Milliken Among Twelve of America's Safest Companies

First company ever to be named for a second time

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Oct 04, 2010, 03:03 ET

SPARTANBURG, S.C., Oct. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Milliken & Company has been recognized for a second time as one America's Safest Companies by EHS Today magazine. Milliken was first recognized in 2004 and with today's recognition is the first company in America to be a repeat winner of this distinction. Winners of the award cannot be recognized again for five years. Only twelve companies are being recognized in 2010.

America's Safest Companies, founded in 2002, is a corporate award honoring the safest companies in the United States. Since 2002, a total of 120 companies clearly have demonstrated their commitment to employee safety and health, environment management, and risk control and have been honored as America's Safest.

In accepting the award, Kevin Cox, Milliken's Corporate Safety Manager stated, "Milliken's safety process is driven and owned by the Company's production associates and supported from the very top. Our leadership believes that safety is our number one core value and understands that the best person to tell you how to run a job safely is the person actually doing the job."

To be considered one of America's Safest Companies, organizations must demonstrate: support from management and employee involvement; innovative solutions to safety challenges; injury and illness rates lower than the average for their industries; comprehensive training programs; evidence that prevention of incidents is the cornerstone of the safety process; good communication about the value of safety; and a way to substantiate the benefits of the safety process.

"Milliken's safety process is at the heart of all of our 'best of' recognition," said Richard Dillard, Director of Public Affairs. "What better gift to a community than to provide a place of work where people go home each day in the same healthy condition they arrived?"

In recent years Milliken has received a great deal of recognition highlighting its standing as a good corporate neighbor. The Company has been named a FORTUNE "100 Best Companies to Work For" for five years, and an Ethisphere Institute's "World's Most Ethical Company" for four years.

"We received a diverse group of applications this year," said Sandy Smith, executive editor of EHS Today. "The winning companies empower their employees to play an active role in corporate safety culture; offer safety education through rigorous training programs or corporate universities; consider OSHA compliance as a starting point; and invest in safety at every level."

Milliken's safety process has been so successful, that the company is now sharing its proven safety culture with other companies. Milliken Performance Solutions® (MPS) offers their proven and transferable system to manufacturing companies that have reached a plateau and are dissatisfied with the status quo. The MPS safety system is marketed as, Milliken Safety Way™, and has helped numerous companies reach the next level of their safety process.

About Milliken & Company

Milliken is a privately-held, technology-based company dedicated to building a strong culture of integrity, innovation, and excellence, and serves textile, chemical, and floor covering markets. Headquartered in Spartanburg, SC, the campus includes the largest textile research center in the world. The company employs over 100 PhDs dedicated to developing innovative products and breakthrough technology.

About Milliken Performance Solutions and Milliken Safety Way

Milliken Performance Solutions offers practical instruction on how Milliken & Company was able to achieve its outstanding safety record through seminars held at the company's headquarters, and includes visits to its manufacturing plants. Call 864-347-0434 to learn more about Milliken's World-Class Safety Seminars.

For more information about America's Safest Companies, contact Sandy Smith at 216/931-9464 or visit http://www.ehstoday.com/safety/asc.

SOURCE Milliken & Company