USA: APM Terminals Wins Halpin Award

APM Terminals was presented with The Gerald H. Halpin Safety Excellence Award for 2010-2011 by the Signal Mutual Indemnity Association last Friday, as the APM Terminals’ operations in the United States were cited for Signal’s highest award. The Halpin Award is given in special recognition of the Signal Member company which has best exemplified the promotion of employee safety and health throughout their organization.

“Accident prevention and Safety Culture are at the very foundation of our daily operations in the United States, the Americas Region, and throughout the world” said APM Terminals America Region President Eric Sisco, adding “and we are very proud to have been honored by the Signal Association for our achievements in and ongoing efforts to improve safety performance”.

Signal Mutual was established in 1986 to serve the American maritime industry’s risk management and insurance needs. The Association’ Membership is comprised of a broad range of maritime businesses including terminal operators, stevedoring companies, ship building and repair, construction services and related offshore industries, representing over 200 companies with combined reported Longshore payrolls in excess of $2 billion. The Association recognizes safety performance and achievements with Industry Leader Safety Awards; the Executive Leadership Award and the Safety Professional of the Year Award which are given annually, and the special Gerald H. Halpin Safety Excellence Award, which is presented only when exceptional circumstances prevail.

Criteria for the special Halpin Safety Excellence Award includes establishing Safety as a “core value” in a member company’s commitment to the prevention of workplace injuries and illnesses; the implementation of safety initiatives integrated throughout the company’s organizational structure through the introduction of a Safety Management System. Additionally, the nominated company must also promote wellness and be actively involved in safety off-the-job and in the community. This year is the seventh presentation of the Halpin Award.

The annual Signal Mutual Industry Leader Safety Awards are categorized by industry and company size. This year’s winner in the category of large stevedoring operations (over 500,000 man hours worked) was APM Terminals Pacific Ltd., which performs cargo handling services at APM Terminals Tacoma, and demonstrated the most improvement of safety performance in terms of declining reported incidents for the past three consecutive years within their group.

APM Terminals is the second-largest terminal operating company in the US, employing approximately 3,000 longshoremen at nine major ports, and handling over five million TEUs with a market share of approximately 11.5%. An annual Global Safety Day safety training and awareness program was introduced in 2007, and in 2008 a company-wide Safety Culture initiative was introduced. The 5th annual Global Safety Day was observed on October 12th, 2011 with the participation of APM Terminals’ 24,000 employees at the company’s facilities around the world.

The APM Terminals’ Lost-Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIF) has declined consistently in the US and throughput the APM Terminals Global Port, Terminal and Inland Services Network overall over the past five years falling by 26% in 2010. The LTIF rate for APM terminals’ North American operations declined from 6.88 per million man-hours worked in 2010 to 6.26 in 2011. There were no fatalities at any APM Terminals-operated facility in the US in 2011.

Other recent industry recognition of APM Terminals’ safety performance includes being named winner of the 2011 Lloyd’s List Global Safety Award, the Safety at Sea International (SASI) Award for 2010 for the category of Management and Operations, and the fourth consecutive Pacific Maritime Association Accident prevention Award for APM Terminals Pier 400, Los Angeles.

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World Maritime News Staff, January 25, 2012; Image: APM Terminals