Award presentations were made at a special reception held on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at the Rosen Plaza Hotel in Orlando, Florida.

WINNER OF SAFETY PROGRAM OF THE YEAR: Parkway Products, Inc

Criteria: The Safety Program of the Year Saxcie is awarded to a company's health and safety program for excellence in one or more of the following areas:

• On-the-job safety training
• Off-the-job safety training
• Culture building and/or change
• Management buy-in
• Use of technology
• Maximization of employee involvement in safety
• Communication
• Awareness building
• Supervisoryleadership
• Performance measurement
• Auditing
• Accident Investigation
• Joint Health & Safety Committee Leadership
• Rehabilitation and Return to Work
• Any other field of safety program achievement

The Winner: Parkway Products, Inc.

Profile: Located in Atlanta, Parkway Products is a full service injection molding and machining facility with 12 injection presses, and a full machining center that includes dual spindals, CNC mills and lathes.

Parkway's commitment to safety becomes evident the moment you step through the door of its facility. Visitors and contractors aren't allowed on the production floor until they review and sign Level 1 and 2 EHS rules. All new contractors receive on-the-job safety training from the company on the first day of the job. New Parkway hires also get a complete safety orientation on day one.

Parkway treats safety as a team effort. Upper management has "bought into" safety 100%. Management staff participates in all safety programs and audits and is actively involved in delivering the safety message to employees, contractors and visitors. All employees are assigned individual and team safety goals. Parkway employees are organized into seven two-person teams, each of which is involved in monthly auditing and monthly safety meeting presentations.

Parkway has an active HSE Committee made up of management and production staffers who serve at least one year. The Committee meets monthly to review near-misses, audit findings, injury data (on those rare occasions when injuries do occur), plan safety celebrations, etc.

Parkway offers an incentive program allowing workers to earn points towards gift certificates of their choice. Workers can earn points by engaging in activities such as participating in scheduled audits, presenting safety programs, housekeeping, submitting near-miss reports and doing volunteer audits. Two monthly recognition "traveling" trophies" - the Shining Star and Above and Beyond - are handed out to employees who work safely, as voted on by their peers.

Parkway's facility is certified with ISO 9001, TS16949 and ISO14001; it also holds a Tier
1 Automotive supplier Q1 rating.

Not surprisingly, all of these efforts have generated fantastic results. Parkway's OSHA recordable rate has been 0 for the past 2.5 years. Its last LTA experience was 12 and-a-half years ago. The facility has thus accrued 1,307,022 safe hours since then.

The Saxcies silver helmet for Safety Program of the Year will share space in Parkway's trophy case with other awards and recognitions, including:

• 2000 - 2006 Georgia Department of Labor Award of Excellence for Safety;
• 2004 Celebrated milestone of 10 yrs. and 1 million safe hours - Received congratulatory letters from Governor Sonny Perdue and Mayor Shirley Franklin; and
• 2005 Georgia Department of Labor - Commissioners Award.

To Teresa Mackey and all of her colleagues at Parkway Products, we at SafetyXChange offer you our warmest congratulations on a job well done.

WINNER OF SAFETY HERO OF THE YEAR: Bernard (Ben) Bruce

Criteria: The Safety Hero of the Year is awarded to an individual who demonstrates an extraordinary personal commitment to safety both inside and outside the workplace.

The Winner: Bernard (Ben) Bruce of Luke Air Force Base, Arizona

Profile: Mr. Ben Bruce is the ground safety manager for the world's largest fighter wing, with more than 7,000 personnel and 189 aircraft. Known as "The Safety Dude," Ben's led the base through a series of safety program successes and has now fixed his sights on combating the number one killer of active duty military personnel - motor vehicle accidents. Here are just some of the programs he's initiated:

• Operation Focus
• Safe Driver Program for personnel under the age of 26
• Red Means Stop (a city-wide program developed in partnership with the City of Phoenix)
• Intersection Awareness blitz
• Reduce Driving While Intoxicated Incidents
• Motorcycle Training Program

As a result of his programs, Luke's fleet of 855 vehicles experienced zero reportable government motor vehicle accidents or vehicle damage in 2006 and seatbelt usage increased to 97%.

Ben's enthusiasm for safety extends to the local community. As a professional magician, Ben combines magic and safety to create entertaining and effective presentations for schoolchildren; he helped create safety surveys for the city's seniors; and he worked with local police to design and implement programs to address teenage driving issues. Because of Ben's efforts, Luke Air Force Base - and the city beyond - are much safer places to work, live and play.

WINNER OF BEST NEW SAFETY PRODUCT: Propane Nozzle Lock

from: Kerr Concrete Pipe

Criteria: The Best New Safety Product is awarded to an innovative product or service that effectively enhances health and safety in and out of the workplace, as voted by the members of SafetyXChange.

The Winner: Kerr Concrete Pipe's Propane Nozzle Locking System

Profile: Best New Safety Product is the only Saxcie decided by the vote of SafetyXChange members. This year, the members chose a simple but ingenious propane nozzle locking system developed by Kerr Concrete Pipe.

Like many great safety products, the nozzle was the product of a safety breakdown. A forklift operator pulled away from a refuelling station without remembering to disconnect the nozzle. It was the second such incident in less than a year and Kerr determined to do something about it.

