Press Release

May 19, 2009

Mississauga, Ontario – May 19, 2009 – Franke Kindred Canada Limited received IAPA’s Level III Health & Safety Achievement Award today in recognition of its accomplishments in making its workplace healthy and safe. Franke Kindred Canada Limited is located in Midland, Ontario and manufactures kitchen sinks.

Franke Kindred Canada Limited’s success can be attributed to the firm’s philosophy that health and safety goes beyond workplace injury prevention; it is about creating a healthy workplace. To support this, the firm has implemented a number of initiatives, such as having recognition programs and an in-house trainer to customize courses for staff. Franke Kindred Canada Limited also participates in the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board’s Safety Group program to both further and share its knowledge of health and safety with other firms in the community. As a result of its efforts, the firm has reached a company milestone of 1.8 million hours without a lost-time incident.

“Franke Kindred Canada Limited is to be commended for making health and safety a priority during tough economic times,” says Maureen Shaw, President & CEO, IAPA. “This company has taken this opportunity to invest in its greatest assets, it employees by creating a healthy and safe workplace culture. In achieving this Level III award, Franke Kindred Canada Limited has demonstrated that when organizations make health and safety a core business value, it will prosper and be sustainable.”

“We are understandably proud of receiving this recognition for our continuous activities in support of employee health and safety,” says Case de Jong, President, Franke Business Unit North America. “There really is nothing more precious than an employee’s well-being.  We’re particularly proud of this achievement as it represents years of dedicated focus by all of our people working together.”
 
Franke Kindred Canada Limited has achieved health and safety excellence through IAPA’s three-level Health and Safety Awards program. The program celebrates milestones in an organization’s journey towards eliminating workplace incidents by focusing on aspects of health and safety compliance and lost-time injury frequencies with each level building on the previous one.

To qualify for this top-level award, Franke Kindred Canada Limited met IAPA’s Level III Award criteria as outlined in a self-assessment report. The firm successfully demonstrated legislative compliance, effective prevention methods and management practices, and a lost-time injury (LTI) frequency that met IAPA requirements specific for all three levels of the awards program. This includes how a firm assesses and controls its hazards, as well as a demonstrated and continued commitment to health and safety. An onsite assessment of the facility was conducted by IAPA on March 12, 2009.

Franke Kindred Canada Limited is renowned for the design innovation that has defined “Canada’s Kitchen Sink”. Founded in Toronto in 1946 as Kitchen Installations Ltd., Franke Kindred Canada Limitedis a subsidiary of the Franke Group of Switzerland and is Canada’s largest and leading sinkware manufacturer. The company has been in Midland, Ontario since 1962 and currently employs 200 staff at its state-of-the-art facility. Well-respected products are produced under the brands Franke, Kindred Collection, Kindred Steel Queen, and Franke Commercial.

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, 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.

For more information on IAPA’s programs, products, services, and awards programs, visit IAPA’s website at www.iapa.ca.

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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