Rockwell Automation named three organizations as recipients of its fourth annual Manufacturing Safety Excellence Awards. The recipients are Dana Incorporated, a global supplier of powertrain technology; MESNAC, an equipment builder in China; and OCME, a global equipment builder in Italy.

“This awards program celebrates the world’s safest manufacturing companies for their leadership in making workplace safety a core business value,” said Mark Eitzman, safety market development manager, Rockwell Automation. “We’re seeing safety maturity increasing around the world, as indicated by the regionally diverse group of winners this year.”

The Manufacturing Safety Excellence Awards honor companies that have a holistic safety program based on three key pillars: a strong safety culture, well-executed compliance procedures, and effective use of contemporary safeguarding and automation technology through capital investments.

Following are the details about this year’s award winners.

Dana Incorporated received a plant-level award for the outstanding safety program at the company’s facility in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The plant, which manufactures automotive gearing and axle components, places worker safety above all other site functions. “The health and safety of our employees is of the highest priority and importance,” said Mark Howard, plant manager, Dana Incorporated. “Throughout our facility, safety consciousness is a core attribute of our culture. It is shared by employees at every level, and it is an integral part in all of our processes and procedures.”

The Fort Wayne plant has dedicated significant resources to continuously improving its safety processes. “This has yielded very positive results,” said Jeff LaBelle, health and safety manager, Dana Incorporated. “Because safety is such a visible part of our everyday operations, employees feel empowered to identify and report potential hazards at first notice. Management reviews all suggestions and, as a result, employees readily share safety ideas. The bonus is that, while mitigating risks, suggestions also serve to improve productivity, quality and efficiency.”

The plant’s safety program also includes a stringent process to assure compliance with required safety. Its “Design in Safety” risk-assessment process requires that equipment suppliers validate that machine safety systems will function as designed before installation. When new machinery is delivered, the engineering and safety groups collaborate to help meet all requirements.  More after the jump.

MESNAC, a supplier of rubber and tire machinery, received an enterprise-level award for its companywide focus on safety. “Focusing on safety has enabled us to expand into new markets around the world,” said Mingjin Yu, vice president, MESNAC. “We build machines using the most stringent global safety standards while also continuously improving our own safety culture.”

MESNAC holds all employees accountable for safety, and it is the first topic covered during daily operations meetings. The environmental health and safety (EHS) team works closely with site management and company leadership to carry out the safety program.

The company designs productivity-enhancing safety features into its machinery. For example, zone control allows users to conduct maintenance on one zone while keeping the rest of a line running. “We help our customers realize that safety doesn’t have to come at the expense of productivity,” Yu said.

OCME, global supplier of packaging, filling and handling solutions, as well as complete lines, received an enterprise-level award for its companywide focus on safety. Safety is a key differentiator for OCME. “We follow rigorous safety standards when designing our machinery,” said Antonino Eneide, project and portfolio director, OCME. “However, we go beyond compliance to deliver systems that help improve safety and plant productivity for our customers.”

OCME collaborates with its customers’ engineering and EHS groups to help make sure machinery achieves both of their goals. “This is especially helpful for large multinational customers who are responsible for compliance across multiple plants,” Eneide said. “We deliver systems with advanced safety features and documented risk assessments so it’s a win-win for both teams.”

The 2016 Manufacturing Safety Excellence Award recipients join a distinguished list of past winners, including Bevcorp, The Clorox Company, Corning Environmental Technologies, General Motors, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Paper Converting Machine Company, PepsiCo divisions of Walkers Crisps and Pepsi Flavors, and Procter & Gamble.