INDIANAPOLIS (May 25, 2011) – With its workplace health and safety incidents nearly 70 percent below the national average, and recently being added to the short list of Indiana’s safest companies, American Licorice Company is setting the example locally for what a safe and healthy workplace should look and act like.

Today the Indiana Department of Labor inducted the American Licorice Company into the Indiana Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program. To participate in INSHARP, a company must develop and implement an effective worker safety and health program and maintain occupational injury and illness rates below the national average for their industry. Currently, fewer than 50 Indiana workplaces have achieved INSHARP certification.

“A comprehensive and priority approach to workplace safety and wellness begins with top-management support, employee buy-in and participation, and effective systems that identify and eliminate occupational safety and health hazards,” said Department of Labor Commissioner Lori Torres. “American Licorice Company has followed that approach and has demonstrated diligently how those combined efforts do contribute to workers’ health and safety. In short, they are an example of what DOL wants to see in the Hoosier workplace.”

American Licorice Company in LaPorte, Indiana, manufactures extruded and panned candy products, employing more than 200 salaried, full-time and temporary workers. Some of the company’s products manufactured in northwest Indiana include Sour Punch®, Sip-n-Chews® and Extinguisher® chewy sour candy.

The company’s three-year worker illness and injury rate is nearly 70 percent below the national average for its industry.

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About the Indiana Department of Labor:

The mission of the Indiana Department of Labor is to advance the safety, health and prosperity of Hoosiers in the workplace. In order to make significant strides, we emphasize both enforcement and compliance assistance by employers. www.in.gov/dol.

Source: Indiana Department of Labor News Release.