Safest Plant in Canada
- Oshawa Truck Assembly Centre -

At General Motors, safety is the overriding priority. The Oshawa Truck Assembly Centre, in Oshawa, Ontario, is one of the safest automotive plants in Canada according to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) and has achieved the lowest lost time accident rate in Ontario in the automotive industry for the past three years in a row. According to the National Safety Council (US), the Oshawa Truck Assembly Centre is world class in safety and is in the top 10% of its industry. These are only a few examples of the many safety accolades garnered by the plant.

"Everyone at the plant works very hard day after day making sure safety is at that forefront of everything the plant does. Many of the Truck Plant's innovative safety procedures and programs have been so successful, they have become common practice across the company. We work very hard with our CAW partners and are continually challenged to continue raising the bar," says John Stroyan, Safety Manager at the Oshawa Truck Assembly Centre.

Best Practices:

Safety Concern Process: The Oshawa Truck Assembly Centre implemented a fifth core element to the existing four core elements that is now being implemented company wide. This fifth element, Safety Concern Process, empowers operators to raise any safety concern immediately and have that concern resolved in 30 days. Thirty days is the maximum limit although most are resolved in much less time.

Orange Crush Zones: Plant floors use colour coded lines to guide both material drivers and pedestrian traffic throughout. High-risk areas for pedestrians have been identified and cordoned off using orange lines. To keep the high-risk areas top of mind to employees, the Truck Plant began a joint partnership with Nestle to leverage the Orange Crush logo and prominently display the logo in the high-risk areas. Employees are now able to make a direct association and receive an instant reminder from the linkage of Orange Crush and safety zone. This is just one of many innovative safety initiatives in place today.

Employees:

Training: The Truck Plant promotes a positive culture for safety making it a priority in anything they do. Along with safe practices, procedures and committees in place, safety training is ongoing.

Health and Wellness: Keeping employees safe and healthy go hand-in-hand. The Truck Plant has a state of the art gym on the premises for GM employees to promote a healthy workforce. An all-new Health and Wellness program was announced in the first quarter of 2004, a joint venture between local health resources, GM and CAW. This Committee will act as a resource for employees, linking them with the information and/or health organization needed.

Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGV's):

The plant is not set up in traditional assembly line fashion, but instead, is run by a conveyance system that takes the vehicle from one workstation to the next, following a guided wire that is computer controlled. This brings the truck to the worker and not vice versa. Two key ergonomic benefits from this system are; the AGV system raises and lowers itself for each new workstation to match the height of the operator, reducing strains and injuries; and the AGV does not move until the job is completed, thus employees are not getting stuck midway through a process with the vehicle still moving onto the next workstation.

Safety Committees:

• Joint Health and Safety Committee
• Master Safety Committee
• Hazardous Materials Committee
• Health and Wellness Committee
• Hearing Protection Committee
• Laser Safety Committee
• Ergonomic Committee

Safety and Quality:

Safety and quality are entwined. If a part does not fit into the preceding part properly, it has the direct potential of becoming a safety issue and could lead to aches, pains or other injuries.

When a facility's injury rate is low, it fosters a positive environment and employees are happier and focused on the task.