Perdue facility achieves safety milestone

Associates at Perdue’s operation in Cromwell, KY, achieved a safety milestone by working more than five million production hours without experiencing an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordable lost-time case. Counting toward the milestone began in September 2013.
“It is very important to recognize that it was our associates who made this happen,” said Jim Booth, Perdue director of operations. “Perdue has a strong safety program, but it takes the cooperation and commitment of all of our associates to make it work.”
The Cromwell operation includes approximately 1,300 associates from the processing plant and live haul.
According to Booth, Perdue has a standard, companywide safety program that encourages active employee participation and input. Associates take part in safety committees, which meet regularly to discuss safety issues, as well as perform safety inspections before the start of each shift. Associates have the authority to stop production or prevent start-up if any unsafe condition exists. In addition, every associate attends safety awareness training as well as monthly training, and specialized training as needed.  They are also continually encouraged to look for and report any potential hazard in order to help drive continuous improvement in the workplace.
Perdue is a leader in workplace safety among all Kentucky industries and all industries nationwide combined. According to statistics released by the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, during their most recently reported year in 2014, the lost-time rate for all Kentucky industries combined was 1.20 per 100 workers.
According to those same Bureau of Labor statistics, the nationwide lost-time rate for all industries combined for that same year was 1.1 per 100 workers annually, while Perdue’s companywide rate during that year was 0.20 per 100 associates. As of September 2015, Perdue’s lost-time rate was .13 per 100 associates.
Perdue’s companywide OSHA Total Recordable Incident Rate is 2.25 as compared to the current Poultry Industry rate of 4.33, and is also better than the Goods Producing rate of 3.80.