Chalk it up to the zero-injury culture that Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems continually works to strengthen. Chalk it up to committed employees who live the company safety mantra of “each day, every day, one day at a time.” Chalk it up to the safety programs Bendix implements across its North American operations.
It’s those factors and more that have allowed two Bendix facilities — distribution centers in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; and Mexico City, Mexico – to mark major milestones in 2018 for years without a recordable injury: Montreal has reached 15, and Mexico City 10.
The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration defines a recordable accident as a workplace injury that requires medical attention beyond first aid. Five other Bendix facilities have gone more than six years without a recordable injury.
“Bendix is driving to zero injuries across the company — this goal is top of mind for all of us – and the accomplishments of our Montreal and Mexico City facilities help demonstrate the feasibility of reaching that goal,” said Carlos Hungria, Bendix chief operating officer. “Both are distribution centers where challenging work happens. And though they are smaller in scale than our large production sites, both engage in the same robust set of safety activities that those larger sites do. Their achievement is an example and inspiration to the entire company.”
According to Maria Gutierrez, Bendix director of corporate responsibility and sustainability, like the larger facilities, the Montreal and Mexico City locations follow Bendix’s standardized preventative and corrective safety programs — developed by the global company for all of its sites — as well as procedures that empower employees to improve safety. As part of this effort, all Bendix locations operate safety teams and institute monthly training, audits, and inspections.
Among the standardized safety protocols are lifting guidelines, which require that materials over a designated weight be lifted by two people. Packages are color coded to show which ones require a two-person lift. Employees are committed to following protocol, even if it takes additional time.
Bendix has shifted the way it thinks about safety from an emphasis on safety statistics to a focus on the people those numbers represent.
“We never forget that behind every safety statistic is a person,” said Gutierrez. “While we’re proud of the milestone numbers, what we’re really celebrating is 15 and 10 years during which nobody has been injured. And that can happen only because the men and women who work so hard for Bendix bring intentional, focused effort to keeping themselves and their co-workers safe — each day, every day, one day at a time.”
