Cargill earns safety awards

Mary Walter, Occupational Safety and Health Administration Voluntary Protection Programs coordinator, presents a plaque Friday to Terry Smith, manager of the Cargill hatchery in Gentry for being one of 50 company sites in the state to be VPP certified.
Mary Walter, Occupational Safety and Health Administration Voluntary Protection Programs coordinator, presents a plaque Friday to Terry Smith, manager of the Cargill hatchery in Gentry for being one of 50 company sites in the state to be VPP certified.

— Employees of the Cargill turkey hatchery plant in Gentry were treated at noon Friday to a steak dinner in the park, with corn on the cob and pie from the Wooden Spoon Restaurant. The occasion was two-fold: for being recertified as a star site under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and for 20 years of no lost-time accidents on the job.

Shane Acosta, Cargill complex general manager, con-gratulated the Gentry employees for their attention to safety for themselves and for their fellow employees.

“I appreciate the extra effort when it comes to safety and keeping each other safe,” Acosta told the Cargill employees. “You have done an awesome job.”

The plant employs about 40 people and produces between 64,000 and 65,000 poults per day. After hatching, the young turkeys are shipped to area growing operations.

Following the dinner, Mary Walter of OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program, presented a plaqueto Terry Smith, manager of the Gentry plant, in recognition of being recertified as a star VPP site.

The company has been a star site with OSHA since 2006. There are only 50 such sites in the state of Arkansas and about 2,000 across the nation. Cargill’s two Springdale plants are also Star VPP sites. McKee Foods in Gentry is the only other Gentry plant listed as a star site.

According to the OSHA website, “VPP recognizes employers and workers in the private industry and federal agencies who have implemented effective safety and health management systems and maintain injury and illness rates below national Bureau of Labor Statisticsaverages for their respective industries. In VPP, management, labor and OSHA work cooperatively and proactively to prevent fatalities, injuries and illnesses through a system focused on hazard prevention and control, worksite analysis, training and management commitment and worker involvement. To participate, employers must submit an application to OSHA and undergo a rigorous onsite evaluation by a team of safety and health professionals ... participants are re-evaluated every three to five years to remain in the programs. VPP participants are exempt from OSHA programmed inspections while they maintain their VPP status.”

News, Pages 1 on 07/18/2012