
Safety In Numbers
IDFA Recognizes Dairy Processors for Efforts to Maintain Safe Operations.
The International Dairy
Foods Association (IDFA) has honored a select group of dairy companies with
its Dairy Industry Safety Recognition Awards and Achievement Certificates.
This is the second year that IDFA has sponsored this program, which
highlights the outstanding worker safety records of U.S. dairy companies.
Awards were handed out at IDFA’s Plant Operations Conference in
Chicago in late April.
Nominated operations were judged solely on specific
data required annually by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) on the facility’s Summary of Work-Related
Injuries and Illnesses report (OSHA Form 300A). The year’s
award decisions were based on data from OSHA reports for the 2004 calendar
year.
This year’s program was expanded to include
categories for both processing facilities and trucking operations in the
dairy industry. In addition to the 27 category award winners, IDFA
recognized 17 processing and trucking operations with achievement
certificates for achieving zero injury cases that resulted in lost time
away from work.
“We’ve had an extremely positive response
from dairy companies to this program, demonstrating the commitment that the
industry has shown toward worker safety,” said Clay Detlefsen, IDFA
vice president of regulatory affairs. “We congratulate all of the
winners on their accomplishments.”
Processing facilities were judged in four product
categories: natural and processed cheese; dry, condensed and evaporated
products; ice cream and frozen desserts; and fluid milk. Within each
product category, IDFA accepted nominations for small, medium and large
facilities that achieved the best overall safety performance rates based on
the OSHA data. Trucking companies were scored on their OSHA summaries
according to the type of location: short haul, long haul or mixed; awards
were categorized for small and large facilities.
IDFA will issue a call for nominations for the next
Dairy Industry Safety Awards competition in early 2006.
Cheese Processing Operations
Small Facilities
Crowley Foods LLC
(Division of HP Hood LLC)
Bristol, Va.
Crowley Foods LLC
(Division of HP Hood LLC)
Bristol, Va.
The 98 employees at the 91,000-square-foot plant,
built in 1963, make cottage cheese, sour cream, dips, baking buttermilk,
smoothies, cup yogurt and tea. The Bristol facility has gone three years
without a lost-time accident.
Employee safety is first priority at Bristol, says
David Dorsey, division manager for Crowley Foods. “Striving to be the
best has kept our employees safe at work,” he says. “We conduct
five-minute safety meetings each week. We have an active safety council
that meets each month with department heads and hourly employees. Safety
inspections are done with feedback from the plant floor and council
members.”
Additionally, employees have a buddy system and watch
out for each other, older employees with the newer ones. “Good
attitudes and a great team are the main catalysts in our
achievement,” Dorsey says.
Medium Facilities
Leprino Foods Co.
Waverly, N.Y.
Leprino Foods Co.
Waverly, N.Y.
Leprino’s Waverly plant, acquired in 1978, was
the company’s first production facility in the eastern United States.
The first major expansion and renovation was completed in 1980, with
subsequent construction in 1991 to install Quality Locked® Cheese (QLC)
technology and 2002 to replace the whey processing department. The plant
currently produces shredded and diced mozzarella and pizza cheese for
manufacturers and foodservice, in addition to sweet whey for food
processors.
More than five years ago, the plant started a program
called Quality, Safety, Financial and You (QSFY). The program involves
continually looking at overall processes using video. Every element
involved is noted and reviewed for opportunities to make
improvements. Using this technique, the Waverly plant quickly began
seeing positive results in safety and plant operations.
Plant manager Neil Brown attributes the success to the
employees. “Where we may have a number of safety programs in place,
the core reason we were able to achieve this milestone was that each and
every employee made a conscious decision each and every working day when
they walked in the door that they were going to work in a safe
manner,” Brown says. “The training is beneficial, the constant
stressing of safe work habits by supervision is critical, and employees are
looking out for each other and are willing to remind someone when they put
themselves at risk.”
Large Facilities
Leprino Foods Co.
Lemoore, Calif.
Leprino Foods Co.
Lemoore, Calif.
