Basalite plant wins award for safety

Basalite Concrete Products, a manufacturer of concrete and masonry products with a site in Carson City, has received its fifth consecutive certificate in the Safety and Health Achievement and Recognition Program. The initiative is especially designed for Nevada businesses that want to comply with Occupational Health and Safety Administration rules.

Successful participants receive public recognition as being an approved Nevada SHARP site, along with an exemption from Nevada OSHA general schedule enforcement inspections for two years.

"It all started in 2002," said Kenny Maseda Basalite's Nevada safety director, "when Plant Manager Kyle Holt, desperate to reduce the injuries and improve the health, safety and morale of the employees, directed the Basalite Carson City safety coordinator to get in touch with OSHA to see if there was a way they could work with us instead of against us for our mutual benefit. That was when we first heard of SCATS (Safety Consultation and Training Section) of OSHA."

"It was a little stressful at first and cost some money," Maseda said, "but we followed the consultant's recommendation and the results were dramatic. We went from having one of the worst safety records in the Pacific Coast Building Products family to one of the best immediately, and in 2004 achieved SHARP status for the first time."

Holt congratulated the employees on 973 days without a lost-time injury in the Carson plant and 5,008 days without injury at the Dayton mine. Basalite's president, Scott Weber, presented Holt and his staff with the Presidents Award, representing zero injuries and incidents in 2011 - the highest honor a Basalite location can receive. Weber also presented the Carson City employees with the Excellence in Safety Platinum Award from the National Concrete and Masonry Association.