Smurfit-Stone wins honor from Pulp & Paper Safety Association

Five Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation facilities received top honors and a total of 30 were recognized for their outstanding safety achievements at the Pulp & Paper Safety Association’s (PPSA) annual conference.

Smurfit-Stone’s Hodge, Louisiana, mill and Williamsport, Pennsylvania, container plant earned the PPSA’s 2007 Award of Safety Excellence by achieving the best safety records in their categories for three consecutive years. The industry safety association presents only three awards in this category each year.

The Hodge mill recently achieved a major safety milestone by becoming the first mill in Smurfit-Stone’s history to work more than three million hours without a recordable injury.

Smurfit-Stone’s Oakland, California, recycling plant and Homerville, Georgia, sawmill were recognized with Best One-Year Safety Record awards for having the lowest incident rate in their categories in 2007 as defined by the standards set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Both facilities completed the work year without a single OSHA recordable incident.

Smurfit-Stone’s St. Louis recycling plant received the Most Improved Award for showing the greatest improvement in its category over the previous three years. The plant had no reportable incidents or injuries in 2007.

Smurfit-Stone’s operations worked more than 50 million hours in 2007 and finished the year with the lowest rate of injuries and number of days lost due to occupational injuries and illnesses in company history.

The company decreased its rate of injuries and illnesses by nearly 10 percent compared to 2006, and reduced the number of days lost due to occupational injuries and illnesses by 48 percent.