Associates at Perdue Foods’ production facility in Schulenburg, Texas, have achieved a significant safety milestone by completing more than one year without an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordable incident. June 1, 2020 was the one-year mark for the injury-free milestone at the Schulenburg plant, which employs 75 associates who produce Perdue’s Spot Farms and Full Moon pet treat products.

OSHA defines a recordable incident as one that requires medical treatment beyond first aid, as well as one that causes days away from work, restricted work or transfer to another job, loss of consciousness or death.

“At Perdue, we have an industry-leading safety program, but it takes the engagement and commitment of all of our associates to make it successful,” said Jeff Beckman, Vice President of Operations for Premium Prepared Foods. “Our value of teamwork guides our culture of maintaining a safe and secure environment for our associates. Combined with the extra safety measures we have implemented in our operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic, our focus remains on ensuring our associates return home safely at the end of each workday.”

Perdue has a standard, companywide safety program that encourages active associate 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 work shift. Associates have the authority to stop production or prevent start-up if any unsafe conditions exist. In addition, every associate attends safety awareness training and is encouraged to look for and report any potential hazard.

According to statistics released by the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, during their most recently reported year in 2019, the OSHA recordable incident case rate for all Texas goods-producing industries combined was 1.90 per 100 workers.

According to those same Bureau of Labor statistics, the nationwide OSHA recordable incident case rate for all goods-producing industries combined for that same year was 3.40 per 100 workers annually, while Perdue’s company wide rate during that year was 1.90 per 100 associates. As of June 2020, Perdue’s OSHA recordable incident case rate was 1.56 per 100 associates.

To learn more about the extensive safety measures Perdue Farms has implemented to protect its associates during COVID-19, click here.

Source: Perdue Farms