The Iowa-Illinois Safety Council held its Annual Award Ceremony during our 57th Professional Development Conference and Expo held in Dubuque, Iowa April 22-23. Over 170 businesses, industries and government agencies in Illinois and Iowa received awards for promoting active safety programs and reducing OSHA recordable injuries among their employees. To qualify for this award, applicants had to demonstrate an incident rate lower than the national average for their specific industry.

In 2006, the Iowa-Illinois Safety Council created a special awards program in addition to the annual safety awards program to recognize achievements in two specific areas: Incident Rate Improvement and Community Enrichment.

Kenwood Records Management of Cedar Rapids, Iowa was awarded the Incident Rate Improvement Award in recognition achieving an outstanding reduction in OSHA reportable instances over previous years. While many of the organizations submitting applications for the Incident Rate Improvement award showed remarkable improvement in self-reported incident rates over the past few years’ records, Kenwood was determined to have achieved the most significant improvement.

By maintaining the goal of “everyone returns home safe every day”, Kenwood tries to keep safety in the minds of all employees. Each month, there is a different Safety Training Topic to remind employees of safe practices. “We believe in creating a safe work environment by not only encouraging safe behaviors, but also by maintaining a safe work area by doing safety inspections.” One change that helped reduce injuries was a stretch program outline. Says David Novak, Safety Leader, “We are grateful for our incident rate improvement and hope to keep sending all our employees home safe everyday.”

Monsanto Company was awarded the Community Enrichment Award for “contributing significantly to its local community in areas of safety, health, or environmental efforts.” Monsanto Company employees have enriched Muscatine, Iowa and surrounding communities through many programs.

Monsanto has supported its local community through contributions to programs such as Junior Achievement, United Way, and Rebuilding Together. Beyond financial support, Monsanto employees have contributed their time and efforts to these organizations. The Monsanto Emergency Team has also conducted CPR training for students in area schools and EMS Continuing Education classes, which are open to the community.

In an effort to educate members of the community about vehicle safety, Monsanto has shared its “Seatbelt Convincer” with area schools and at multiple farm shows during 2009. The convincer is a tool that demonstrates the force generated in a low speed collision and the importance of wearing a seatbelt.

Monsanto’s Environmental Education efforts include the 160 acre outdoor classroom used by local elementary classes hosting a community field day on the 510 acre Big Sand Mound Nature Preserve.

As stated in the application materials from Monsanto: “We will continue activities in support of community enrichment through financial contributions, volunteerism, material resources and other avenues”.

Congratulations to Monsanto Company and Kenwood Records Management for earning these awards! We encourage all our member organizations to continue to make a difference in Illinois, Iowa, and beyond. If you did not submit a Community Enrichment Award application this year, we invite you to start compiling information on your activities now and submit an application next year.

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