Cooper Plant Earns USTMA Sustainability Award

Cooper Tire has announced that its tire manufacturing facility in Tupelo has earned an Improvement Award in the 2019 Sustainability Awards for Safety and Health from the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA). The awards are meant to recognize those tire manufacturers who have made great strides in advancing occupational health and safety. Cooper Tire received the award at the USTMA annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
In order to receive a 2019 Improvement Award, the facility should have achieved a Days Away, Restricted or Transfer (DART) rate, which is a measure of serious injuries and illnesses in the workplace. This rate should be at least 10% better than its rate in the previous year and better than the industry average for 2018. Cooper’s factory in Tupelo was one of 11 such USTMA-member facilities which received the 2019 award.

Commenting on the award, Tupelo Plant Manager Jim Pritchett said that it was a great honor to be recognized by the USTMA for the improvement the Tupelo plant has demonstrated in its workforce safety performance.
He added, “The most valuable asset we have is our people, so a safe working environment is always our top priority. I am very proud of the Tupelo team and look forward to continuing our safety improvement efforts.”
Jim Cline, Cooper’s Director, Environment, Health, Safety and Security, said the goal at all Cooper facilities across the world is zero-injuries. The company is committed to advancing its programs and processes as it seeks to achieve this goal. He said that the award attests to the Tupelo plant team’s efforts to put safety at the forefront of its operations.

The program which was previously known as the USTMA’s “Safety and Health Improvement Program (SHIP) Awards,” has now been renamed and expanded as the “Sustainability Awards for Safety and Health,” in order to better recognize the proactive steps the organization’s members take to improve workplace safety and health. Forty-nine plants from USTMA member companies supplied data as part of the annual survey in order to become eligible for awards. The data supplied to USTMA is similar to the information that is given to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, which publishes annual injury and illness information on all industries.