Safest Company Award
Company | Avg. WIR | Avg. TIR |
|---|---|---|
Winston Plywood & Veneer | 1.72 | 0.17 |
PWT | 10.19 | 1.91 |
LP | 3.04 | 0.68 |
Company | Avg. WIR | Avg. TIR |
|---|---|---|
Winston Plywood & Veneer | 1.72 | 0.17 |
PWT | 10.19 | 1.91 |
LP | 3.04 | 0.68 |
Weyerhaeuser-Sutton
Heaters, West Virginia
Boise Cascade
Chapman, Alabama
Place | Company | WIR | TIR |
|---|---|---|---|
1st | Winston Plywood & Veneer | 1.72 | 0.17 |
2nd | Boise Cascade Company | 2.35 | 0.43 |
Place | Company | WIR | TIR |
|---|---|---|---|
1st | LP | 0.00 | 0.00 |
2nd | LP | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Place | Company | WIR | TIR |
|---|---|---|---|
1st | Boise Cascade Company | 0.00 | 0.00 |
2nd | Murphy Company | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Company | WIR | TIR |
|---|---|---|
Division I - Plywood RoyOMartin | 2.93 | 0.69 |
Division II - OSB LP | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Division III - Glulam, CLT, I-Joist, LVL and SCL Domtar | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Company | 2023 WIR | 2024 WIR | 2025 WIR | 2023 TIR | 2024 TIR | 2025 TIR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division I - Plywood Boise Cascade Company 86.58% Improvement | 17.54 | 5.24 | 2.35 | 2.14 | 1.47 | 0.43 |
Division II - OSB LP 100% Improvement | 2.25 | 0.44 | 0.00 | 0.45 | 0.44 | 0.00 |
Division III - Glulam, CLT, I-Joist, LVL and SCL Boise Cascade Company 100% Improvement | 21.28 | 19.38 | 0.00 | 2.66 | 2.65 | 0.00 |
Company | Product | WIR | TIR |
|---|---|---|---|
Boise Cascade Company | IJ/LVL | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Canfor | Glulam | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Domtar | IJ | 0.00 | 0.00 |
LP | OSB | 0.00 | 0.00 |
LP | OSB | 0.00 | 0.00 |
LP | OSB | 0.00 | 0.00 |
LP | OSB | 0.00 | 0.00 |
LP | OSB | 0.00 | 0.00 |
LP | OSB | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Murphy Company | LVL | 0.00 | 0.00 |
West Fraser | OSB | 0.00 | 0.00 |
West Fraser | OSB | 0.00 | 0.00 |
“Distancing Handle" 
It wasn’t a tragedy that led the team at Domtar Larouche to develop a tool that allowed workers to perform certain tasks more safely. But Domtar is always focused on ways to keep its employees out of harm’s way. As one of their core values, “Caring,” states: “We are uncompromising about the safety of all our people.”
That commitment led to the creation of a distancing tool. It has a fixed handle that allows movement of profile cutter heads without requiring workers to put their hands on the cable. Before introducing the distancing tool, workers had to manually handle hoisting cables close to the profile cutter heads’ knives.
The distancing handle improves safety and efficiency by:
Reducing risk by keeping workers’ hands away from the equipment’s moving parts.
Allowing workers to perform duties at a safe distance, avoiding the risk of being crushed.
Cutting downtime and increasing production reliability.
“Safety Champions – Future Leader Development – Safety Projects"
A desire among managers at LP’s Jasper, Texas, mill to decentralize safety and make it “organic” led to the Jasper OSB GOAT (Greatest of All Time) Safety Champions program. Under the program, current managers identify possible future leaders among hourly workers. Then, working with a project sponsor (a management member), these potential future leaders are put on teams and given a “safety project” to tackle.
Team members select, plan, budget, secure quotes and see the projects to completion. The program allows these potential leaders to learn from senior plant officials, including the plant manager.
Safety projects handled by the LP Jasper future leaders included:
Saw line fall protection elimination. Installing handrails and an additional physical barrier (grating) under the saw line eliminated the need for self-retracting lifelines (SRLs).
Shipping area traffic congestion.
Unit stack shuffler guarding and efficiency. The existing unit lacked guards, had fall and trip hazards, and an exposed open hole in the grating when the shuffler was tilted. The safety team installed handrails on the platform and disconnects on the gates to shut down the hydraulics when opened.
These safety champions have helped Jasper OSB reach 790,000 hours without an OSHA-recordable incident. And the program’s original goal has been reached: safety has been decentralized, allowing officials to focus on Jasper’s most important asset — its people.
