Associates at Perdue’s Bridgewater, Va., operation achieved a safety milestone on March 27, 2017, after working 1.5 million production hours without experiencing an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordable lost-time case. Counting toward the milestone began Oct. 8, 2015.

“I am extremely proud of the management team and the associates for achieving this significant safety milestone,” said Kenny Lambert, Bridgewater’s 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. This is a result of everyone working together at the Bridgewater operation.” 

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, and is encouraged to look for and report any potential hazard.

Historically, the Bridgewater operation has surpassed the one million hour milestone without a lost-time incident for six out of the last nine years with the greatest milestone reached at three million hours in 2009.

Perdue is a leader in workplace safety among all Virginia 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 2015, the lost-time rate for all Virginia goods-producing industries combined was 1.00 per 100 workers.

According to those same Bureau of Labor statistics, the nationwide lost-time rate for all goods-producing industries combined for that same year was 1.10 per 100 workers annually, while Perdue’s companywide rate during that year was 0.19 per 100 associates. As of March 2017, Perdue’s lost-time rate was 0.28 per 100 associates.

Source: Perdue Farms