Press Release

August 17, 2009

Mississauga, Ontario – August 17, 2009 – IAPA presented AirBoss Rubber Compounding with a Health & Safety Achievement Award today. AirBoss Rubber Compounding is located in Kitchener, Ontario and produces rubber products for the transportation, military, and industrial markets. It is their first IAPA health and safety award.

AirBoss Rubber Compounding was recognized for making a commitment to the development of its health and safety program. For example, the firm has made changes to its health and safety auditing and scoring systems, as well as its early and safe return to work program. AirBoss Rubber Compounding has modeled its entire safety program after the international occupational health and safety specification, OHSAS 18001, with the goal of being recognized as an industry leader in health and safety.  

"Today, IAPA recognizes AirBoss Rubber Compounding for taking this first, important step in making its workplace healthy and safe for everyone," says Larry Mcllmoyle, Principal Consultant, IAPA. "Making each workplace in this province incident-free doesn’t happen overnight. It requires collaboration and cooperation from everyone. It also means setting and achieving goals and making health and safety a part of your work culture.”

“On behalf of our associates and management team, it is with great pride that AirBoss has been recognized by IAPA for attaining the Level I Health & Safety Achievement Award,” says Stephen Barefoot, Plant Manager, AirBoss Rubber Compounding. “This recognition illustrates our desire to work safely and embrace the many initiatives employed to maintain a robust health and safety program here at AirBoss.”

AirBoss Rubber Compounding received the Level I Achievement Award after IAPA conducted an on-site verification of the firm’s health and safety management program on June 29, 2009 to ensure that it met the award criteria. The company also completed the self-assessment report to determine if it met IAPA’s award requirements, which included prevention methods, legislative compliance, management practices, and lost-time injury frequencies.

IAPA’s three-level health and safety awards program was launched in 2002. The program is designed to celebrate an organization’s journey towards achieving workplace health and safety excellence. Since the inception of the program, 50 companies have received the Level I Health and Safety Achievement Award.

AirBoss of America Corp. develops, manufactures, and sells high quality proprietary rubber-based products offering enhanced performance and productivity to transportation, military, and industrial markets. With a capacity to supply 250 million pounds of rubber annually to a diverse group of rubber manufacturers, AirBoss is one of North America’s largest custom compounding companies. Their compounds go into a wide variety of end-products, including military, chemical biological, nuclear protective products, car tires, conveyor belt products for mining applications, forklift tires, automotive parts, off-road tire retreading, and more. In everything AirBoss does, they are focused on delivering world class service that’s second to none.

IAPA (Industrial Accident Prevention Association) is a not-for-profit, member-driven organization operating in Ontario since 1917. Representing approximately 50,000 member firms and more than 1.5 million Ontario workers, IAPA is Canada’s leader in workplace health, safety, and employee well-being. IAPA is focused on providing industry-leading training, consulting, educational products, and informational services that meet our members’ needs and the needs of those in their communities. IAPA is also recognized as a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre in Occupational Health and an International Labour Organization – CIS Collaborating Centre. IAPA is ISO 9001 certified and has been awarded the National Quality Institute’s Progressive Excellence Program Level 4 for Quality Certificate and the Canada Awards for Excellence Gold Trophy Awards for Quality and Healthy Workplace.

ATTENTION MEDIA: IAPA is now accepting applications for the 2010 IAPA Russ Ramsay Media Awards for Excellence in Health and Safety Reporting. All Ontario trade and consumer media – print (newspapers or magazines), radio, and television – distributed and broadcast in Ontario are invited to submit pieces of work focusing on workplace health and safety. Universities and colleges are also invited to submit work in the Student Media print and radio categories. Only work published or aired between January 1 and December, 31, 2009 will be eligible. For award consideration, all materials must be submitted to IAPA by Tuesday, February 9, 2010.

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For more information, contact:

Lena Wan                                                                                 
Communications and PR Specialist, IAPA                                 
Tel: 905-614-4272, ext. 2247
Email: lwan@iapa.ca