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DIXON – The local BorgWarner plant celebrated its latest in a string of exemplary safety achievements Sept. 29 with officials from the city and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The plant has been recertified by OSHA as a Star Work Site, the highest honor that can be achieved through the agency’s Voluntary Protection Program. The Dixon plant was first named a VPP Star Work Site in 2000, and has maintained its OSHA status every year since.
The program sets performance-based criteria for a comprehensive safety and health system, and certification is based on a 3-day inspection and assessment.
Paddy Lange, the Dixon plant manager, said recertification is an important goal for everyone at the plant.
“Our success is a collective effort, based on employee involvement and management commitment,” Lange said. “Cross-functional and multi-shift safety teams bring these elements together into a highly effective program.”
Nancy Mugavero, the agency’s VPP manager for this region, was in Dixon for the event.
“This facility is in an elite class of companies that have achieved VPP Star Work Site status,” Mugavero said. “Out of about 7 million work sites across the nation, only 2,292 qualify as VPP sites.
There are only 391 VPP sites in Region 5, which consists of Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan and Minnesota.”
The plant committed itself to improving safety measures after experiencing more than 1,200 lost workday incidents in 1992, said Pat Lachat, the plant’s environmental, health and safety manager.
“VPP gave us a model to follow,” Lachat said. “It took time and dedication, but we achieved our goal.”
The plant had no lost-time incidents from 2000 to 2005.
Now the plant’s recordable incidence rate is nearly 10 times lower than the industrial average, with only one incident in 2014.
The plant also has received corporate recognition for its safety record, receiving seven BorgWarner Safety Awards, a CEO’s Safety Excellence Award, and a Global Star Safety Framework Award.
Employees at the Dixon plant donated their $10,000 safety award to the Dixon Fire Department for a new interactive fire safety trailer.
The Dixon plant produces powertrain components for vehicles that help improve performance, save fuel and reduce emissions. The company recently announced plans to invest $9.4 million for an expansion in Dixon.