Leprino won in this level as well for its Lemoore East
plant (the company has two plants in Lemoore, Calif.), acquired in 1986.
Leprino completed a renovation of the Lemoore East plant in 1989, which
increased production capacity and significantly increased the capacity to
produce whey protein and lactose for export to the Far East. Conversion to
QLC technology took place in 1991, with further expansions continuing to
take advantage of Leprino’s technology leadership, producing QLC
mozzarella, pizza cheese, protein and lactose for domestic and
international use.
The Lemoore East plant effectively uses employee
involvement teams (EITs) to complete safety projects. One EIT responds to
employees’ ideas for safety improvement. The team completes a
problem analysis recognizing time, safety, productivity and sanitation in
the process. The team then creates a plan for solving the problem
and implements the plan. Another EIT, named “BSAFE,” was formed
to address employees’ behaviors on the job in a non-confrontational
manner. The team has been a major contributor toward reaching the
plant’s safety goal identified as “Destination Zero.”
Last year, the team created a video called
“B-Safe or B-Sorry,” in which employees reenacted at-risk
behaviors that could potentially cause an injury. The film was a success,
and the team is now creating monthly updates utilized at pre-shift meetings
to emphasize safety on a regular and consistent basis.
Bob Delong, senior vice president for production
operations, sees the safety initiatives as a long-term consistent
objective. “Plant safety has been a major priority at Leprino Foods
for over 20 years. Our incentive plans, performance expectations and
management bonus programs all are designed to focus our attention on
safety,” Delong says. “Over the past five years, the efforts of
all Leprino Foods’ production employees have reduced our OSHA
recordable ratio in half to a top tier rate of 1.93 [per 100 employees]. We
are very proud of the workers at the Lemoore East and Waverly plants for
the industry recognition their safety efforts have gained with these IDFA
awards.”
Dry Processing Operations
Small Facilities
Foremost Farms USA
Preston, Minn.
Foremost Farms USA
Preston, Minn.
Making safety a priority is rooted in Foremost
Farms’ strategic plan, the cooperative report. “We have an
increased focus on safety improvement and on instilling a ’safety
culture’ within all employees at Foremost Farms,’ says Preston
plant manager Bruce Snitker. “Everyone participates in monthly plant
safety audits on a rotating basis and shares their findings at monthly
meetings.”
The Preston drying plant was built in 1910, with many
additions since then; the blending operation began in 1954. There are 20
employees at the Preston facility producing dry blends and whey protein
concentrate. The plant produces bakery and cheese manufacturing ingredients
targeted at everyone from large bakeries to small pizzerias, specialty
bread shops and other businesses.
Ice Cream Processing Operations
Small Facilities
Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream
Salt Lake City, Utah
Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream
Salt Lake City, Utah
The Dreyer’s Salt Lake Operations Center is one
of seven plants operated by the frozen dessert giant. In the midst of a
manufacturing expansion, the company obviously has kept safety a priority
as it continues to grow and meet increasing demand for its ice cream
products.
Dreyer’s began production at the plant in 1992.
The facility offers more than 26,000 square feet of production area and
28,000 square feet of warehouse space, with an annual capacity of 10
million gallons. Some 55 production personnel turn out 638 SKUs of product,
including ice cream, frozen yogurt and novelties in a variety of formats
and nutritional profiles, serving high-altitude markets in the western
United States.
Carvel Corp.
Commerce, Calif.
Commerce, Calif.
Tied with Dreyer’s in this category level is
Carvel’s West Coast ice cream cake plant. “In 2004, Carvel
experienced a 41 percent reduction in the number of incidents at all our
manufacturing facilities compared against 2003, says Tim Shanley, vice
president for manufacturing, research and development for Celebration
Foods, Carvel’s grocery division.
The decline in the number of incidents also represents
a 50 percent reduction in the cost of total claims. “This improvement
is due to concentrated efforts to reinforce the compliance of our existent
environmental, health and safety programs as well as the implementation of
several new incentive programs,” Shanley says. “We have not
only improved the safety record at our Commerce, California, plant but also
at both our Jessup, Maryland, and Marlborough, Massachusetts, facilities.
