CANADIAN BLUE BIRD’S BRANTFORD FACILITY RECEIVES TOP LEVEL HEALTH AND SAFETY AWARD FROM IAPA

Toronto, Ontario (April 10, 2006) -(PR NEWSWIRE) – IAPA (Industrial Accident Prevention Association) proudly presented Canadian Blue Bird Coach, Ltd., with a Level III Achievement Award for outstanding health and safety performance, in a presentation at the company’s Brantford facility earlier today. This is the first IAPA Achievement Award awarded to Canadian Blue Bird Coach, Ltd.

IAPA honoured Canadian Blue Bird’s Brantford facility with its top-level award, recognizing the firm’s progressive journey towards health and safety excellence. The Brantford facility recently reported an excess of 517,000 hours without a lost time injury (LTI), for which it also received an IAPA Safety Award, and conducts daily multiple safety audits to ensure a clean, well-organized, and healthy environment that facilitates safe, efficient, and quality work.

“The presenting of this top-level award and a Safety Award, for more than 500,000 hours without a lost time injury, to Canadian Blue Bird Coach, Ltd. speaks volumes about the company’s dedication to, and respect for, the well-being of its workers,” said Michael Abromeit, IAPA Vice-President of Operations. “Their success as a business goes hand in hand with their deep understanding of the importance of a safety culture, fully integrated into all aspects of the workplace.”

"Our Team Members take great pride in the products we produce and the place in which we work. It is truly fitting that our organization is now recognized not only for supplying safe and reliable transportation for children, but also for supplying a safe workplace for the people who produce these products,” said Tony Kerwin, Canadian Blue Bird Coach General Manager. “This award is a testament to the ongoing efforts of the Team Members who work at Canadian Blue Bird."

Canadian Blue Bird’s Brantford facility was recently among 25 finalists in IndustryWeek’s 2005 Best Plants competition, recognized for its dedication to continuous improvement and outstanding performance in safety, quality, and productivity. A significant accomplishment considering a Canadian company has only won twice in the award’s 15-year history.

The Brantford facility successfully demonstrated that their prevention methods, legislative compliance, management practices, and lost time injury frequency met the criteria of all three levels of the awards program. They also met stringent requirements set out in a self-assessment report and passed an on-site verification conducted by IAPA.

IAPA’s three-level Health and Safety Achievement Awards program, available to the association’s more than 50,000 member companies, marks significant milestones in an organization’s dedication to health and safety in the workplace. The program provides the tools for companies to take a proactive approach to achieving health and safety excellence, while ensuring their health and safety initiatives address industry standards and the needs of employees. The program also provides guidelines for incorporating effective health and safety processes into an organization’s plan, management practices, and injury prevention programs.

While all three levels of the Achievement Awards program focus on similar aspects of health and safety compliance and LTI frequency, each level builds on the previous one. Successful companies must achieve even more rigorous management and lost time injury frequency requirements to receive the Level III Achievement Award.

Canadian Blue Bird’s Brantford facility is one of only six companies to receive IAPA’s Level III Achievement Award. To date, 39 companies have received IAPA Achievement Awards since the launch of the progressive awards program in 2002.

Canadian Blue Bird Coach, Ltd., located in Brantford, Ontario, is a division of Blue Bird Corporation and currently employs approximately 150 full-time employees. Blue Bird is one of the world’s leading bus manufacturers, delivering thousands of school buses, commercial buses, and recreational vehicles to the market each year.

IAPA is a not-for-profit, member driven organization operating in Ontario since 1917. Representing more than 50,000 member firms and in excess of 1.5 million Ontario workers, IAPA is Canada’s leading workplace health and safety organization. The association is focused on providing industry-leading training, consulting, educational products, and informational services that meet members’ needs and the needs of those in their communities.

In 2004, IAPA was officially designated as a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre in occupational health, one of only three such centres in Canada. IAPA is the only centre among 56 worldwide to assume the title of a "WHO Collaborating Centre in Workplace Injury and Illness Prevention”. IAPA is also an International Labour Organization – CIS Collaborating Centre, a designation received in 2002.

For more information on IAPA’s products, programs, and services, call 1-800-406-IAPA (4272), or visit the website at www.iapa.ca.

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