The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has certified McConway & Torley LLC as a new Star site, the highest honor in its prestigious Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP).
“This company understands the importance of maintaining high employee safety and health standards at its foundry,” said OSHA deputy regional administrator Edward Selker, who paid tribute to the company at a special ceremony in Pittsburgh. “McConway & and Torley has demonstrated its commitment to worker safety and health by maintaining an injury and illness rate below the industry average for three years.”
Expanded and modernized in the late 1990s, the 130-year-old foundry creates cast steel railroad couplings and related components. The company began operation in 1868 as the Eagle Gray Iron Foundry.
More than 2,160 worksites representing some 270 industries nationwide have earned entry into OSHA’s VPP. Requirements include a high degree of management commitment and employee involvement; a high-quality worksite analysis, hazard prevention and control program; and comprehensive safety and health training for all employees. Each of these elements must be effective, in place and in operation for at least one year before a company can apply to join the VPP. Companies in the VPP achieve average injury and illness rates 50 percent below the Bureau of Labor Statistics average for other companies in their respective industries.