We take these programs to all levels of our business including our DSD
route system.
Shanley says Carvel takes great pride in tits safety
successes success. “This is truly a team victory for Carvel, one that
could not have accomplished without the support of our all our associates
and management team,” he says. “The company was founded by Tom
Carvel, who had a single vision: to serve the best possible products with
the best customer service. Today that vision remains the same, as we strive
to realize this vision through a continuing focus on providing a safe and
healthy working environment.”
Medium Facilities
Safeway Inc.
Bellevue, Wash.
Safeway Inc.
Bellevue, Wash.
“Our employees recognize the added value of
being safe and working in a safe plant,” says Mark Olmsted,
production supervisor at Safeway’s Bellevue Ice Cream Plant, which
experienced only one medical OSHA incident in 2004.
The plant has daily meetings where safety issues and
concerns are discussed and action plans are recorded. Incentive programs
include scratch cards, weekly safety drawings and quarterly luncheons.
“These incentives, along with everyone’s commitment to work
safely, have resulted in a IFR [incident frequency rate] reduction from an
average of 14 incidents per year to currently 1 incident per year,”
Olmsted says.
Large Facilities
Friendly Ice Cream Corp.
Wilbraham, Mass.
Friendly Ice Cream Corp.
Wilbraham, Mass.
Friendly’s began manufacturing operations in
West Springfield, Mass., in the early 1940s and moved to Wilbraham in the
early ’60s. The facility manufactures all of the ice cream and
toppings for the company’s restaurants as well as all
the pre-packaged containers sold in supermarkets and retail outlets. That
includes packaged ice cream, sundae cups, cakes and rolls. The plant has
grown over the years and produced nearly 18 million gallons of ice cream in
the past year.
With more than 150 employees on the job, safety is
very important, says John Zomermaand, vice president of manufacturing.
“We have a comprehensive and structured program. The program is
designed to create a ‘safety culture,’” he says.
“This means that every day, every employee lives the culture.
It’s not just a program or just training. And it’s not
just inspections or just accident investigations. It’s the way
everyone does their work on the production floor.”
A key strategy is investigating behaviors that could
lead to an accident before they happen. The current safety program consists
of ongoing safety training for all employees, a monthly safety inspection
checklist and a safety committee that meets regularly to ensure all safety
policies are being followed.
Milk Processing Operations
Small Facilities
Wawa Inc.
Wawa, Pa.
Wawa Inc.
Wawa, Pa.
Founded in 1902, Wawa opened its current plant in
1929. All 545 stores in the Wawa chain and 900 wholesale customers are
serviced by this facility, which receives up to 500,000 gallons of milk per
week and processes more than 50,000 gallons of beverages per day. With 216
employees throughout the manufacturing complex, Wawa produces more than 2.5
million bottles of beverages and 1.5 million paper half pints and 4-ouncers
per week.
Chip Ford, Wawa’s dairy operations manager, says
the company was honored by its IDFA safety award. “This record has
not been achieved quickly but is rather a journey that never really
concludes,” he says. “As a complex including our warehousing
and transportation departments we had over 200 recordable injuries in 1999.
Last year, we had 39, including none in the dairy for over two years. We
currently have over 1,500 days without a lost-time incident and one in
1,200 days for recordable. We unfortunately had our first recordable in
over two years in February of this year.”
Ford outlines some safety guidelines and lessons: seek
professional assistance (Wawa partnered with a safety rewards program on a
five-year plan, learning that safe practices are a condition of employment,
and there are no excuses for not working safely); safety is a culture (all
meetings begin with a “safety contact,” advice aimed at raising
awareness and keeping safety in the forefront); getting things repaired and
in good working order is actually the easiest part — the hard one is
behavior; build safety into all processes and new installations; setting a
goal of a 50 percent reduction in recordable injuries every year for the
last five.
“The people believe that zero accidents are
possible,” Ford says, noting that responsibility for the safety
program has transferred from the consultants to management and associates.
