LUMBER BRIDGE — Mountaire Farms hosted a huge celebration on Wednesday to celebrate a historic safety milestone at the company’s Lumber Bridge, N.C., processing plant — 10 million hours without a lost time accident.
The company’s Goal Zero program, which was rolled out in early 2020, has put a renewed emphasis on safety at every level and employees are encouraged to report situations that could be unsafe. Monthly awards are given to employees who make recommendations or tell their supervisor when a situation is unsafe, and overall winners were also recognized on Wednesday for their contributions to a safe work environment.
“Safety is a mindset and is everyone’s responsibility,” said Phillip Plylar, president of Mountaire Farms. “I’m proud of this team who has truly adopted safety in everything we do. We want all of our employees to work safely so they can go home to their loved ones at the end of the day.”
The safety celebration on Wednesday involves a free lunch for all 3,500 employees on all three shifts, and every employee will receive a gift from the company — a large Igloo cooler. Fabulous door prizes were also handed out throughout the day, including televisions, grills, ear buds, blenders, air fryers and crock pots.
Special recognition was provided for employees who made significant contributions to the safety of the Lumber Bridge complex. Cara Maynor in the Quality Assurance department and Regina Williams in our production group identified and took action to eliminate safety issues for the facility. Both received I-Pads and jackets for their special contributions.
Additionally, the following employees were recognized for tenure at the facility without a recordable accident. Christopher Little, Katie Graham, Helen Branch, Alexander Campbell, Christopher Chavis, Robert Jackson and Ronnie Ray were all presented with a token of appreciation for their safe work practices while at the facility.
“Lumber Bridge is our first facility to reach the 10-million-hour mark, but we hope they won’t be our last,” said John Ward, director of Safety for Mountaire. “I’m proud of our safety teams here and everywhere in the company who are dedicated to making sure our employees are safe.”
