
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, October 26, 1993                   TAG: 9310260122
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RETIRED RADFORD INDUSTRIALIST TO LEAD NEW SAFETY NETWORK

The retired president of Inland Motors and Industrial Drives in Radford has been named to lead a safety program that will match larger industries in mentor roles with smaller ones, Virginia Secretary of Labor and Industry Carol Amato said Monday.

W.W. "Skip" Griggs will direct the Blue Ridge Safety Network, a pilot program designed to pair companies that have well-established safety programs with smaller ones needing help to reduce accidents and improve safety training.

Amato had announced the program last month, saying she planned to curb the accident rate of the state's smaller companies, where most workplace fatalities occur.

Griggs will launch the program in 20 counties and 11 cities in the Blue Ridge Region of Western Virginia. The program will continue through winter 1995.

In the region, $45.8 million in worker compensation claims was paid last year, Amato said. The region had 14.8 percent of the state's claims but 13.3 percent of the state's workers.

"We have to take an opportunity if it exists to reduce costs both to people trying to make a profit in business and insurance carriers," said Griggs.

"The only way to do that is to educate the people."

His first task, Griggs said, will be to set up a steering committee of 15 to 18 people to oversee the program. The committee will hold its first meeting during the second week of November and will kick off the program in mid-December.

The committee will include representatives of the manufacturing, construction and agriculture industries, which will be served by the pilot program. Griggs said he hopes to have a representative group from the region, which stretches from Highland County on the north and Franklin County on the south, Augusta County in the east and Wythe County to the west.

Companies that will take part in the program have not yet been chosen. Businesses interested in taking part should contact Griggs at (703) 562-3580.

Griggs, who will work out of the Department of Labor and Industry's Roanoke office, has 30 years of experience in manufacturing. He is a former chairman of the New River Valley Economic Development Alliance and the New River Valley Community College board of directors.

The partnerships created by the safety network will provide safety and health training through loaned workers and training materials.

Amato said she chose Western Virginia to test the program because it has big businesses with excellent safety programs, good relationships among communities and good examples of business and government cooperation.

by CNB