US poultry facilities recognised for safety performance

The Joint Industry Safety and Health Council has recognised 68 US chicken and turkey facilities for outstanding safety performance through the implementation of innovative and effective safety and health programs. The annual safety awards were presented during the 2012 National Safety Conference for the Poultry Industry held in Ponte Vedra, Florida.

“I not only commend these plants and their management teams for their tremendous efforts to protect their workers, but for their ongoing dedication to further progress,” said Mike Brown, National Chicken Council president. “The significant and consistent decline in illness and injury rates among our workforce over the past two decades is a direct result of their strong commitment to worker safety.”

John Starkey, president of US Poultry & Egg Association, commented, “The industry recognises that our people are our most valuable asset, and worker safety efforts have never been stronger. Poultry companies continue to devote people, time, and other resources to actively identify and correct workplace hazards. These awards acknowledge excellent safety performance achievement through effective and innovative programs.”

“The poultry industry has been diligent in reducing recordable injuries and illnesses for nearly 30 years,” said NTF president Joel Brandenberger. “These awards acknowledge the excellent safety performance achievements the poultry industry has accomplished. We hope by highlighting these facilities we can all learn additional practices and tools to further protect the people that work hard every day in our plants to provide high-quality, safe and nutritious protein for consumers.”

Award consideration was based on injury statistics over three years and an evaluation of written applications by three judges: Gary Pohlmann of Marsh Risk Consulting, Doug Britton, program manager for Agricultural Technology Research at Georgia Tech Research Institute, and George Nassif of Aon Global Risk Consulting. Twenty-five facilities received the highest level of recognition, “Award of Distinction.” The other categories included “Award of Honor” and “Award of Merit.”