Niles manufacturer Pilkington achieves safety milestones

Published 9:41 am Friday, July 19, 2013

Pilkington North America’s Niles plant has recently achieved two major safety milestones: working two million man-hours without a lost time incident or a significant injury.

The plant, which employs 320 associates, credits the use of PRISM safety tools, which is a management tool used to focus on key safety-related programs and involve as many people as possible.

Employee feedback has also been used to measure the current safety environment and identify where it needs to go next. The plant has nearly doubled its personnel over the last three years, making safety orientation for new employees a focus.

“Individual responsibility is important and we credit our success to a high level of employee involvement in the safety process,” said Plant Manager Peter Carpenter.

“We are proud of the conscientious effort of everyone in the plant to work dependably and safely.”

The plant will celebrate the achievement on Tuesday, July 30.

Pilkington North America in Niles is a value-added plant and one of the largest manufacturing facilities in Berrien County.

It is a manufacturer of a PVC material that is injection molded around automotive side, rear and roof window glass for automotive original equipment and automotive aftermarket replacement glazing applications.