Avery Dennison Label and Packaging Materials (LPM) has announced that the business’s 2011 worldwide recordable incident rate was 0.46 injuries or illnesses for every 100 employees.

“This achievement is a testament of the dedication of our people,” says Kamran Kian, vice president for operations and supply chain for LPM and Avery Dennison’s Specialty Materials business. “Safety starts with the individual, and our team members are making sure they’re keeping safe with every action, every time. This collective passion for safety allows us to be one in a handful of companies in the Fortune 500 with an incident rate below 0.5.”

LPM saw best-ever performances in Europe, South America and North America, with incident rates in those regions of 0.29, 0.5, and 0.62, respectively. The Asia Pacific region saw an incident rate of 0.46—just shy of beating its 2010 performance.

In comparison, the average United States manufacturing company experienced a recordable incident rate of 4.4 injuries per 100 workers in 2010, according to the most recent data published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. All of Avery Dennison’s worldwide sites follow U.S. safety recordkeeping practices.

“This shows that safety is a top priority for the company, our leaders and our employees,” says Don Nolan, LPM group vice president. “It takes a teamwork mentality to make this happen, and we’ve fostered that environment by empowering all employees to make contributions towards a safer and healthier workplace.” The entire Avery Dennison Corporation also posted impressive safety results for 2011, with 0.47 injuries for every 100 employees.

LPM has made steady improvements in its recordable incident rate over the last six years, and the 2011 record represents a 37 percent improvement over prior year. Of the business’s 67 manufacturing facilities and distribution centers worldwide, 43 of them—or 64 percent—operated through 2011 without a single recordable incident.

“It takes world-class operations to accomplish such outstanding safety results,” Kian says. “Our facilities are guided by the principles of Lean and Six Sigma quality, which promotes efficiency in all levels of the organization and empowers our employees to pursue operational excellence. This level of excellence is also an indication of our exceptional quality, customer satisfaction and employee morale.”

The world-class safety performance comes after the business rolled out several initiatives aimed at making every site a safer place to work.  For example, employees are encouraged to quickly report even the smallest concerns, such as a near-miss, to correct potential dangers. Open razor knives used to cut label materials were replaced across the globe with safer cutting tools, which virtually eliminated hand lacerations. In addition, machine safety was improved through “Project Untouchable,” which minimized the amount of time workers touch or come close to operating machinery.

“We have eliminated thousands of potential hazards in our facilities across the world,” says Scott Summers, director of environment health and safety for LPM.  “We also encourage every employee to always look for and correct possible hazards as well as to stay consistently focused on the task at hand.”

According to the company, LPM plans further safety improvements in 2012 as it aims to best its record again.