Stamps Of Approval

 

S&H Green Stamps are making a comeback, especially at Pennsylvania Malleable & Ductile Castings Inc., a subsidiary of Champ Corp., in Landisville, Pa. The company awards each of its 140 employees a certificate worth 150 stamps for every month of injury-free work. At the end of each month, employees are awarded 150 stamps for each consecutive month with no accidents resulting in lost workdays. Employees use the trading stamps to purchase products from the S&H catalog, such as home appliances and furniture.

"Once an accident happens, employees lose their streak and they have to start again with a base of zero stamps," says Todd Schultz, Malleable safety director and the program's administrator. "It improves team spirit as well as safety. No one wants to be the one who fumbles the ball."

Since the program went into effect in September 1982, lost-time accidents at Malleable's iron-castings foundry have been effectively stamped out. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the lost-time accident rate for iron foundries is 9.4%; at Malleable, the rate has been 0%.

Champ, a $35-million seller and maker of ductile and malleable castings, in Barrington, Ill., was impressed by the program's success and recently implemented it at its Northern Ductile Castings Inc. subsidiary in Hibbing, Minn. "I'm confident that it will be extended corporatewide," says Schultz.