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October 25, 2001 |
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Dupont Safety
Resources to help L.A.’s MTA Create Safer Workplace; Versión
en español Under the
performance-based contract, DSR will be compensated only when goals are
achieved. “We’re trying to
make this a safer place to work,” said MTA CEO Roger Snoble. “DuPont
is one of the safest companies in the world and can help us be the
same.” The hiring of DSR
coincides with MTA’s launching of a separate, comprehensive multi-year
safety campaign on October 1 that will touch every facet of the agency
operations, construction, planning and administration. MTA perennially has the
highest workers compensation costs of any comparably sized transit agency
in the nation. This fiscal year, MTA expects to spend $59 million on
workers compensation claims; currently, MTA receives eight to 10 injury
claims per day ¾
about 3,000 or so each year “It is very clear to
us that MTA is very serious about taking the right steps in creating a
safer workplace,” said DSR President James A. Forsman. “Our successes
with other organizations clearly demonstrate that when knowledge and
commitment are combined, remarkable results can be achieved with
impressive human and financial benefits.” DSR will employ methods
that have worked to change the safety culture of dozens of other companies
worldwide such as General Motors, Unilever, Georgia-Pacific, Esso and
Allied Signal. New York City Transit, more than five times larger than MTA,
has seen its lost-time injuries decrease by 50 percent since they began
working with DSR. DSR consultants,
averaging 25 years each of safety management experience, will assess
MTA’s current approach to safety and then develop customized training
for every level of employees, starting with the Executive Leadership Team.
Coaching of MTA employees will enable classroom concepts to be directly
applied to various work areas, and ongoing reassessments will determine
additional skills and training needs. “DuPont’s safety
management team has to train our managers and employees that safety is
good for them,” says MTA Chief Financial Officer Richard Brumbaugh, who
took the lead in bringing a safety management group and MTA together.
“We started from the principle that no one wants to get injured at work.
Employees want to go home to their families and enjoy being with them.
Additionally, when we’re able to get these costs down, MTA will be one
of the lowest-cost major metropolitan operators in the country.” MTA, the second largest
public transportation agency in the United States, provides more than 85%
of all public transit services in LA County. It operates the Metro Bus
System, which consists of more than 2,000 peak hour buses operating in a
1,400 square mile service area. MTA also operates the 59.4 mile Metro Rail
System, which includes the Metro Red Line subway and the Metro Blue and
Green light rail lines. As the region’s main transportation planner and
programmer, MTA also funds such programs as paratransit services,
bikeways, street and freeway improvements and the Metro Freeway Service
Patrol, which aids stranded highway motorists free of charge. DSR is dedicated to
building a safer world by partnering with clients to share DuPont
experience, methods and experts in worker safety, contractor safety and
engineering services. For information about
DuPont Safety Resources, contact: Sharon K. Hake, #302-636-7856;
sharon.k.hake-2@usa.dupont.com MTA-137 |
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