The Acuña campus of Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems reached several safety milestones in 2016, contributing to the safest year in company history. Bendix’s Acuña operation – which consists of three state-of-the-art facilities – experienced a record-low three recordable injuries, a 70 percent decrease from 2015. The company cites preventative and corrective safety programs, as well as procedures that empower employees to improve safety, for the strong result.
OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) defines a recordable accident as a workplace injury that requires medical attention beyond first aid. Workplace safety is measured annually by TCIR (Total Case Incident Rate), which is the total number of recordable injuries per 100 workers per year. Acuña’s TCIR of 0.19 in 2016 marked the lowest of all Bendix manufacturing operations for the year.
Bendix’s overall TCIR in North America was 0.51 percent. The injury rate for similar manufacturing facilities was 3.9 in 2015, as cited by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to Mexico’s Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS), that country’s nationwide injury rate in 2015 was 2.4.
“Achieving this kind of exceptional safety performance at our Acuña operation is a testament to the dedication and active partnership of our local employees and plant leadership. Their efforts, along with support from our North American management team, make all the
difference in how we embrace and live a culture of safety,” said Jim Batson, Acuña plant manager. “From the big things to the small things, a safety mindset is critical every day, and will continue to be a key focus for all of us going forward. Here in Acuña, we look out for one another to ensure we have safe processes and the safest work environment. With a program that openly welcomes continuous improvement ideas from our hardworking men and women, we do what it takes to ensure everyone returns to their homes each day in the same condition they left in the morning.”
Each of the three manufacturing facilities at Bendix’s Acuña campus achieved safety milestones in 2016, as Bendix pursued its company-wide goal of zero injuries. Most notably, Acuña II has gone over one year without a recordable injury. Acuña I and Acuña III went over eight months and over 11 months, respectively, without an injury in 2016. The Acuña campus is also at the center of another set of 2016 safety milestones – hours worked without lost time due to injury. Acuña II has gone over 1,729,317 hours; Acuña III, over 978,010; and Acuña I, over 849,763.
Employees at the Center of Safety
The Acuña milestones are part of Bendix’s company-wide emphasis on safety. Driven by the long-term strategy of the HSE (Health Safety & Environmental) team at Bendix, the company has implemented several preventative and corrective safety programs, which led to a noticeable improvement in Year over Year safety results. A 24-hour incident notification and containment policy, coupled with incident sharing across all of Bendix’s plants, aided in identifying and reducing similar risks and injuries. Lessons learned from each incident were also shared to further contain the incidents.
Engagement opportunities enabled Bendix employees at Acuña and elsewhere to take on a key role in identifying unsafe conditions, unsafe behaviors, and safety improvements. At Acuña, Bendix leadership also focused on the continuing maturation of the operation’s safety team and ERT (emergency response team). Other Bendix facilities in North America launched mature employee engagement teams in certain facilities to address specific safety issues identified through analysis of data – such as ergonomics, forklift management, incident investigation, and risk assessment.
Bendix continues to drive toward its goal of zero injuries, and gets closer each year to reaching it. Company leadership is instilling the philosophy of the “perfect HSE day” – a day without injury. Employees at Bendix are taking the perfect-day pledge to continue working
toward keeping themselves and their co-workers safe
Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC – the North American leader in the development and manufacture of active safety and braking solutions for commercial vehicles – operates facilities in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The Acuña manufacturing operation, established in 1988, employs more than 1,400 workers and encompasses 412,000 square feet. Acuña and its employees represent one of the fastest-growing Bendix manufacturing sites, and were honored by leaders of Bendix’s parent company, the KnorrBremse Group, as the company’s top-ranked plant worldwide in 2011.
