Presentation Transcript
Slide 2:On Wednesday, September 23, Josephine Cheng, IBM Research - Almaden VP, accepted the Cal/VPP STAR Award from Chief of California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health.
Slide 3:The Cal/VPP STAR designation is the State's most prestigious honor, officially recognizing the outstanding efforts made by employees and employers to create an exemplary workplace safety and health program.
Slide 4:Almaden's Jim Mason, Safety, Industrial Hygiene, Ergonomics; Team Leader, spent a few minutes with us, explaining the path to Almaden’s success.
Slide 5:Almaden started on the path to receive the Cal/VPP Star designation in April 2007. In a health and safety status meeting with then Vice President Paul Horn about TJ Watson's VPP-Star recertification audit, Paul asked why Almaden didn't have the Star designation. Our next step was to meet with Almaden's Vice-President Mark Dean and his management team to sell them on the idea of becoming a Star site.
Slide 6:Once the decision was made, we completed a comprehensive application, had a one day preliminary review and finally, the week-long evaluation team review last November. Next, we worked on recommendations made by the evaluation team. These included extending the handles on emergency showers, replacing guard rails, and installing swing gates at the tops of platforms in the water treatment area. In July, a representative from Cal/OSHA came back to verify all our corrections before recommending our site to the Chief of Cal/OSHA. Chief of Cal/OSHA ↑↑
Slide 7:Employees are an essential part of our success in receiving the Cal/VPP Star. The Cal/VPP program is a partnership between government, employers and employees. When Evaluation Team members interviewed employees they wanted to see if Almaden employees were engaged in the safety program. They asked employees about their role in safety at Almaden and the kinds of safety training they had. Everyone needed to think about the ways that they demonstrate safe behaviors every day. Individuals with laboratories were diligent in organizing their labs and discarding surplus items from the Cores. Teamwork!
Slide 8:The designation contributes to IBM's overall success in the market place. It demonstrates our leadership in health and safety and the commitment of employees and management to well-being. Our clients and customers want to and have come to expect this kind of leadership from IBM. We all see the great contributions that our researchers make to IBM's bottom line. The VPP Star designation is one way that the rest us, non-researchers, can contribute to IBM's prestige and overall success. Almaden is the seventh IBM location to achieve the VPP Star designation.
Slide 10:Employees, coordinators, evaluation team members, and everyone who contributed to this accomplishment enjoyed a catered lunch at Almaden