Lubrizol Painesville News

Lubrizol Painesville Wins 2022 OCTC Eagle Award

June 23, 2022

Lubrizol's Painesville plant was awarded Ohio Chemistry Technology Council’s (OCTC) 2022 Eagle Award, recognizing excellence in Environmental, Health, Safety & Security Performance. Lubrizol’s Ergonomic Program was recognized, out of 24 nominations, for its impactful work to keep employees safe. This award is voted on by peers in the field and recognizes the commitment Lubrizol has made to creating an incident-free workplace and community.

The Painesville facility had experienced 69 musculoskeletal injuries in the last 8 years.  The number of injuries and the fact our manufacturing process is extremely manual, were the driving factors for the site to create a self-sustaining ergonomic program that is embedded in the company culture and essential to keeping our employees safe.

“We are working every day to make these tasks safer and easier to perform by integrating ergonomics into our design processes, by engaging our workforce to identify opportunities and solutions and by investing in new equipment large and small.  The best part is that we are seeing results with less employees being injured at work,” Plant Manager Greg McCullough said.

In 2020, Lubrizol formed a consultancy agreement with Ergo-ology and began the Ergonomics Leadership Program. This program provided a framework for team development, plantwide ergonomics education, task and workstation improvements, and Total Worker Health™ evaluation. The Ergonomic Leadership Program also integrates ergonomic thinking into the site systems and standards.

A cross-functional team was assembled to learn the fundamentals of ergonomics, act as a program liaison, and develop infrastructure for reporting hazards and implementing solutions. The team is currently comprised of 13 individuals from Operations, Operations Support, Maintenance, Health, Safety, and Environmental.  The team meets monthly to learn the tenets of ergonomics from a certified Ergonomist, escalate ergonomically difficult tasks, problem solve solutions, and create communications to drive plantwide commitment. 

”The Painesville Ergonomic Team, along with the help of the entire plant, received Ohio Chemistry Technology Council’s highest award for excellence in Environmental, Health, Safety & Security Performance. The team has been working hard to improve ergonomics across the site since 2020. I am very proud of their success in reducing risk and for this amazing achievement," Aaron Ujcic, Plant Superintendent - Environmental Health & Safety, said.

The team has implemented 43 ergonomic solutions across the facility. Some of these are small work changes, while others have been wide-ranging initiatives to reduce risks. A few examples of the changes put in place are provided.

The success of this program is demonstrated by the reduction in ergonomic-related injuries occurring at the facility.  The following graph shows our journey to date.

The Eagle award is validation for the great work being done for employee safety, and we hope that this work will serve as a guide for others to follow. We are very proud of the work completed by the Painesville team to strive toward our goal of being an incident-free workplace.

Celebrating Lubrizol-Painesville’s 65th Anniversary

In honor of Lubrizol-Painesville’s 65th anniversary, Lubrizol became headline sponsor for four Downtown Painesville’s summer car cruises this year, providing special door prizes. The car cruise is a popular event in Veterans Park in downtown Painesville every Friday night, showcasing over 300 vintage, muscle, and unique vehicles regularly.

Per Joy Severa, DPO: “It is a pleasure working with Lubrizol and we are grateful for our partnership. The community feedback from the Car Cruise attendees has been appreciative and positive for all that you do!”

Lubrizol Adopts Park in Painesville Township

Lubrizol (LZ) continues its commitment to be a good neighbor by providing funds to create a park in Painesville Township.  In 2021, we celebrated the groundbreaking of the Angelo Cicconetti Memorial Park on Bowhall Road.   Shown below are Josh Pennock, Gabe Cicconetti, Doris Behnke (LZ), Greg McCullough (LZ), Mary Jane Sanders (LZ) and Chuck Hillier.  Recently trustees started construction and playground equipment was assembled.  The park will also benefit from a picnic shelter that is ADA accessible.