Cincinnati, OH – In advance of this past Friday’s Manufacturing Day, Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) Administrator/CEO Sarah Morrison recently visited Cincinnati’s Richards Industries to recognize the company for its commitment to workplace safety.
The company, which has received six Safety Intervention Grants from BWC totaling $40,000 over the last eight years, demonstrated specialized safety equipment it uses to protect its employees from injuries.
“While Ohio’s drop in the number of manufacturing injuries is outpacing the nation, we have more to do to keep our workers safe,” said Morrison. “With their commitment to safety and partnership with BWC, Richards Industries is setting an outstanding example for other employers.”
Richards Industries was founded in 1964 and provides a variety of industrial valves for the chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical and food processing industries. The company has purchased multiple items through BWC’s safety grant program, including a pneumatic driver mounted on a flexible arm, scissors lift, thermal printer, hydraulic closing device, and downdraft table with flexible arm.
The most recent grant for $7,800 came earlier this year and aided in the purchase of parts cleaning and mist collection equipment to reduce the risk of employee exposure to oil mist and oil on the floor that creates a slip hazard.
Morrison noted that while the rate of Ohio’s workplace injuries is falling faster than the national rate, the rate of injuries per 100 manufacturing employees in the BWC system (mostly small and medium-sized manufacturers) remains slightly higher than the national rate according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Source: Ohio BWC