“While this is ongoing and never ends, when you see the behaviors
change it is very satisfying. The people run the day-to-day safety
meetings, functional safety groups and programs. This involvement helps to
drive the change in behaviors so necessary for success.”
Safeway Inc.
Tempe, Ariz.
Tempe, Ariz.
A sign above a mirror at Safeway’s Tempe Milk
Plant reads, “Safety: A commitment to you, a commitment from
you.” Here, at a plant that tied in its category level, safety starts
at the top.
“Of all our records, all our accomplishments,
safety is what we are most proud of,” says 23-year company veteran
Dale Reed, a supervisor who heads the safety committee. “At the end
of the day, we all go home safe.”
The plant has operated more than 700 consecutive days
without a loss-time injury. Company officials say that’s because
Safeway truly believes its most important asset is its associates, like
George Mattson, who in more 30 years on the job has not had a loss-time
injury. “There is awareness, both with the equipment and the
environment, that shows our safety is a top priority of the
management,” he says.
Plant manager Jason Glover understands safety starts
at the top. Under his direction, safety training and open discussions are
done on a near daily basis. “It is the constant focus, the commitment
to educating that brought about this wonderful accomplishment,” says
Adam Crook, an associate for three years.
That commitment will continue on at Safeway, which
marks those 700 days as a milestone, not a finished goal.
Medium Facilities
Meadow Gold Dairy
Greeley, Colo.
Meadow Gold Dairy
Greeley, Colo.
With a history dating back to the original Greeley
Creamery of 1914, Meadow Gold’s Greeley, Colo., plant was built in
1957. The 65,000-square-foot facility produces fluid milk, cottage cheese,
sour cream and dips, ice milk mixes and juices for this unit of
Dallas-based Dean Foods Co. General manager John Guerin heads up a team
that includes plant manager Terry Rettele, human resources manager Dana
Rutz and safety director Scott Sanders.
As of June 24, 2005, the Greeley plant has gone 792
days without a lost-workday accident. “All new employees are exposed
to general safety expectations using a self-paced, PC-based PowerPoint
program that was developed locally,” Guerin says. “All
employees are exposed to annual safety training as well as specific safety
training related to their job duties. Employees involved in near-miss or
actual accidents must attend safety training on specific areas involved.
The Greeley plant uses a local company to provide
pre-employment screening and assist with safety training. Representatives
of this company attend monthly safety meetings to offer insight and review
of safety initiatives. The company has developed training videos using
employees in work situations to reflect correct and incorrect methods of
job performance tasks, and has also reviewed job tasks in distribution,
production and the office environment to train on correct ergonomic
functions and conditions.
Monthly safety meetings involve mainly union employees
with management attending and supporting. “We use a safety
recognition program called Safety Jackpot that rewards employees with
weekly scratch cards for those that have gone accident or incident free and
have followed safe work practices,” Guerin says. “Management
and supervisors distribute cards to each employee. Employees accumulate
card points to redeem prizes from a catalog. Since implementing this
program, we have seen a decrease in claims of over 50 percent and
recordable injuries reduced by over 70 percent.”
Digital cameras are used to record and present safety
issues for PC-based training and laminated safety posters. A dedicated
safety phone number is used for employees call to report minor injuries not
requiring medical attention and to log incidents for management review,
response and awareness.
“We have an electronic communication station
strategically positioned in the employee break room that is Internet live
24/7,” Guerin says. “This plasma screen keeps employees advised
of current news, weather and safety related information.” Panels are
updated every 30 seconds, keeping information fresh, current and
informative. Management can update or customize screen information from any
accessible Internet connection.
“We believe that our success in safety is a
cultural change for all employees,” Guerin says. “We strive to
create positive safety habits as a part of our everyday routines. We have
moved from reacting after an accident to proactively identifying potential
problems before they occur. We have also realized that our safety efforts
do not end at work. Many times employees have discussed that our safety
awareness at work has made a positive impact on their attitude towards
safety away from work.” Such practices include wearing safety
goggles, using hearing protection, using proper step stools instead of
chairs and employing proper lifting procedures.
