Bi-annual Safety Highlights and Records

At Mauser Packaging Solutions, our dedicated workers are our biggest asset. It is our ethical responsibility to ensure that each employee goes home safe and unharmed, every day. Our facilities continually work to implement and improve safety measures and ensure employees have a safe work environment. Achieving safety milestones requires an ever–present consciousness on the part of every employee and we recognize employees in facilities that have reached and are maintaining significant safety records.

International Packaging

Gliwice, Poland – Barriers were built and installed at each loading dock to create a safe place for drivers to wait. The barriers protect the driver from being hit by a forklift or being struck by a falling IBC or drum during the loading process.

Erkelenz, Germany – A forklift warning system was installed to address a specific point in the facility that was identified as a safety risk for forklift incidents. A heat map was used to identify the “hot spot” for forklift accidents. A projector connected to a set of motion detectors was installed to provide a visual wanting when a forklift or other moving object is detected.

North America Industrial Packaging

New IBC Division – To mitigate the risk of muscle strains in the back, shoulders, and arms of operators, the New IBC division partnered with an equipment vendor to develop an automated method of stacking bottles designated for the re-bottle process at our reconditioning plant. To minimize freight these bottles are stacked three high which causes risk of muscle strain for the operator. The first of these machines, called a “bottle-upender” was installed in the Mount Vernon, Ohio facility in 2018. The bottle-upender is situated at the end of the bottle conveyor. As the bottles are moved to the upender, the operator orients the bottles in the correct position (requiring no lifting), moves out of the light curtain barrier and activates the machine. The bottles are then tilted upright six at a time and are ready for the forklift operator to pick them up to move to storage.  Since then 10 additional bottle-upenders have been ordered and installed with an additional 2 on order. We plan to continue to implement these machines in all New IBC facilities with a goal of having a bottle-upender for every IBC blow molder by 2023.

Reco Steel (U.S.) – Investments have been made in approximately a third of Reco Steel locations to automate the Cut and Bead process. This was identified as the number one safety issue for the Reco Steel Division as these machines operate like huge can openers and can be difficult to safeguard. Investments in new equipment to automate this process removes employees from exposure to sharp drum tops which create a safety hazard. This equipment is currently installed in Columbus, Charlotte, Zellwood, Seattle, Roseville, Chicago, and Montebello. There are plans in place to install this equipment at all remaining Reco Steel locations over the next two years.

North America Small Packaging

The North America Small Packaging business unit has implemented a new Employee Observation process at all facilities to help identify unsafe conditions or behaviors so they can be corrected before they result in incident or injury. By encouraging employee engagement in the process of identifying and correcting safety risks, we strive to build a pro-active, independent safety culture where discussions are facilitated around how we can do things better and safer. Employee Safety Observations are submitted on an electronic form through EHS Insight that utilizes a checklist to identify behaviors and conditions in a variety of categories that can put safety at risk. In addition to reporting risks or violations, employees are also encouraged to submit observations of things being done well so that positive feedback can be provided when employees are exhibiting safe behavior.  To date, 5,425 Work Observations have been done with 796 CAPAs (Corrective and Preventative Actions) produced to mitigate the risk noted from the employee observation. As a result, there have been incidents of machine guarding issues addressed at the Indianapolis plant, chemical storage issues corrected at Homerville, and examples of clearing up clutter and improving access to fire safety equipment and emergency exits at several plants.

Facility Safety Records Over Three Months
(based on recordable incidents as of 6/18/2021)

Cidra – 3+ years
Monroe – 2+ years
Indianapolis – 21 months
Garland – 20 months
Leominster – 11 months
Sturtevant – 9 months
Springhill – 7 months
Trenton – 6 months
Mansfield – 6 months
Fontana – 5 months
Lively – 5 months
Atlanta IBC – 4 months
Bryan – 4 months
Arthur – 3 months
Newnan – 3 months