APA – The Engineered Wood Association has announced the winners of its 2022 Safety and Health Awards. The APA Safety and Health Awards Program is the premier safety award program for North America's engineered wood products industry. The program’s goal is to promote and recognize operational excellence and reduce injury and illness rates.

Structurlam Mass Timber Corporation and LP won Safest Company Awards in their respective categories, while the coveted Innovation in Safety Award went to two winners: Tolko Industries’ Plywood Division in Armstrong, British Columbia, as recipient of the Equipment-Based Innovation Award, and Boise Cascade Wood Products, LLC of Lena, Louisiana, as recipient of the Jeff Wagner Process-Based Innovation Award.

“We are proud of our members’ commitment to establishing processes that improve worker’s safety,” said APA President Mark Tibbetts. “It is important that we as an industry continue to implement best practices so we can continue to make our workplaces as safe as possible.”

Besides the Safest Company and Innovation in Safety awards, other competition categories include the Annual Safety and Health Award, Safety Improvement Award (2020-2022) and 3-Year Safety Award (2020-2022). The annual award, safety improvement and three-year average categories divide into three divisions based on the type of product manufactured at the mill (plywood; OSB; and glulam, CLT, I-joist, LVL and SCL).

Seventy-two APA-member structural wood panel and engineered wood product facilities participated in the 2022 program. A total of 11 facilities representing seven APA member companies earned awards in various competition categories. Some mills were multiple award winners.

While the program awards are limited to APA members, data is collected from member and non-member mills to provide a broad-based industry performance benchmark.

2022 is the 15th year of the program and led by a revitalized safety effort spearheaded by the APA Safety and Health Advisory Committee comprised of several APA member company safety professionals. Under the committee’s guidance, three main goals were established: make the APA program the premier safety awards program in the industry, encourage the sharing of best practices to improve the industry’s safety culture and programs and, most importantly, improve the industry’s overall safety performance.

The full list of winners and more information on the APA Safety and Health Awards Program can be found on the Association’s website at www.apawood.org.