“Winning the IFDA award has been proudly
accepted as a testament to our efforts to create a safe environment for our
fellow employees,” Guerin says. “The award and our safety
record support our ongoing safety program initiatives. It’s great to
know that we can and are making a difference.”
Large Facilities
HP Hood LLC
Winchester, Va.
HP Hood LLC
Winchester, Va.
Built in 2000 and expanded last year, Hood’s
400,000-square-foot ESL plant sits on an 80-acre site; its 350 employees
work on six lines that make Hood’s Carb Countdown dairy beverage,
along with Lactaid, NesQuik and Coffee Mate products. The recent expansion
took the plant’s annual capacity up to 100 million gallons.
In 2001, Hood established its President’s Safety
Awards as part of a company-wide initiative to recognize safety at its
business units. Criteria focus primarily on the OSHA recordable incident
rate.
Jasper Products LLC
Joplin, Mo.
Joplin, Mo.
Tied with Hood in this level is Jasper Products, a
manufacturer of extended-shelf-life and aseptically packaged food and
beverage products. The company’s primary business is contract
manufacturing dairy and soy based beverages and nutritional beverages.
Launched in September 2000, the plant currently occupies 580,000 square
feet and has 12 filling lines of various package types including aseptic
cartons and both ESL and aseptic plastic bottles.
Jasper Products attributes its success in injury
reduction to dedicated employee involvement and a proactive safety culture.
The company currently has recorded no lost time injuries over the last 1.8
million labor hours. The ultimate goal of every employee at Jasper Products
is to eliminate all workplace injuries. The company maintains a full-time
staff of 325 employees with additional growth anticipated in 2005 and 2006.
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Short-Haul Trucking Operations
Small Facilities
Crowley Foods LLC
(Division of HP Hood LLC)
Paterson, N.J.
Kemps LLC
Brainerd, Minn.
Large Facilities
HP Hood LLC
Taunton, Mass.
Long-Haul Trucking Operations
Small Facilities
Tillamook County Creamery Association
Tillamook, Ore.
Crowley Foods LLC
(Division of HP Hood LLC)
Binghamton, N.Y.
Mixed Haulers Trucking Operations
Small Facilities
Kemps LLC
Merrill, Wis.
Kemps LLC
Mason City, Iowa
Crowley Foods LLC
(Division of HP Hood LLC)
Plattsburgh, N.Y.
SouthWest Foods Dairy Drivers
Tyler, Texas
Large Facilities
Dean Transportation Inc.
Woodbury, Minn.
Kemps LLC
(Division of HP Hood LLC)
York, Pa.
Edy’s Grand Ice Cream
Richmond, Va.
Edy’s Grand Ice Cream
Charlotte, N.C.
Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream
Salt Lake City, Utah
Certificate of Achievement Winners
Processing Plants
Verifine Dairy Products
Co., Dean Foods, Sheboygan, Wis.
Fullerton Cultured
Specialties, Fullerton, Calif.
HP Hood LLC, Portland,
Maine
Foremost Farms USA,
Marshfield, Wis.
Foremost Farms USA,
Wilson, Wis.
West Farm Foods, Jerome,
Idaho
Foremost Farms USA,
Waukon, Iowa
Safeway Inc., Phoenix Ice
Cream Plant, Phoenix, Ariz.
Dreyer’s Grand Ice
Cream, Southwest Operations Center, Commerce, Calif.
Edy’s Grand Ice
Cream, Laurel Operations Center, Laurel, Md.
Dreyer’s Grand Ice
Cream, Tulare Operations Center, Tulare, Calif.
Trucking Operations
Franklin Foods, Duluth,
Minn.
Edy’s Grand Ice
Cream, Great Plains, Lenexa, Kan.
Dreyer’s Grand Ice
Cream, Arizona NG, Phoenix, Ariz.
Edy’s Grand Ice
Cream, Lawrenceville, Ga.
Kemps LLC, Minneapolis,
Minn.
HP Hood LLC, Agawam
Distribution, Agawam, Mass.
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