Written By: Gary Clark, Plant Manager at URT’s Wisconsin-Assets Facility
On September 19, 2020 URT’s Wisconsin-Asset Facility (Burbank Ave.) reached an awesome milestone, 2 years without a lost time incident. September 18, 2018 was the last recorded lost time incident.
My number one job as a Plant Manager at URT is to ensure each team member leaves work every day in the condition as when they walked in. That means, all their fingers, toes, and eyes along with no cuts, bumps or bruises when they leave at the end of the day. This has to be lived, not just talked about, in my experience.
We have had excellent support from our EHS team with Tool Box talks that are relevant to our operation. These weekly talks are attended by the entire team and then posted on our information board to keep them top of mind.
Our Safety Team, along with our weekly inspections on everything from fire extinguishers to ladders, ensures our equipment is in good working condition. When our team members need to use equipment, they can feel safe and rest assured they will not be let down due to failure.
We also meet at the end of each month to review company safety goals and talk about any relevant safety issues that we may be experiencing during that time of year. I know there is a small amount of luck as well, but we would rather not rely on luck at all with staying safe.
To celebrate 2 years without a lost time incident, we decided to have a company sponsored lunch. All team members at the Burbank facility were treated to gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches and an extra -long lunch break to enjoy it. Then we had a drawing for a URT t-shirt and an addition gift from our prize vault.
It’s great to be able to celebrate an accomplishment like this but we can’t let our guard down. We will continue to coach, train and remind all of our team members the best way to tackle each and every job in the facility safely and efficiently.