Four Bridgestone Americas Plants Recognized For Outstanding Health And Safety Performance

The Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA) recognized 15 U.S.-based tire, tube and retread manufacturing facilities for improvements in worker safety and health at its annual meeting earlier this year. Of the 15 facilities honored, Bridgestone Americas (BSA) received more honors than any other company with four facilities earning recognitions.

The Aiken County, S.C., tire plant and the Long Beach, Calif., tread rubber and retread plant were recognized in the Safety Excellence category, which is reserved for those plants that achieve an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) DART incidence rate that is 75 percent better than the RMA average.

The Bloomington, Ill., off road tire plant and the Russellville, Ark., inner tube and bladder stock plant were recognized in the Improvement category, which recognizes facilities that have achieved an OSHA DART incidence rate that is both 10 percent better than its rate in the previous year and the same rate or better than the RMA average.

“Congratulations to all of our teammates from the winning plants,” said Gary Garfield, CEO and President, BSA. “Your effort reinforces the fact that ‘safety’ is a core value at BSA. We will not put our people or the enterprise at risk by operating in an unsafe manner. A job well done!”

In addition to the RMA awards, BSA receives numerous other industry and government safety and health recognitions throughout the year. This includes eight VPP Star awards for BSA manufacturing plants, OSHA’s highest recognition. BSA has the distinction of being the only company with a tire plant to achieve OSHA VPP Star status. In fact, the company has three tire plants that are VPP Star sites: Aiken County, S.C., Bloomington, Ill., and Warren County, Tenn. Five Firestone Diversified Products facilities are also VPP Star certified.