Workplace Safety

Goodyear is a worldwide leader in workplace safety – an achievement that has not happened by accident. The company’s success epitomizes the concept of continuous improvement and always striving to do better. The Goodyear vision for workplace safety is summed up in a simple, yet powerful, statement: no one gets hurt. It has been the company’s approach to safety since 2004, and helps ensure that our global operations meet safety goals. Under guidance of its executive leadership, the Goodyear 2006 incident rate showed month-over-month improvements when compared to the previous year. Goodyear continues to integrate safety into all of its manufacturing and non-manufacturing work processes with the goal of achieving a world-class safety performance by the end of 2007.

No One Gets Hurt
In 2006, Goodyear’s safety initiative achieved what once was regarded as impossible: an OSHA incident rate of 2.8. Four times throughout the year, during company-designated safety weeks, global operations set records for fewest incidents.

Manufacturing locations in Asia-Pacific, Europe and Latin America worked the entire year with total incident rates of less than 1.0. Many manufacturing locations also operated at levels three times safer than non-manufacturing operations. A plant in Lawton, Oklahoma improved its incident rate by 57 percent. A facility in Houston, Texas worked 500 days without a lost time incident. Meanwhile, Goodyear’s operation in Taiwan, which has worked more than five years without an OSHA incident, extended its record performance for no lost-time injuries to more than 2,600 days. In Venezuela, a plant went 200 days without a recordable incident. And Global Racing also worked incident-free. These performances achieved safety rates better than the company’s goals.

Working safely can sometimes be a difference in centimeters and seconds. Safety in the Goodyear Latin America region is so important that the business unit does not strive for zero incidents. Instead, associates aim for zero at-risk behaviors.

Ergonomics - Human Solutions to Human Problems
The definition of ergonomics is fitting the machine to the person. Emphasizing ergonomic solutions to workplace injuries is part of the Goodyear three-year strategy to improve its safety performance to world-class levels. The company seeks to optimize workplace conditions so that associates can use necessary equipment while decreasing work-related injuries.

In 2006, Goodyear continued its long-held relationship with Humantech, the world’s foremost authority on ergonomics. Together, they established ergonomic centers of excellence at operations in Amiens, France, Buffalo, New York, Gadsden, Alabama, Izmit, Turkey and St. Marys, Ohio.

Goodyear reviewed numerous operations, and examined tools, equipment and workstation set-ups in order to determine, recommend and implement ergonomic improvements.

Goodyear then used this knowledge to develop an ergonomic model unique to the company. Since there is no single approach to making ergonomic improvements, teams from Goodyear and Humantech fit workplace conditions to people. In addition to reviewing existing equipment, engineers trained in safety, industrial hygiene and ergonomics built health and safety measures into equipment.

In 2006, $27 million was spent on safety improvements throughout Goodyear’s global operations. Strategic plans and funding were established to ensure alignment with global directives. Plus, a global injury management system was put in place to track first aid, near-miss incidents and recordable injuries.