NASHVILLE, Tenn. (From news reports) -- LP Building Solutions (LP), a leading manufacturer of high-performance building products, has been awarded the 2023 Safest Company Award from APA - The Engineered Wood Association. This honor marks LP's 12th win in the 16-year history of the award program, including consecutive wins in 2022 and 2023.
The APA Safety and Health Awards is the premier safety award program for North America's engineered wood products industry. It recognizes operational excellence, aiming to reduce injury and illness rates among member companies. Awards are based on the lowest rates and severity of injuries, the greatest reductions in injuries, innovations to reduce injuries, and the best overall company record.
The Safest Company Award is given to the company with the best average weighted incident rate (WIR), which is calculated based on restricted work, lost time, fatalities, and other recordable incidents. In 2023, the industry average WIR was 8.74, while LP achieved an industry-leading WIR of 2.56. LP won in the category for companies with 11 or more mills.
"At LP, safety is at the heart of everything we do," said LP Chair and CEO Brad Southern. "This award would not be possible without the dedication and determination our team members show every day, every shift, to keep themselves and each other safe. Thank you to all our team members who made 2023 a strong year for safety."
In addition to the Safest Company Award, five LP mills were individually recognized in the 2023 Safety and Health Awards:
- LP Dawson Creek: Three-Year Safety Award for Division ll and the Incident Free Honor Society Award
- LP Hayward: Safety Improvement Award, Incident Free Honor Society Award, and 1st place in Division ll for the Annual Safety and Health Honor Roll
- LP Clarke County: Incident Free Honor Society Award and 2nd place in Division ll for the Annual Safety and Health Honor Roll
- LP Jasper: Incident Free Honor Society Award
- LP Newberry: Incident Free Honor Society Award
"We take pride in our members' hard work and dedication to improving worker safety each year," said APA President Mark Tibbetts. "It's crucial that as an industry, we advance and adopt best practices to ensure our workplaces remain as safe as possible."
Since 2007, LP has consistently achieved a world-class total incident rate, a common industry measure of recordable incidents per 100 employees, below 1.0 every year. In 2023, LP's total incident rate of 0.5 surpassed its target. The company's safety performance has earned it more than 90 awards since 2010. Additionally, LP has won over 30 APA awards since the program was established in 2009, including the Equipment-Based Innovation Award and the Jeff Wagner Process-Based Innovation Award.
For the full list of APA's Safety and Health Award winners, visit apawood.com.
