Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations Plant Achieves Another Safety Milestone

Aiken County, S.C., passenger tire plant operates one million man hours without lost-time accident

Bridgestone Americas announced today that its Aiken County, S.C., passenger tire (PSR) plant has achieved one million man hours without a lost-time accident.

During its 17 years of operations, the Aiken PSR Plant has been the recipient of multiple safety awards and recognitions, including:

• South Carolina Voluntary Protection Program Palmetto Star Site (since 2001)

• Rubber Manufacturers Association Safety and Health Improvement Program Excellence Award

• South Carolina Manufacturing Alliance Safety Excellence Award

“At the Aiken PSR plant, and throughout Bridgestone, safety is ingrained in our culture and is our highest-reaching goal in our day-to-day operations,” said Fran Jones, Plant Manager, Aiken PSR Plant. “This culture of safety and focus on a healthy workplace underscores Bridgestone’s commitment to providing superior quality to serve society and being a premier place to work.”

Bridgestone has an established safety program that includes training, evaluation of basic systems, internal audits and continuous improvement. Aiken PSR teammates participate in more than 20,000 annual pro-active safety activities that include identifying hidden dangers, behavioral safety observations and safety audits. Daily, monthly and quarterly meetings round out the focus on workplace safety and process safety management.

The Aiken PSR plant, which produces passenger and light truck radial tires, completed an expansion of its operations in 2013. The expansion increased the plant’s footprint to 2.42 million square feet, allowing the plant to increase production capacity to 37,350 tires per day, or 13.4 million tires annually.