NEWS  RELEASE

 

The Boeing Company's manufacturing facility in Gresham recently became a member of Oregon OSHA's Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP). Currently, 123 employers in Oregon participate in SHARP.

Participation in SHARP represents a commitment by an employer to improve its workplace safety culture. Oregon OSHA safety and health consultants help Oregon employers work with their employees to find and correct hazards, develop and implement effective safety and health programs, and plan for continuous safety improvement. The ultimate goal of SHARP is to have businesses become self-sufficient in managing workplace safety and health issues.

Boeing Company's Gresham facility manufactures parts for Boeing's Commercial Airplanes division, employing 1,400 workers. During the three years leading to its SHARP recognition, Boeing Gresham maintained an average for lost-time workplace injuries and illness that was 20 percent lower than the statewide average for aircraft manufacturers. In 2006, the plant achieved an injury rate 44 percent below the statewide average during 2.7 million production hours.

"Boeing remains a mainstay of the Pacific Northwest economy, and they recognize the importance of workplace safety and health," said Michael Wood, administrator of Oregon OSHA. "Continuous improvement in safety and health benefits everyone - workers come home safe to their families, productivity improves, and business costs go down. Boeing and its unions understand the benefits of working together to make safety and health in the workplace a reality."

Employees of SHARP members retain all workplace safety and health rights contained in the Oregon Safe Employment Act. Oregon employers that have been in business for more than one year are eligible to apply for SHARP regardless of size or type of business.

Boeing is the world's largest manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military aircraft. The Commercial Airplanes division of Boeing, headquartered in Renton, Wash., employs 60,000 people in the Pacific Northwest.

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Oregon OSHA, a division of the Department of Consumer & Business Services, enforces the state’s workplace safety and health rules and works to improve workplace safety and health for all Oregon workers. For more information, go to www.orosha.org.

The Department of Consumer and Business Services is Oregon’s largest business regulatory and consumer protection agency. For more information, visit www.dcbs.oregon.gov.
 

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