"Automatic Hot Press Panel Feeders"
A group of maintenance team members at PotlatchDeltic Corp.’s St. Maries, Idaho, mill wanted a faster, safer way to feed panels into the mill’s vertical hot-press chargers. The panels, each weighing 20 to 60 pounds, had to be manually fed one by one — almost 9,000 times a day. For operators, this risked pinched fingers, shoulder pain and repetitive motion injuries.
PotlatchDeltic team members responded by designing a machine that automatically feeds the panels into the charger tray after pushing the button on a remote control. Instead of constantly moving panels by hand, operators now only have to monitor the process. No more arm strain, hand injuries or fatigue.
What started as one prototype has now grown to two machines. Hot-press operators appreciate the increased speed, reliability, and safer workplace. Since the panel feeders were installed, there have been no reported incidents involving the feeding presses. Impressed vendors and other mill operators have expressed interest in installing similar machines in their facilities.
"The IBIZ Now Safety Show"
Safety is a serious subject, but that doesn't mean it can't be personal. RoyOMartin's new corporate safety program, "I Believe in Zero Now" (aka IBiZ Now), aims to make safety training personal, engaging, and relevant. The company’s communications team replaced the existing Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) PowerPoint training materials with informative and engaging videos.
Working in collaboration with RoyOMartin's safety department, the communications team produced one video every month during 2023. These videos are informative but also fun and inspirational, showcasing the best of RoyOMartin's people and facilities. The team also drafted a branded multiple-choice safety quiz for workers to accompany each video.
The videos were a success. Attention in training sessions and participation on safety committees increased, and employees were enthusiastic to participate in future videos.
"Veneer Load Marking Robot"
Historically, dry veneer stacks at the Armstrong Ply
wood division were marked by hand using an aerosol paint can, posing potential safety hazards to the marking attendant. The division’s superintendents were determined to find a solution that improved the safety and efficiency of this process. Various ideas were considered; however, the team decided the best way to improve safety was through automation. As no commercial options were available to carry out the specific task, the team took matters into their own hands and built the robot in-house.
A water-based ink spray tool was strategically affixed to a general-purpose Epson 6-axis robot, which was then carefully programmed and installed in an existing guarded area. In addition to removing potential safety hazards, the robot also eliminated the use of aerosol paint cans, improved marking accuracy, reduced GHG emissions and delivered cost benefits through the switch. Efforts to
"New Hire Mentorship Program"
Motivated to find a way to enhance efficiency of the new hire onboarding and training program and overall safety, the Alexandria EWP team developed an innovative approach for training new hires. The program puts new hires with mentors, ensures uniform training and outlines weekly milestones throughout a new employee’s probationary period. Training includes appropriate use of equipment and proper lockout tagout procedures and is concluded with a one-on-one interview to ensure complete comprehension. Since implementation, the mill noted a 50% decline in recordables and a 27% decline in overall injuries.
"The Pink Panther"
The masterminds behind the invention were a small team of maintenance employees at Tolko’s Athabasca OSB plant driven to develop a safer solution for testing hydraulic cylinders. This new testing bench consists of a platform, frame and cap whereby a cylinder is hoisted onto the bench and the cap is pinned in place. The cylinder is then pressurized with a portable hydraulic ENERPAC to test seal integrity.
Once built, the team asked their supervisor what color the bench should be painted. The supervisor said, “I don’t have a preference... you can paint it pink if you want!” The team decided pink was the perfect color and the bench earned the name “The Pink Panther.” Since implementation, The Pink Panther has reduced the frequency of seal failures, hydraulic oil fires and subsequent injury risks associated with removing and rebuilding press cylinders.
"Area Based Lockout Matrix Program"
The idea for the innovation came after employee concerns grew over discretionary lockouts and inconsistent lockout training and practices. The Armstrong Plywood Joint Health and Safety Committee identified an opportunity to improve lockout training, spearheading the idea to create an entirely new lockout system.
The final lockout system is an area-based lockout matrix that includes four different elements: a schematic of the equipment with color-coded lockout areas, a legend to locate isolation points, procedures for de-energizing and re-energizing equipment and isolations necessary to safely work in color-coded areas. The program defined a clear lockout standard and system to guide the company’s training and competency program. As a result of the new training, workers developed a thorough understanding of equipment components, energy sources and isolation devices. The new system also eliminated subjectivity and discretion from worker lockouts.
Download a PDF with a complete list of APA Safety & Health Award Winners from past years:
View the current list of good safety practices shared by APA member-manufacturers.
