Safety first pays off at Interplastic

Interplastic Corp. (St. Paul, MN) announced that its Fort Wright, KY manufacturing plant recently achieved significant safety milestones. According to Ed Sulick, Fort Wright plant manager, employees at the facility have completed 11 consecutive years without a lost-time accident, and over one year without any type of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordable safety-related accident or illness.

Interplastic's Fort Wright manufacturing facility is situated on 20 acres, and has 100,000-ft² under roof. The company employs 50 people at the facility. The plant employees also qualified for the Kentucky Governor's Safety & Health Award, presented in recognition of the facility's 250,000-plus man-hours without a lost-time accident or illness.

"These statistics are an indication of the commitment and effort by the employees to operating a safe facility," said Mike Flannery, Interplastic's Health, Safety, Environment & Quality Manager. "The Fort Wright employees have worked over 1.1 million man-hours without a lost-time accident or illness and have received this award for the ninth consecutive year."

Interplastic's safety record makes it a part of a small, elite group of businesses. Only 21 companies in Kentucky were recognized for 1-million man hours or more without a lost-time accident last year, and only four of those were in the chemical or plastics industries, said a company spokesperson. The award presentation will be held during the Governor's Annual Safety and Health Conference on May 13 in Louisville, KY.

Interplastic Corp. is a specialty chemical company, operating several divisions nationwide. Its Thermoset Resins Division produces and distributes unsaturated polyester, vinyl ester resins, gel coats, and colorants for the composites and cast-polymer industries. The Molding Products Division manufactures sheet molding compounds and other thermoset molding materials. The North American Composites division is a national full-service supplier to these same industries.