Alcoa's Lafayette Operations receives safety honor

Alcoa announced May 14 that its Lafayette, Ind., facility was awarded a 2006 Occupational Excellence Achievement Award for Safety Excellence from the U.S. National Safety Council. It is the third year in a row that the Alcoa plant has been recognized for its safety accomplishments. The NSC award recognizes U.S. employers that have injury and illness rates involving days missed from work equal to or less than 50 percent of the rate compared to similar industries and have no fatalities during a calendar year.

“We hold the safety and health of our employees as a core value of our organization and each of our 775 employees works every day at achieving employee safety. It is gratifying to see our progress being recognized by the National Safety Council,” said Diana Perreiah, Lafayette operations manager.

Perreiah cited some of the safety practices routinely conducted at the plant.

“Conducting weekly safety walks in the mill, targeting departmental safety activities, performing daily and weekly safety reviews, and increasing our awareness and reporting of injury-free events are helping us achieve continuous improvement in our safety systems,” she said.

Alcoa Lafayette produces aerospace components and aluminum extrusions and tubes for customers worldwide in the aerospace, oil and gas, automotive, and recreational markets.

The National Safety Council is a private, non-profit international organization with more than 60 chapters worldwide. In 2006, the NSC grew to 51,000 employers representing approximately 8 million employees. Its mission is to promote policies and practices that can help reduce unintentional injuries and deaths in workplaces, on the highways, and in the home and community.

Alcoa is the world's leading producer and manager of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum and alumina facilities, and is active in all major aspects of the industry. Alcoa serves the aerospace, automotive, packaging, building and construction, commercial transportation and industrial markets, bringing design, engineering, production and other capabilities of Alcoa's businesses to customers. In addition to aluminum products and components including flat-rolled products, hard alloy extrusions, and forgings, Alcoa also markets Alcoa wheels, fastening systems, precision and investment castings, structures and building systems.