Unimin Specialty Minerals and its Tamms and Elco plants have been recognized for outstanding community involvement and support activities as well as safety performance by the Illinois Association of Aggregate Producers (IAAP).
A Community Relations Award and Rock Solid Safety awards were presented to company representatives on Aug. 8 by IAAP’s Dan Eichholz and PIE Committee member Jack Hennessey (Delta Companies – Southern Illinois Stone) during a safety celebration day and luncheon for company employees at the community center in Tamms.
“I understand we are fortunate to be located in these great communities for many years so we share our good fortune by giving back and supporting local organizations and ensuring each of our workers are given the support to work safely,” noted Alan Joiner, the Tamms/Elco plant manager. “With the company’s support, our employees have done a fantastic job and these awards acknowledge their efforts.”
When presenting these awards, IAAP Executive Director Dan Eichholz proclaimed, “Unimin Specialty Minerals exemplifies the ideals necessary to empower its employees to be good citizens of the community by supporting and encouraging their outreach efforts and by incorporating community involvement and safety for miners into its company philosophy.”
Unimin employees participate in community events including the Bat Craft station at “Critter Night” in Jonesboro where residents from surrounding communities learn about bats and Unimin’s efforts to protect their habitat.
Unimin has also donated rock to Alexander County public works projects. Through monetary donations, the company supports the conservation and education efforts of Free Again, which works to rehabilitate injured wildlife and release them back into their native habitat in southern Illinois. Additionally, the Tamms and Elco plants sponsored Rebecca Daniels, a teacher at Egyptian Elementary School in Tamms, to attend the IAAP’s Rocks, Minerals, and Mining teacher workshop last year along with 32 other teachers from across Illinois to learn about the state’s geology, fossils and mined natural resources.
Unimin also achieved two Rock Solid Safety awards for setting high safety and health standards and employing recognized systems and methods to prevent injuries or illnesses in the conduct of your operations.
The IAAP’s Safety Committee devised a set of criteria they believe are the basis for a successful safety program. Based on these pre-defined criteria, a member company applying for the IAAP safety award is assigned points for documenting safety and health activities that meet the criteria. A company’s point total determines the award level: Bronze, Silver, Gold or Rock Solid Excellence in Safety.
The Elco plant received a Gold award while the Tamms plant achieved the highest honor of Rock Solid Excellence in Safety for 2015.