February 2, 2009

Mary Kate Campbell, DuPont Public Affairs Manager and Platinum Partner of The U.S. Conference of Mayors, addressed the 77th Winter Meeting at a January 18 session. She updated the mayors on the state of the partnership and highlighted for the attendees on some of the specific programs that DuPont is working on with mayors.

Campbell announced and officially opened the 7th annual Lead-Safe for Kids' Sake grant program. This $4 million dollar grant program awards money to Conference member mayors who have proposed innovative solutions to make their cities lead-safe. The grant applications need to be submitted to the Conference of Mayors by the May 1 deadline. Applications can be found on the www.usmayors.org and will also be mailed out to all member cities.

In addition to the USCM-DuPont grant program, Campbell addressed the current economic crisis and how DuPont is willing to assist cities as they confront critical budgetary shortfalls. As the impact of the economic crisis spreads at home and abroad, the nation's cities are reviewing budgets and evaluating programs and services with an eye toward reducing operating costs. DuPont Safety Resources, through its partnership with The U.S. Conference of Mayors, is working with municipal agencies to find ways to lower operating costs by improving the safety of the work environment.

Campbell stressed that safety is a core value at DuPont with a goal of "zero" injuries and incidents. Establishing a fully integrated culture of safety - from the office of the CEO to plant sites globally - leads to responsible business stewardship that motivates and retains employees, improves performance and productivity, cuts costs and has a positive impact on results. This safety expertise is being used to educate and assist cities as they seek to reduce expenditures that result from workplace accidents and inefficiencies.

By pointing to examples of how local governments have saved significant dollars working with DuPont Safety Resources, Campbell illustrated how millions of dollars can be saved by mayors who confront safety as a budgetary issue. One example that illustrates the economic benefits of a strong safety culture is DuPont's work with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA). LACMTA improved the safety of both employees and passengers and reduced injury claims by 50 percent, lowering the cost of their operations.

With approximately 9,000 employees, LACMTA provides bus and rail transportation to some nine million Los Angeles County residents, or to about 500,000 riders each day. In 2001, the cost of workers compensation claims was causing a serious drain on the authority's budget. LACMTA needed to prevent injuries, and their resulting claims, to lower the cost of operations. The authority enlisted DuPont safety consultants to evaluate its operations from a safety standpoint and recommend improvements.

DuPont developed a safety culture change program for LACMTA that targeted four areas for significant injury and cost reductions. First, new rules and procedures, customized for the LACMTA work environment, established more stringent safety standards to govern how employees would carry out their jobs. Second, the DuPont team used field observation methods to raise safety awareness and help ensure all employees were performing their jobs according to the established standards. Third, the team investigated root causes of injuries and took action to prevent reoccurrence. Lastly, the team created a disability management program designed to return injured employees to work more quickly, minimizing lost time. Special programs were also put in place to target high-risk areas, such as employee and vehicle safety.

In addition, long-term performance improvements were driven by assigning management responsibility and motivating employee involvement so that a strong safety culture is established. This innovative approach to managing safety enabled LACMTA to implement sustainable organizational structures, processes and training that produced impressive results. Between 2001 and 2007 worker's compensation ultimate losses decreased 54 percent, new workers compensation ultimate claims decreased 58 percent and lost workdays decreased 47 percent. And, despite inflation, the estimated ultimate workers compensation costs were reduced by 18 percent between 1994 and 2006.

Campbell concluded by stating that at a time when municipal executives are scrutinizing budgets and looking for ways to control costs in these uncertain economic times, an investment in improved and sustainable safety performance can yield substantial financial resources that could be used to fund other critical operations and help protect workers and communities. DuPont is willing to assist cities in finding those cost savings.