POLAND, Ohio — Working in the steel industry, Claudia Kovach understands how difficult it can be to cut and handle metals and the safety issues that can arise.

“Those metal chips always have a way of getting into my shoes and my house,” Kovach said. “I just found one in the dryer yesterday.”

Kovach, City Machine Technologies Inc. vice president, addressed some 165 business professionals at the Mahoning Valley Safety Council luncheon at The Embassy banquet center where she presented the 13th annual Joan Kovach Safety Leadership Award to Niles Expanded Metals, one of CMT’s customers. An emotional Kovach introduce the award named in memory of her late mother.

“The 2019 Kovach winner is committed to values centered around a diverse culture and people,” Kovach said. “They develop each employee as their most valued investment while maintaining a work environment that inspires employees to succeed.”

Mark Egley, safety director and continual improvement manager at Niles Expanded Metals, accepted the award on behalf of the company. Since taking over the position a year ago, Egley said many of the safety measures were already in place and his efforts were more about “being a nuisance.”

Egley walks the shop floor ensuring all employees are wearing appropriate personal protective equipment, or PPE, including arm guards, gloves, hearing protection, safety boots and safety glasses, per company policy.

“We work with sharp metal, we cut metal; cuts and sticks are a big thing,” he said. “That went a long way to reducing trips to the hospital, stitches and things like that.”

Some of the metals used at the plant have sharp edges, so the company lined off the floors and identified sections where metal is stored, as well as installed railings where coils are stored, he said. The plant has many walking working surfaces where oil and grease can create hazards, he said, so the company does its best to keep up with it and employs safety measures when it can’t.

“That’s always something that you’re chasing because the presses all run on grease and oil, it drops on the ground, so we try to meter the grease and the amount that we’re using,” he said. “We’ll put stuff like cardboard or oil-dry down to make sure that the surfaces aren’t as slippery as they could be. Right now, it’s just basic things to keep people out of the emergency room.”

The efforts are proving effective, he said. Every six months, the company used to send workers to the hospital six or seven times for injuries and stitches. Now, the company is down to two or three hospital trips annually.

He doesn’t know exactly how much that has saved the company financially, but “I would guess that our workers’ comp premiums have gone down,” he said.

Egley was happy to have the company recognized, but said the work isn’t over.

“It’s been a long time that we would keep moving forward,” he said. “And it’s nice to be recognized. But like I said, it’s not the end; we still have a long way to go.”

Runners up for the Kovach award were Simco Management Corp. and ITPS Inc. In addition to the Kovach award, 88 companies received recognition for their own safety records. Of those businesses, 20 earned the Special award, which goes to companies that accumulate at least 500,000 hours and at least six months without lost time injury. They are Berk Enterprises, Blakeman Valley Office Equipment Inc., Brentwood Originals, City Machine Technologies, Columbiana Foods, Dearing Compressor and Pump, Home Savings and Loan Co., Howland Local Schools, Iron and String Life Enhancement Inc., Leeda Northeast Inc., Magna Seating, Mill Creek MetroParks, MS Consultants Inc., New Leaf Residential Services Inc., 717 Credit Union, Things Remembered, TTM Technologies Inc., United Steel Service and Wheatland Tube Co.

Read the rest of the article in The Business Journal here.