NSC celebrates Green Cross for Safety Award winners

New Orleans — The National Safety Council honored three organizations working toward – and succeeding in – preventing injuries and saving lives with its renowned Green Cross for Safety awards.

Presented during the 24th annual Green Cross Celebration – which was sponsored by U.S. Steel Corp. – on Monday at Mardi Gras World, the accolade recognizes the best and brightest in three categories: safety advocacy, safety excellence and safety innovation.

The 2023 winners:

Safety Advocate Award (sponsored by First Student): Schneider – Each year, drunk driving incidents claim around 10,000 lives. The Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety program was created to develop a first-of-its-kind technology holding the greatest potential to reverse this deadly trend. In 2021, Schneider became the first truckload carrier to conduct a pilot of this lifesaving alcohol detection technology. Between September 2021 and May 2022, the first Schneider trucks were fitted with the DADSS technology device and drivers began testing the system. Through May 1, Schneider drivers drove nearly 207,000 miles, producing almost 90,000 samples and 22,000 total sensor operation hours. Through testing, Schneider drivers were the first to identify and report problems with the device. The data generated allowed the device to be optimized and validated the device’s speed, accuracy and reliability.

Safety Excellence Award (sponsored by UPS): Walgreens – Walgreens operates more than 8,000 drugstores. In 2017, the company began an in-depth analysis of workers’ compensation claims associated with its retail locations and found about 40% of injuries were caused by slips, trips and falls in its retail stockroom environments. The analysis identified an opportunity to collaborate cross-functionally, redefining its stockroom inventory controls and storage layouts. Walgreens launched the Safety Focused Stockroom program, concentrating on safe storage planograms and the safe storage of merchandise without the use of a ladder. So far this year, Walgreens has successfully transformed more than 76% of its retail locations to ladderless stockrooms. Workers’ comp claims associated with slips, trips and falls within the stockroom have been reduced 66% over the past six years. Walgreens continues to focus on improving its adoption of the program, showing its commitment to managing risks and increasing safety awareness for its team members.

Safety Innovation Award (sponsored by Amazon): APTIM – APTIM is responsible for the repair and maintenance of more than 90,000 fuel infrastructure assets – in dozens of remote locations – for the Department of Defense. It soon realized the potential for safety to be compromised because of gaps in safety planning, processes, communication and documentation. Its program team identified a suite of digital tools to integrate with its safety program needs. These tools have provided an electronic means of group communication, real-time engagement and seamless field interaction with its safety and engineering support teams. It ensures the safest measures are being implemented at the site, the regulatory documentation required by its customers is maintained and field staff safety is increased.

“NSC is proud to recognize these organizations for advocating, excelling and innovating to keep workers safe,” NSC President and CEO Lorraine M. Martin said. “The commitment to safety amongst this year’s group is unparalleled, and it is a great honor to celebrate their efforts and accomplishments with them.”

In addition to recognizing this year’s award recipients, the NSC’s Green Cross Celebration helped raise around $720,000 for mission critical initiatives, including safety research, education and advocacy.