Rigesa´s Factories: a Brazilian example of good health and safety practices - Apr 22, 2001 - 12:00:00 AM

Rigesa, a Brazilian subsidiary of Westvaco Corporation, received four health and safety awards from its US headquarters in the President's Award and Award of Merit categories. These awards are given to Westvaco factories with the best performance in occupational safety and health during a five-year period together with the lowest index of work related accidents. This index is pre-established in relation to the risks associated with work activities.
Awards went to the Pacajus, CE, box plant and the Valinhos, SP, paper mill due to the excellent occupational safety and health indexes they achieved. Out of all Westvaco factories worldwide as well as other factories in the same sector, the Pacajus, CE, box plant achieved the lowest index of accidents this year. Mark McMahon, president of Rigesa and Westvaco Corporation vice-president stated that this achievement was made possible by building a company culture where safety is everyone´s responsibility, and through our employees´ commitment and involvement.
The established award criteria are very demanding and follow OSHA - the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration - classification and calculation parameters. This means that the indices achieved by Rigesa factories place them among those companies in the world with the best performance in relation to occupational health and safety. McMahon concluded by saying that for those reasons this award has a special meaning for us.
To achieve these results, Rigesa implemented a corporate health, job safety and environmental program in 1994 that standardized procedures, ensured an adequate knowledge base and explained proper performance of tasks, thereby allowing each plant to make adaptations needed for each specific situation.