APM Terminals’ Pier 400 Los Angeles facility, the largest container terminal in the Port of Los Angeles, was awarded first place for the fourth consecutive year in the Pacific Maritime Association’s Coast Accident Prevention Awards ceremony in the category of Terminal Operations, Group A, representing terminal operations with one million or more man-hours worked in 2010.

APM Terminals award for US accident prevention performance

APM Terminals Tacoma won second place in the Group C category, which includes facilities of between 100,000 and 499,999 man hours worked for the year.

The Accident Prevention Awards programme in sponsored by the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) which negotiates and administers maritime labour agreements with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). PMA membership is composed of shipping lines and stevedoring companies that operate in California, Oregon and Washington. Awards are presented annually.

To qualify for an award, a member company must actively participate in the PMA safety programme and report all Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA) recordable occupational injuries and illnesses and all applicable man-hours during the preceding year. Member companies are divided into four categories according to the type of operation in which they are predominantly involved.

Within each category, companies are further grouped by terminal, port or area and according to the number of man-hours paid during the year. Awards are presented in recognition of having achieved the lowest lost time injury/illness incidence rate within each respective category and group.

In 2010 APM Terminals’ overall Lost-Time Injury Frequency (LTIF) rate, reflecting both marine port and terminal operations and Inland Services world-wide, declined from 5.82 per million man-hours worked in 2009 to 4.35, representing an improvement of 25%. APM Terminals Pier 400 handled 1.88m teu in 2010, while APM Terminals Tacoma handled 281,000 teu for the year.

“Our people are our most valuable asset, and we look forward to achieving an even higher safety performance in 2011” said APM Terminals Americas Region President Eric Sisco.