The CPA Spring Meeting, held last week in Dana Point, CA, concluded with strong attendance that surpassed 2019 by more than 10% and reached a 15-year high. Presentations are available online and minutes from Committee and Board of Directors meetings will be available late next week. A few notable highlights from the meeting include:
2021 Safety Award Recipients Announced
CPA recognized its 2021 Safety Award recipients during the Chairman’s Dinner. Awards were given to participating manufacturing plants with exemplary safety records, including acknowledgments for long-term, annual, safety improvement, and safety achievement. For each award, plants were categorized by low worker-hours (Class I) and high worker-hours (Class II).
The awards for the best long-term safety record over the past three (3) years were given to WestPine MDF, Quesnel, British Columbia (Class I) and Arauco North America, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (Class II).
The annual safety awards for having the lowest incident rate in their class for 2021 were awarded to West Fraser-WestPine MDF, Quesnel, British Columbia for Class I plants, and Arauco North America, St. Stephen, New Brunswick and Albany, Oregon for Class II plants.
Two (2) plants recognized for safety improvement were Florida Plywoods, Greenville, Florida (Class I) and Collins Products (Particleboard), Klamath Falls, OR (Class II).
Four (4) plants were recognized for achieving an incident rate of less than 50% of the industry average over the past three (3) years. Class I plants included Arauco North America, Malvern, Arkansas and Roseburg, Eldorado, Arkansas. Class II plants included Arauco North America, St. Stephen, New Brunswick and Maibec, East River, Nova Scotia.
CPA congratulates all companies and personnel whose exceptional records and commitment to safety earned these prestigious awards. Long-term, annual, safety improvement and safety achievement plaques and banners will be sent directly to these award-winning mills later this month. See 2021 Safety Awards. More Info: Connie Klinkam
2021 Safety Innovation Award Presented
CPA awarded Weyerhaeuser’s Columbia Falls, Montana plant with the 2021 Safety Innovation Award. The Safety Innovation Award recognizes a mill that has instituted a new policy, process or technology that has made it a safer place to work. The Weyerhaeuser plant’s implementation of a “Stairway to Safety” significantly reduced the potential for a fall hazard.
The stairway to safety is an engineered solution to mitigate a fall hazard that was present when employees needed to access the inside of a loaded box car in order to secure units for shipment. Before the stairway to safety was implemented, loading box cars had two potential fall hazards: one to the employee inside the box car and one to the employee on the dock, due to a 24-inch gap between the dock edge to the rail car. The stairway to safety was a collaborative effort between the mill personnel and fall protection industry experts. They were able to design and implement a ladder system that not only virtually eliminates the two fall hazards but is designed to be mobile and compact when not in use. The first stairway to safety has been so successful, the mill is working to build secondary systems.
CPA received fourteen deserving applications for the Innovation Award this year. Applications were anonymized and distributed to the CPA Board of Directors for voting. With the permission of applicant mills, CPA will post summaries on the website later this month of the safety innovation award submittals with the hope that these best practices can be adopted industry wide.
CPA congratulates the staff at Weyerhaeuser’s Columbia Falls plant for implementing the “Stairway to Safety.” Representatives from Weyerhaeuser will be invited to present further details and results on this innovation at CPA’s Fall Meeting. More Info: Connie Klinkam
Will Warberg Recognized as the 2021 Landry Award Recipient
CPA recognized Will Warberg, formerly of Plum Creek MDF and Weyerhaeuser MDF, as the 2021 Brock R. Landry Industry Leadership Award Recipient. The Landry Award is given annually to an industry leader in recognition of his or her outstanding contributions to the composite panel industry.
The award was created to recognize CPA counsel Brock R. Landry upon retirement after more than 40 years of significant contributions to the North American composite panel industry. Will was selected by CPA members, and the award was presented during the Chairman’s Dinner at the CPA Spring Meeting.
Former CPA Chairman and colleague James Hogg of Uniboard presented the award and commended Will on his numerous contributions to the industry and longstanding, commitment to the association over the span of his 30-year marketing and sales career until he retired in 2018.
Most notably, Will served on the CPA Executive Committee and Board of Directors for many years which also included a term as CPA Chairman in 2007. Under his leadership as Chairman, several notable initiatives were introduced that are still making an impact today. He was also one of the founding members of the Environmental and Public Affairs (EPAC) Committee in 2005 where he remained Vice Chairman until his retirement from the industry. Will was an active and vocal participant on countless task groups, working committees and was an invaluable participant in the association’s strategic planning sessions over the years. More Info: Andy O’Hare
CPA Recognizes Spring Meeting Sponsors
CPA is very grateful for the generous support from the following 2022 Spring Meeting sponsors. Sponsorships greatly enhance the overall program of the annual meetings. Please take a moment to visit each of the sponsors’ websites to help us thank them for the ongoing support of the association and the industry.
Platinum Sponsors
Gold Sponsors
Silver Sponsor
Golf Sponsor
Spring Meeting Exhibitors Appreciated
CPA wants to thank all of the following exhibitors for participating in the Spring Meeting.
Biomass Engineering & Equipment
Electronic Wood Systems North America
Spring Meeting Presentations Now Available Online
Presentations from the Spring Meeting are now available online. Meeting minutes will be available next week. See 2022 CPA Spring Meeting. More Info: Allyson O’Sullivan
