As reported earlier with the January-June U.S. salt sales figures showing an 11.6% increase in sales, the industry's labor force put in a lot of overtime the first half of this year. Hours worked in North American salt facilities rose 9.83%. Pushing for extra output also strained the industry's safety record, with a 28.6% increase in lost-time injuries, according to the Salt Institute's report on industry safety.
The percentages hide the full story, however. While the production hours were nearly 6 million, the number of lost-time injuries was nine, up from seven in the same timeframe in 2007. Any number above zero is lamentable and justifies a strong, continuing safety effort, but the industry's remarkable safety improvements in recent years have reduced the denominator in the calculation so that a single incident is magnified greatly. Industry-wide, reportable incidents, which many safety experts consider a better indicator of safe working conditions, increased from 49 to 50, inching up only 2%, a fifth of the increase in work-hours.
All that should not diminish the continuing safety efforts by salt companies. Salt companies recorded an astounding 0.30 lost-time injury rate (up from 0.26 last year), but this is light-years better than the lost-time rate for all U.S. nonmetal mines which recorded a 4.27 rate. Before we reach euphoria for this record, 13 times better than the MSHA benchmark, we should reflect that the rate of reportable incidents is about the same. The adage declares that those who work hard enjoy good luck. That seems apropos.
With that long contextual introduction to the release of the first half safety statistics, congratulations are due to the company safety leaders. Among large companies, Cargill led the way with regard to both incidence and severity; Morton Salt tied with Cargill for the best incidence rate. Among smaller salt companies, not a single company recorded a single lost-time injury, a tremendous achievement.
Safe work, of course, is achieved at the level of each worker, but the work teams at each facility are a key element of encouraging adherence to approved safety procedures. The facilities with the best records for the January - June include, for incidence: Morton Salt, Rittman, OH evap plant for large processing plants; Cargill Deicing Technologies Cayuga mine in Lansing, NY among salt mines; Cargill Salt's Watkins Glen, NY evap plant for small processing facilities and Morton Salt for terminals and warehouses. With regard to severity rate, industry leading facilities include, again, Morton Salt's Rittman plant; Morton's Grand Saline, TX mine; Cargill's Watkins Glen plant, again, for small processors, and Cargill's terminals and warehouses.
As they would say in the NFL, this is a very competitive league with very little separating the top performers from their competitors. Unlike the NFL, everyone can be a winner in this league.
