The Poultry and Egg Institute's Annual Safety Awards Announced

Tucker, Ga., June 10, 2010 -

The Joint Industry Safety and Health Council recognized chicken and turkey companies that exemplified outstanding safety performance through the implementation of innovative and effective safety and health programs. The first annual safety awards were presented during the 2010 National Safety Conference for the Poultry Industry.

"The poultry industry has been diligent in reducing recordable injuries and illnesses over the past 25 years," said Mike Klun, environmental health and safety manager, Cargill Value Added Meats. "Thus, it is important to acknowledge the excellent safety performance achievements the poultry industry has accomplished. We hope by highlighting these facilities we can all learn additional practices and tools to further protect our co-workers.”

Award consideration was based on injury statistics over three years and an evaluation of written applications by three judges: Craig Wyvill, recently retired director of the Agricultural Technology Research Program at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), Gary Pohlmann of Marsh Risk Consulting and Doug Britton of GTRI. Awards were presented to 48 facilities with eight in the highest category, “Award of Distinction.” The other categories included “Award of Honor” and “Award of Merit.”

The Joint Industry Safety and Health Council is made up of members from U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, National Chicken Council and National Turkey Federation. Collectively, the three organizations represent 95 percent of the nation's poultry products and employ hundreds of thousands of workers.

Award of Distinction

Butterball LLC

Alix, AR Feed Mill
Huntsville, AR
Mt. Olive, NC
Ozark, AR

Cargill Turkey Production LLC

Temple, TX Feed Mill