Minneapolis, MINN–June 24, 2011–Diversified Plastics, Inc. has received the Worksite Silver Award for the 2011 Hennepin County Wellness by Design competition. The Hennepin County Human Services and Public Health Department presents this award annually to schools and workplaces that excel in creating a healthy working environment and encourage healthy lifestyles. This is the third year in a row Diversified Plastics has won a Wellness by Design Award, with the two previous years being bronze awards. This year’s awards ceremony took place on June 23, at the Earle Brown Heritage Center in Brooklyn Center, Minn., and featured a video showing how Diversified Plastics benefitted from the program.
The Wellness by Design competition recognizes accomplishments in six categories: senior-level support, wellness infrastructure, assessment and evaluation, communications and engagement, programs and interventions, and supportive environment. Diversified Plastics completed a variety of activities in each category that contributed to their wellness effort over the last year. “We set up a wellness committee for continuing improvement, provided health risk assessments, created monthly employee communications, enhanced our on-site exercise facility and organized team activities such as our Biggest Loser Team Challenge,” said Roger Vang, chief financial officer at Diversified Plastics. “It was the team activities that generated the most excitement and competition.”
Most recently, Diversified Plastics participated in the Hennepin County Step To It Challenge. Weekly prizes were awarded to companies for highest average number of steps walked per employee, per day, and final prizes for highest participation and highest average miles. Collectively, the Diversified Plastics team walked a total 8,210,480 steps, or more than 3,800 miles—the distance from Brooklyn Park, Minn. to Hawaii.
With company management support and more than 50 percent employee participation, there has been an improvement in employees’ appropriate use of health care services, leading to a two-level drop in the company’s health risk factor. This resulted in a reduced health insurance quote, allowing Diversified Plastics to maintain the same coverage with no increase in costs to either the employees or the company in 2011.
About Diversified Plastics, Inc.
Diversified Plastics is an injection molder of high-precision, close tolerance, small- to medium-sized injection molded components for medical device, filtration, aerospace and a variety of other industrial markets. The 34-year-old company is a full-service injection molder, from design assistance and mold construction, to intricate molding and clean room assembly. Diversified Plastics is ISO 9001:2008 and 13485:2003 certified, and UL registered.
