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Plant works one million accident-free hours for second time in 12 months (June 7)

Working more than one million hours without a lost-time accident is a significant accomplishment, but the A. O. Smith Electrical Products Company plant in McMinnville, Tenn., recently did that feat one better, reaching the million-hour milestone for the second time in 12 months.

Making the achievement even more noteworthy, the 750-employee plant compiled the record while introducing a totally new product line and new process technologies to the operation. The 275,000 square-foot McMinnville plant manufactures fractional horsepower and integral horsepower electric motors for a wide range of residential, consumer, and industrial applications.

Today, A. O. Smith sponsored a celebration for the plant's employees to commemorate the second million-hour accomplishment. Representatives from A. O. Smith's World Headquarters in Milwaukee, Wis., and A. O. Smith Electrical Products' headquarters in Tipp City, Ohio, were on hand to take part in the ceremony.

Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development Mike Magill presented a special award to the employees of the plant to recognize their achievement.

As of June 2, McMinnville employees had worked more than 1.1 million consecutive hours without a lost-time accident. They began their latest streak on Sept. 11, 2001. The first streak ran from January until August 2001, a total of 1,091,209.75 hours.

During the second streak, McMinnville began installing equipment to manufacture integral horsepower motors, a product totally foreign to the employees' experience, according to Ed Plott, McMinnville plant manager.

"Our employees are accustomed to motors they can pick up in one hand," he noted. "Integral motors can run anywhere from 200 pounds up to 3,000 pounds. This project really proved the resilience of our safety program."

Employees selected to work in the new departments received extensive training on the proper use of hoists and cranes to accustom them to the new processes and prevent injuries. Each piece of equipment brought into the plant was thoroughly inspected and certified by representatives from health & safety and plant engineering before being released into production.

Once the equipment was installed and running, the company appointed two safety observers for the new departments. In addition to monitoring for safe working practices, the observers conduct weekly safety inspections.

The entire plant has a program in place for regular safety inspections, ongoing safety training and communications programs, and an active ergonomics committee, according to Joan Banks, manager of health and safety at McMinnville.

The ergonomics committee was instrumental in introducing daily hand exercises to nearly all of the departments in the plant. The warm-up and stretching exercises, conducted at the beginning of each shift, are designed to prevent repetitive motion stress. The committee is chaired by Glenwood Stephens and includes Dale Lambert, David Vandergriff, Donnie Fults, Larry Womack, and Banks, as well as department engineers and supervisors as required for specific projects.

The company will soon be introducing exercises to stretch shoulder muscles, another area prone to repetitive motion stress, and back exercises for employees whose jobs require frequent lifting. Banks reports significantly reduced complaints of soreness and fatigue since beginning the stretching and exercise programs.

The safety team at the plant emphasizes communication and awareness as well. Safety articles are a regular feature of the plant's newsletter, and Banks provides safety information for supervisors to share at departmental meetings. To spread the message to families, McMinnville presents employees with small recognition gifts every month the plant meets its safety goals. The gifts, imprinted with the AOS Safety logo, heighten awareness at home as well as at work.

"What you emphasize, multiplies," Banks observes. "The folks in the plant recognize safety as our number one objective. It is only with their cooperation and help that we have been able to achieve these records. But the hours is not our goal, our goal is that no one in the plant suffers an injury."

A. O. Smith Electrical Products Company is the largest operating unit of A. O. Smith Corporation. The company manufactures a comprehensive line of fractional horsepower A/C and D/C electric motors, hermetic compressor motors, and integral horsepower motors.