Manufacturing Safety for Manitoba

SAFE Work Certified by Made Safe: Black Cat shares their story

SAFE Work Certified by Made Safe: Black Cat shares their story

Posted on July 3, 2018

As the manufacturing sector partner for SAFE Work Manitoba Certified, Made Safe works with members to assess their readiness, provide support and help companies achieve certification. The process is modeled on internationally-recognized best practices and has demonstrated positive outcomes for individual companies and the industry overall. Certified manufacturers have safer and healthier workplaces, better control of workplace hazards, fewer injuries and illnesses, more engaged and productive employees, and a significant rebate on their WCB premiums.

As the SAFE Work Certified by Made Safe process gains traction, we wanted to showcase just a few of the manufacturers leading the way. It’s our hope that telling their stories and sharing the lessons they learned during the certification process will help pave the path for other manufacturers moving forward.

Black Cat Wear Parts

Black Cat Wear Parts is the first manufacturer in the 31003 rate code to achieve certification. This is their story:

Black Cat Wear Parts is an ISO 9001 Certified manufacturer and international supplier of quality ground engaging tools for construction, mining and road maintenance industries.  Their head office is located in Edmonton, Alberta with operations in Selkirk, Manitoba, DeWitt, Iowa and Suzhou, China employing 817 employees globally.

Q: What should people know about your company vision and culture?

Our quest at Black Cat is to be the supplier of choice by offering the best quality and the best customer service while striving for the lowest production costs.  We also aim to be an employer of choice by providing a safe, harmonious, stimulating, team-driven workplace where people have the opportunity to grow.  Our culture is driven by the rewards of honesty, integrity, trust and high achievement with respect for each other, our assets and our environment.

Q: What barriers did you need to address internally before making the commitment to pursue certification? And how did you overcome these hurdles?

Getting started was a little overwhelming with regard to not knowing what to expect from the process of becoming Made Safe certified. It was new territory for us as a company, so the unknown was a little intimidating for some. We found that working with various members of Made Safe helped guide us through the process. It also helped that we had senior management’s commitment from the start. Taking on another project was also concerning at the time but recognizing the benefits of the Made Safe program and certification we managed to make changes to align resources in support of the certification process.

Q: Did you learn any safety or business lessons throughout the process that might help others make the decision to become certified?

I would say don’t wait to become certified. We were hesitant on starting the process until we felt we were “ready”, but in doing so we delayed access to the training and the services provided through Made Safe.  We felt we had a strong safety program and the certification process validated that for us in the end and allowed us to celebrate that with all team members.

Q: What would you say is the biggest benefit of certification so far, or that you can see on the horizon?

The opportunity to have safety professionals with outside eyes review our safety program and culture and provide insight into how we can continue to improve as an organization has been great. Receiving our certification was also a validation of the work that we had already done and an opportunity for us to celebrate that.

Q: How has your membership with Made Safe helped your organization?

The Made Safe partnership provides training, resources and peer support for the manufacturing sector that was not previously available. These resources will help companies like Black Cat in the province continue to develop and strengthen their safety programs.

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