Their concept was "to take the human factor out of the equation," i.e., make it impossible for forklift operators to drive off after refuelling unless and until they disconnect the nozzle. The Kerr team's solution was simple: Secure the forklift key into the nozzle lock assembly and make it impossible to remove the key until the propane nozzle is disconnected and locked shut, thereby ensuring that the driver can't drive the forklift away until the disconnecting and locking procedure has been completed.

Not surprisingly, the implementation of the new nozzle locking system has eliminated all incidents of employees driving away from refuelling stations while the propane filling nozzle was still attached to the tank.

So, to the creators of the nozzle locking device, SafetyXChange offers its hearty congratulations and thanks for making a meaningful contribution to the safety of the workplace.

WINNER OF SAFETY TRAINER OF THE YEAR: A. Blane Morgan

Criteria: The Safety Trainer of the Year Saxcie™ is awarded to a safety professional who exhibits individual success and leadership in the field of safety training.

The Winner: A. Blane Morgan

Profile: Good safety trainers must be innovative, resourceful and able to explain in simple terms technically challenging material. Former firefighter and paramedic A. Blane Morgan fits the bill.

To build a company that equips workplaces with medical emergency kits, Blane combined his knowledge of emergency preparedness and emergency response with his passion for training. He developed all of his training presentations from scratch and customizes each presentation for each customer or client, utilizing real life stories, humor and empathy.

Blane believes that it's not enough to simply explain to would-be lay rescuers how to use the equipment. To save lives, trainees must know the "how" and the "why," and Blane will use any training tactic available to ensure that all trainees leave the session clearly understanding the key messages. If a trainee has any specific concerns, Blane will spend time after a training session to review these individual concerns and make sure that facility management is aware of the issues, too.

And he practices what he preaches. Regardless of the consequences - whether it's losing a client or facing an unwilling management member - Blane will not walk away from an unsafe occurrence until he knows that the appropriate attention and corrective action are underway.

He has the respect of his trainees, his clients and his colleagues. And he has a handsome Saxcie™ Award on his desk to proclaim that he is indeed Safety Trainer of the Year!

WINNER OF THE HENSHAW AWARD FOR CORPORATE LEADERSHIP IN SAFETY: Canadian Blue Bird

Canadian Blue Bird General Manager Tony Kerwin (left) and EHS Specialist Richard Kauk (right) receive Henshaw Award from Glenn Demby (center)

Criteria: Former OSHA Secretary John Henshaw is a visionary. To Henshaw, safety success is not measured simply by lost time injury rates and other statistics; it's measured by an intangible quality best described as commitment. Corporations, Henshaw believes, must embrace health and safety as part of the essential business mission and engage others to do the same.

SafetyXChange created a special Saxcie - the Henshaw Award - to recognize a company that best embodies this commitment. It's a special award - the only one that comes with a golden helmet.

Process: More than a dozen companies from the US and Canada were nominated for the Henshaw Award. All of them had distinguished safety programs and records. Selecting five finalists was very hard. In addition to lending his name to the award, Secretary Henshaw served as presiding judge over the panel that selected the winner.

The Winner: Canadian Blue Bird

Profile: Canadian Blue Bird's safety record was the subject of recognition just four years ago. The problem was that it was the kind of recognition nobody wants. The Ontario Ministry of Labour cited Blue Bird as one of the province's worst 1,000 employers with regard to safety.

It wasn't as if the people at Blue Bird were indifferent to safety. They just lacked leadership, vision and management commitment. That all changed in 2003. Richard Kauk and a new management team launched a determined effort to infuse Blue Bird with a new safety culture. It started with the formation of a 107-item "Due Diligence" list of safety corrections that would bring the company into compliance with its OHS obligations within a year.

Although it was the first step, Blue Bird didn't want simply to meet regulatory requirements; it was out to achieve safety excellence. To reach its goal, the company implemented an ambitious package of initiatives including enhanced training and Level 2 certification of Joint Health and Safety Committee members, establishment of an ergonomics team to reduce soft tissue injuries, the formation of four member Safety Teams and enhanced communication. New programs were built on the principles of ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 18001. Blue Bird has also established wellness, smoking cessation and flu shot programs as well as audiometric testing.

These and other efforts have paid off. Evidence of the excellence Blue Bird has achieved:

• 27 months without a Lost Time Accident;
• 60% drop in 2006 recordables (and another 75% drop to date in 2007);
• 2004 NEER Rating *3.0 Max Surcharge, 2006 NEER Rating 0.07;
• 85% drop in VOC Discharges from 2003 t0 2007;
• 2006 Minis unanimously voted off the Critical Employer List
• ISO14001 Registration October of 2006 with an unconditional recommendation from the registrar as a result of no non-conformances;
• ISO18001 Registration May 2007; and
• I.A.P.A. (Industrial Accident Prevention Association) Level 3 March 2006.

Not surprisingly, Blue Bird has earned recognition for its programs, including:

• 2005 Industry Week Top 25 North American Manufacturing Plant;
• 2006 AME Manufacturing Excellence Award - Canadian Region; and
• I.A.P.A. President's Award April 2007 for Safety Leadership and Mentorship.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the Ontario Ministry of Labour took Blue Bird off its bad list in 2006.

You've come a long way in four years, Blue Bird. SafetyXChange and the former OSHA Secretary's whose name graces the honor you've received wish you our deepest congratulations.