Maintaining a safe workplace in a plant where the business is the killing and cutting up of hogs requires diligence from the top to the bottom – precisely what staff and supervisors at Quality Pork Processors practice daily.

Monday, July 12, 1999

Maintaining a safe workplace in a plant where the business is the killing and cutting up of hogs requires diligence from the top to the bottom – precisely what staff and supervisors at Quality Pork Processors practice daily.

One of only three hog slaughtering plants in the nation to receive the Award of Honor for safety from the American Meat Institute Foundation (AMIF), QPP may be the only hog slaughtering plant to receive it three years running. In addition, the plant was awarded the Gold Star Award which recognizes facilities with exceptional safety performances for the current year.

"It (the award) really demonstrates that the employees have taken responsibility for their own safety and it’s working," personnel manager Dale Wicks said. "I think it’s a compliment to each and every employee that works here."

Safety director Dennis Dagestad proudly explained the awards and QPP’s safety program, which revolves around a safety committee made up of production employees and management staff. The safety committee reviews injuries to determine how they can be prevented in the future and tours the plant monthly to address safety and ergonomic issues. Safety meetings are held by supervisors with employees to reinforce safe work practices and to discover any problem employees have on the job.

QPP has people on the safety committee representing each department and every shift.

The advantages of a safety committee comprised of production employees as well as management staff are twofold: 1) the more eyes looking out for safety, the better, and 2) some people may be more comfortable going to a co-worker with a problem than a manager.

Production members of the safety committee wear green hats on the plant floor while they’re working, so other employees can more easily find someone if he or she has a safety concern.

"They know who to go to," Darci Kline said. Kline works in the cut department and has been on the safety committee for six years. "If we can’t handle the problem, we’ll take it to a supervisor."

Supervisors have all been trained in S.T.O.P. (Safety Training Observation Program). The course is designed to teach supervisors how to observe employees at their work site and how to recognize a dangerous act, unsafe behavior or hazardous situation that could lead to potential injury.

Dagestad said the adoption of the S.T.O.P. program has played an important part in QPP’s reduction in injuries.

Last year the company set a record of 229 workdays without a lost time injury, an achievement they believe is unparalleled in the hog slaughter industry.