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Southern Oregon Goodwill Industries honored for safety record
The Medford Rehabilitation Center operated by Southern Oregon Goodwill
Industries received a safety recognition award from Oregon OSHA on September
27, honoring the Center's fourth year in the Safety and Health Achievement
Recognition Program.
Oregon OSHA's Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP)
recognizes employers who make a commitment to improving workplace safety,
reducing their injury and illness rates and develop safe practices which
become a model for safe workplaces in Oregon. Safety and health management
programs in place at Southern Oregon Goodwill Industries created a lost-work
injury rate in 2001 that was 65 percent below the state average for vocational
rehabilitation services.
"What that means is last year three people lost a day of work to
injuries instead of the almost eight we measure as an average for that
industry," says Oregon OSHA administrator Peter De Luca. "You
can only accomplish this level of injury reduction through careful planning,
proactive management and the participation of your employees."
"Our relationship with Oregon OSHA and the SHARP program is the perfect
partnership," says Steve Martin, Loss Prevention and Safety Manager
for the Medford Rehabilitation Center. "Safety is of the utmost importance
to our organization, and the SHARP program provides one more tool we utilize
to meet our goals. We are the first vocational service organization to
be recognized as an Oregon SHARP participant for outstanding employee
awareness and involvement in safety programs."
Oregon OSHA particularly recognized how involved employees are with keeping
operations at the Center safe. Employees participate in monthly safety
committee meetings, safety and health inspections, and positive recognition
programs reinforce safe work behaviors. The Medford Rehabilitation Center
was able to reduce their lost-workday injury rate 58 percent between 1999
and 2000. Southern Oregon Goodwill Industries is a private non-profit
organization that assists people with disabilities and other employment
barriers to achieve their full potential. The organization operates thirteen
stores throughout southern Oregon, and employees over 80 people at the
Medford Rehabilitation Center.
For more information about the SHARP program, please contact the Oregon
OSHA SHARP Program Manager, Mark Hurliman at 503-947-7437. On the Web,
you can find out more about Oregon OSHA at www.orosha.org
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