DESTIN, Fla. — Recognizing facilities that are in the forefront of the health and safety of employees set a record number this year as the Joint Poultry Industry Safety & Health Council highlighted the efforts of 272 chicken and turkey facilities at its annual National Safety Conference for the Poultry Industry.
“Safety is not simply a metric, a program or something we measure at the end of the year,” Rick Hellinga, Joint Poultry Industry Safety & Health Council chair, said in the announcement. “It is a responsibility we share every day, and it is reflected in how we work and how we care for the people who do that work.”
“Recognizing a record 272 facilities this year is an outstanding achievement,” added Hellinga, who is also Simmons Foods senior director of safety, health and loss prevention. “More importantly, it reflects the poultry and egg industry’s continued commitment to putting people first and creating workplaces where working safely is simply how we work.”
By the numbers, 81 facilities received the council’s Award of Distinction, which is its highest honor and goes to locations whose efforts regarding safety and health training, education, and involvement keep injury and illness rates more than 75 percent less than Bureau of Labor Statistics averages.
The Award of Honor, which contains the same core principles, with incident rates between 75 percent and 50 percent below BLS averages, was given to 113 poultry facilities. Also, 78 locations were presented with an Award of Merit during the conference, which notes sites with incident rates 50 percent less and equal to BLS numbers.
To achieve recognition, a facility’s injury stats from a three-year period and a written application review evaluated by industry safety experts and academia, is given due consideration.
The safety council is comprised of members of the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, the National Chicken Council and the National Turkey Federation. These groups represent more than 350,000 workers from the companies that produce about 95 percent of the U.S.’s poultry products.
