I had no idea what an honor the Charles A. Caine Award was until Rachel Lewis, Communications Director for Worker’s Compensation Fund, paid us a visit.  Rachel enthusiastically toured our building paying special attention to areas such as our first aid room and manufacturing floor.  Along the way, she shared a few facts on how companies become Charles A. Caine nominees.  It may seems obvious for a company to have a “zero-accident” goal but it takes a concerted effort to actually achieve the objective.  For the past ten years, Dave Nuttall, Ultradent’s Safety and Security Manager, has worked towards this objective by decreasing the number of reported injuries with a few primary measures – an onsite first aid room to evaluate injuries, a first–aid response team which consists of employees to help with treatment of medical emergencies and most important, a strong company-wide safety mindset.  Dave encourages sharing of safety concerns so that potential accidents are addressed and prevented.  If a workplace injury does occur, the details of the incident are reviewed by managers to address any necessary changes to prevent future mishaps.  One of the measures used for workplace safety is called an e-mod rating.  Basically, the higher the e-mod number, the higher the number of reported injuries.  Ultradent’s e-mod has been reduced from 2.92 in 1995 to a very low .76 rating today!

Ultradent is among 12 companies out of 24,000 to receive the honor of the Charles A. Caine Award for Workplace Safety this year.  The award will be presented on Thursday, June 4^th at the Little America Hotel.

A big congrats to Dave and the first aid responders for making this a safer place to work.