Zapp’s wins national safety award

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, February 21, 2001

LEONARD GRAY

PHOTO: STATE LABOR Secretary Garey Forster, left, presents the SHARP award to Ron Zappe, center, of Zapp’s Potato Chips in Gramercy, and his director of operations, Michael Druin. (Staff Photo by Leonard Gray) GRAMERCY – Zapp’s Potato Chips received a national safety award Monday from Louisiana Secretary of Labor Garey Forster. It is only the seventh Louisiana company to earn the honor. The Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) recognizes companies across the country in achieving injury and illness rates below the national average. One benefit of the award is lower workman’s compensation insurance rates. “That’ll pay for our purple fire truck,” company founder Ron Zappe observed. Zapp’s is participating in Carnival parades in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, with Zappe himself driving an antique fire truck, painted purple and equipped with a calliope, tossing beads and sample chip bags. The truck will appear four times this weekend, including in Aquila in Metairie on Friday night, the Spanish Town parade in Baton Rouge on Saturday, Mid-City in New Orleans on Monday and Orpheus in New Orleans Monday night. Zapp’s, which was founded in 1985 with six employees and now has 100 employees, qualified for the award because it partnered with workplace safety consultants from the Louisiana Department of Labor to help develop and implement a working safety plan for its employees. Forster commented: “Our workplace safety consultants help thousands of businesses save money and work smarter and safer than ever before. When an employer like Zapp’s takes safety to the next level to achieve this kind of national recognition, there is no doubt that the company is committed to the well being of each and every employee.” Another benefit of winning SHARP recognition, Forster added, is that Zapp’s is now exempt from federal OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) enforcement inspections for one year. Employers interested in improving safety in their workplaces are encouraged to call the state Department of Labor’s Workplace Safety Consultation Unit at 1-800-201-2495. “Our Workplace Safety Consultation Unit has one of the top programs in the nation because we are reaching out to more employers each year to develop quality work environments for their employees,” Forester concluded. After the award presentation, Forster toured the plant at 307 E. Airline Highway and received several bags of Zapp’s chips.