OEM production.
The other Bendix Acuña facilities are also no strangers to safety achievements. Plant I, which reached one year without a recordable injury in 2017, is on a new streak and is once again approaching the one-year milestone. Plant III reached over 1.5 million hours without a lost time injury in 2017, the company says. b
