The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) said it is participating in Safe and Sound Week, a nationwide event held each August by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that recognizes the success of workplace safety and health programs. In 2019, IDFA is highlighting the dairy industry’s year-round culture of safety that keeps nearly 1 million employees safe and healthy on the job.

“Safety isn’t just something you talk about one week per year and expect to see results,” said Michael Dykes, D.V.M., IDFA’s president and CEO. “The dairy industry puts in the hours and effort every day to make safety a priority and part of our workplace culture. Dairy companies continually go above and beyond to implement innovative and proactive approaches to workplace safety.”

Statistics gathered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics demonstrate the dairy industry’s commitment to continuously improving safety in dairy facilities. The dairy industry, as a whole and as individual industries of fluid milk, cheese, dry, condensed and evaporated milk, ice cream and frozen desserts, and general freight trucking, has consistently decreased its total recordable-case (TRC) rates of occupational injuries or illness over the past 10 years, Washington, D.C.-based IDFA said. The dairy product manufacturing industry as a whole has nearly halved its TRC rate, falling from 9.4 injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in 2004 to 4.9 injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in 2017.

This past June, IDFA recognized a number of dairy companies and trucking operations for their safety-related achievements. View the honorees here.