Release Date: 9/1/2009
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH — The Utah Safety Council last week presented multiple safety awards to Battelle and EG&G, contractors at the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (TOCDF), the U.S. Army chemical weapons incinerator complex located at Deseret Chemical Depot.
Together, EG&G and Battelle employ more than 1,000 workers at the TOCDF, where the Army’s single-largest stockpile of aging, deteriorating chemical weapons is being destroyed under the provisions of an international treaty.
At an annual awards luncheon, representatives of the TOCDF Systems Contractor EG&G Defense Materials, Inc., a subsidiary of URS Corporation’s EG&G Division; and Battelle, subcontractor to EG&G providing site laboratory and air monitoring services, each received three awards—the Award of Merit, the Million Hour Award, and Perfect Record Award.
Dr. Reza Karimi, Battelle TOCDF senior site manager, said, “Battelle is a proud partner at the TOCDF, and our workers recognize the value of a strong safety culture on this worksite. We are grateful to the Utah Safety Council for recognizing our safety performance.”
The Utah Safety Council’s Award of Merit recognizes outstanding achievements in corporate safety programs, specifically, injury incidence rates lower than the national average while demonstrating sustained levels of excellence and essential elements of a safety program. As of July 31, the TOCDF’s 12-month rolling average recordable injury rate (RIR) was at 0.54, a rate far below those of other industrial plants and more on par with administrative occupations such as credit card issuers.
The Million Hour Award recognizes organizations which have achieved consecutive man-hours without lost workday injuries in increments of millions. As of July 31, TOCDF employees had worked more than 7.6 million man-hours without a lost workday injury.
And the Perfect Record Award is presented to organizations that have completed a 12-month period without a lost workday case. There has not been a lost workday injury recorded at the TOCDF for nearly four years.
Earlier this month, EG&G and Battelle workers at the TOCDF were awarded the highest workplace safety recognition given by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), “Star” status in OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP).
Battelle is the world’s largest non-profit independent research and development organization, providing innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing needs through its four global businesses: Laboratory Management, National Security, Energy Technology, and Health and Life Sciences. It advances scientific discovery and application by conducting $5.2 billion in global R&D annually through contract research, laboratory management and technology commercialization. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Battelle oversees 20,400 employees in more than 130 locations worldwide, including seven national laboratories which Battelle manages or co-manages for the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and two international laboratories—a nuclear energy lab in the United Kingdom and a renewable energy lab in Malaysia.
Media contacts: Katy Delaney: 614-424-7208, delaneyk@battelle.org or T.R. Massey: 614-424-5544, masseytr@battelle.org.
Portions of this news release were reprinted and used with permission of URS.
