By Louie Graves
News-Leader staff
A remarkable safety record was celebrated here last Wednesday, July 17, by Tyson management and team members.
The complex has worked a plant record of 2.6 million manhours without a lost time injury.
Three shifts of team members were treated to a lunch of hamburgers, hot dogs and ice cream, and were given Tyson jackets. For each shift there was a drawing for prizes ranging from deluxe coolers to camp chairs and Bluetooth speakers.
The company employs 1,400 persons here, and is in the process of a major expansion.
Complex manager Nick Britt told the group that the safety achievement was a record here, and he said that the incidence of OSHA report injuries such as the need for painkiller, stitches or a temporary re-arrangement of work hours or responsibilities had steadily declined for the past 10 years.
This record “is not by accident,” Britt told the cafeteria full of team members. “We celebrate that we get to go home after work every day.”
A well-received speaker was Paul Britt, retired complex manager now working with Developing Howard County. He said this was a “great safety accomplishment.”
Safety has four traits, he said: culture, commitment, collaboration and care.
Among guests was Rory Gulick of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, and Republican state representative nominee Dolly Henley.
Other guests were members of Developing Howard County Committee including Nashville Mayor Larry Dunaway, County Judge Brent Pinkerton, DHC vice-chairman Charles Smith and Paul Britt.
