3M Awards NZ Co's For Health And Safety Innovation

News release

3M Awards New Zealand Companies For Innovation In Health And Safety

3M has presented three New Zealand companies with awards for innovation in health and safety at the Occupational Health and Safety Industry Group (OHSIG) conference held on 11th September.

New Zealand Aluminium Smelter (NZAS), Norske Skog Tasman and Chemsafety Ltd have won gold, silver and bronze awards respectively in the 3M Award for Innovation in Health and Safety.

Greg Brown, Managing Director, 3M New Zealand says 3M is delighted to sponsor the award as it reinforces 3M’s strong commitment to health and safety.

“Health and safety is an incredibly important part of creating a happy and healthy workplace,” says Mr Brown, “The companies who won this award have made a significant difference to the health and safety of the people they work with.”

NZAS was recognised with the gold award for its innovative project to re-engineer a number of tasks and equipment, which have eliminated or significantly reduced manual handling for its aging workforce.

The NZAS health and safety team redesigned a nail gun station which is staffed by contractors who have physical and intellectual disabilities; a storage rack which has now eliminated double handling; and an anode clamp holder, which can now be manoeuvred by forklift and a crane.

NZAS General Manager, Paul Hemburrow, was delighted with the win. “I would like to thank 3M for sponsoring this award. It is very encouraging to be recognised externally for our commitment to health and safety at NZAS, and I am very proud of our team.
“We are constantly striving to improve and actively encourage all employees to suggest health and safety improvement ideas. Programs like this encourage companies to be proactive towards health and safety improvements.”
The award, run in conjunction with the Occupational Health & Safety Industry Group (OHSIG) 2008 Conference, is in its sixth year and aims to recognise the commitment, innovation and challenge of improving health and safety for the New Zealand workforce.

ENDS

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