Disabled Workers Group Honors U.S. Divers

U.S. Divers Corp. in Santa Ana has won a disabled workers group’s award as Orange County’s employer of the year.

U.S. Divers was honored at a recent Knott’s Berry Farm banquet sponsored by Orange County ARC, a nonprofit agency that helps 450 retarded and otherwise developmentally disabled adults.

For the past three years, U.S. Divers has employed more than 20 such workers who assemble and package a variety of fins, snorkels and diving masks, said Joyce A. Hearn, Orange County ARC’S chief executive.

The disabled agency’s contractor of the year award went to Polaroid Corp. Polaroid has been a major source of work for 300 developmentally disabled workers at a workshop in Orange that is run by Orange County ARC. Under Polaroid contracts with the local agency, workers perform a variety of packaging and assembling tasks.

E. Scott Reckard covers workplace issues for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-7407 and at scott.reckard@latimes.com