Contact: Paula Weis
(202) 974-5282

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SPI OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES COMMITTEE ANNOUNCES 2004 SAFETY AWARD WINNERS

WASHINGTON, DC (July 14, 2005) - The Occupational Health and Environmental Issues Committee (OHEIC) of The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. (SPI) has recognized 199 work sites with Safety Awards in its 2004 Occupational Safety and Health Survey.

SPI conducts the Occupational Safety and Health Survey to collect statistical information of occupational illnesses and injuries in the plastics industry and to recognize those work sites that have excellent safety records, according to Susan R. Howe, SPI's Senior Technical Director, Worker and Product Safety.

This year, 71 Distinguished Safety Awards, 39 Achievement Safety Awards, 36 Merit Safety Awards and 53 Special Recognition Awards were presented.

Distinguished Safety Awards recognize member company work sites with no occupational injuries or illnesses, as defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) during the calendar year 2004.

Achievement Safety Awards are presented to work sites with no OSHA record able occupational injuries or illnesses involving lost workdays or restricted work activity during the calendar year 2004. Merit Safety Awards are presented to work sites having a 2004 OSHA days away from work, days of restricted work activity or job transfer (DART) rate lower than the national average for their industry and a reduction in their DART rate of at least 20 percent when compared with their rate from the previous year.

Special Recognition Awards are presented to those work sites with safety performance for 2004 that is better than the national average for their Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code. The Occupational Safety and Health Survey includes 2004 occupational injury and illness reports from 279 work sites, represented 66,466,676 employee hours for 32,736 employees.

This year's report indicates an incidence rate (total number of recordable occupational injuries and illnesses for the responding work sites) of 5.21 work-related injuries and illnesses per 200,000 employee hours worked. Responding work sites reported a severity rate (rate of the seriousness of the occupational injuries and illnesses) of 60.67 lost workdays per 200,000 hours worked.

A complete listing of safety awards winners is available online at http://www.plasticsindustry.org/membersonly/public/workersafety/2004awards.htm.

Since 1985, SPI's Occupational Health and Environmental Issues Committee (OHEIC) has provided value to members and the greater plastics industry by addressing critical issues on matters concerning the environment and worker health and safety. OHEIC acts to reduce occupational illnesses and injuries while saving the industry money, reducing its compliance costs, enhancing its ability to get new products to market and protecting existing markets. The annual safety awards program is one of many programs sponsored by the committee to further its mission. For more information, link to http://www.plasticsindustry.org/public/oheic/oheicbrochure.htm.

Founded in 1937, The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc., is the trade association representing one of the largest manufacturing industries in the United States. SPI's members represent the entire plastics industry supply chain, including processors, machinery and equipment manufacturers and raw materials suppliers. The U.S. plastics industry employs 1.4 million workers and provides nearly $310 billion in annual shipments. For more information, visit SPI on the Web at www.plasticsindustry.org.

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