EBSCO Sign Group Sets Record for Safety

Posted on August 11, 2016

The EBSCO Sign Group (ESG) team in Clanton, Alabama manufactures over 1,800 outdoor signs for churches, schools, and businesses each year, and over the past 12 months they have performed their duties without a single employee experiencing an injury requiring outside medical treatment. This is a feat the team has not accomplish in 16 years of record-keeping and one that rarely occurs in manufacturing/distribution environments. Any injury requiring medical treatment is referred to as a “recordable” accident, because it must be reported to the Occupational Safety & Health Administration. Costs associated with injuries include, but are not limited to, the following: lost employee productivity, lost company productivity, medical bills, worker’s compensation payments and premium increases, OSHA reporting, and, if injuries are too great in number or severity, there is the potential for investigations and fines.

ESG Plant Manager Monty Gentry said, “The biggest reason for our improved safety is our increased focus and the importance we have placed on it in the past year. We continuously communicate the importance of safety with everyone and openly discuss safety concerns and action items, which has led to a cultural shift with our people.” Additionally, Gentry says, “Our Lean 5S movement, with importance put on having a clear and organized work space, has been a major contributing factor to our increased safety record.”

When asked about achieving one year with no OSHA recordable accidents, ESG Vice President and General ManagerTom Sefcik said, “I’ve been fortunate to have been exposed early in my career to the question, ‘What does it mean to really care about people and their safety?’ What I have found is that many people have good intentions, put people who really care ‘believe.’  They believe that every accident can be prevented and show they really care through the actions they take for the people they are responsible for.” Sefcik continues, “This might sound corny or over simplified, but here’s a quick example: I had an employee get stung by a bee in a previous plant I managed. The employee just happened to be allergic to bee stings. We had to rush him to the hospital where he received treatment making it a recordable incident. When I called to ask about follow-up and corrective actions, the response from the team was, ‘This was a fluke and could not have been prevented,’ along with ‘He was just unlucky.’  With responses like that, my safety manager and I knew we were in trouble, because our team didn’t believe every accident can be prevented. But, when challenged, they saw that the accident could have been prevented. Screen doors and insect collection devices were put in place to prevent this type of accident from happening again. We work hard to take preventative measures, because the only other option is to wait for a serious accident to occur. Unfortunately, that is usually when people wake up and embrace safety and believe.”

“So my thoughts on what’s changed over the past 3+ years has been our efforts to convince the team in Clanton that we can be accident free and that we do care about their safety. It’s been great that the core management team (Monty Gentry, Keith Easterling, and others) do believe.”

From this belief came the many actions that have helped ESG achieve its results:

  • Appointing a Safety Team Lead
  • Implementing Lean 5S (orderliness in the plant) – Upgrading the plant with things like new lights and new space. Not to mention new rules, from eating in the workplace to standardization of process.
  • Introducing new tools and equipment – “We don’t want employees not being put at risk with old equipment.”
  • Enforcing PPE – “We are religiously on our people about it and enforcing it. Now I have people telling me to get my safety shoes on. We are also challenging and changing processes, especially around cutting. Listening to our people where they need help.”
  • Reviewing positions of people – Looking at processes to make sure people have the space needed, aren’t over extending, and can be in a proper position to lift, not contact, electric current.
  • Building awareness – “We now conduct morning meetings with team leads, as well as Tuesday and Thursday MDI meetings with the entire team, and we start every meeting with the same question, ‘Do you have any safety concerns to share?’   We aren’t afraid to talk about safety and we don’t apologize for stopping people if we feel they are committing an unsafe act or are not wearing proper PPE.”
  • Observing and always questioning – “When we walk through our plant now, it’s no longer with blinders on, it’s with eyes open and all senses on full alert. We look at our people first, our equipment second, and engage our senses third—aware of any odd smells, any odd noises, any odd vibrations. Safety isn’t a second thought, it’s our first thought.”
  • Creating an environment for open disclosure – “This is the last great hurdle we have gotten over. Our transparent attitude with our people on safety has shown how much we care, because we follow it up with actions that correct/adjust and help eliminate the safety issue. This wins people over and builds the culture we have today.”

Sefcik concluded, “I love the fact that EBSCO cares about safety and its people. The company has supported our needs to achieve this important goal. I challenge other EBSCO leaders to believe that all accidents can be prevented. I have found it to be the only way to prevent major injuries. Its 100% or there will be accidents.”

Our goal at EBSCO is for every employee to go home at the end of every day in better shape than when they arrived. Congratulations to the whole EBSCO Sign Group team for this impressive achievement.

Byline by Bryson Stephens, Tom Sefcik, Monty Gentry