Salt Worker Safety

At its mid-October annual meeting, the National Safety Council released pessimistic survey results showing that while 46% of the public thinks accidental injuries are the greatest risk to their health -- nearly twice as many as second-ranked crime (25%), and 58% believe accidental injuries are a serious public health concern, only one in three think something can be done to reduce accidental injuries.

Frightening.

Looking beneath the headlines, however, there are some more sanguine conclusions: three-quarters of the 1,600 survey respondents told the pollster that they felt personally empowered and could take action that would materially reduce their own risks. And there was appreciation of corporate employers' safety efforts.

Respondents expressed confidence in their employers’ ability to deal with emergency situations in the workplace. Sixty-one percent of respondents believe their employer is prepared to deal with emergency situations, compared with their family, at 57 percent, and their community, at 50 percent.

We need to keep in mind that our workers are part of this pessimistic public and provide regular reminders that the glass is half full. Progress has been made. Overall, on the job fatalities have fallen 17% in the past 15 years (and I'll bet our salt industry record is even better). Workers not only have a responsibilty to work safely, they have both the tools and the support of their management and, together, can make a contribution to safe working outcomes.

Posted by Dick Hanneman at 06:26 PM | Permalink

In the history of the salt industry, never before has a salt production unit achieved seven million consecutive safe work-hours of operations. We congratulate the workers and management of Morton Salt's Rittman, OH evap plant for this stupendous achievment.

Congratulations, as well, to the entire workforces at all these facilities for their success in reaching notable safety milestones:

Morton Salt, Rittman, OH mine - 7 million hours without a lost time injury (all-time historic record!)
Cargill Salt, Port Cargill, Savage, MN terminal - 500,000 hours
Cargill Salt, Cayuga Mine, Lansing, NY - 300,000 hours
Cargill Salt, Timpie, UT solar - 200,000 hours & one year
United Salt, Hockley, TX mine - 100,000 hours

Cargill Salt, Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles solar - two years without a lost time injury
Cargill Salt, Cincinnati, OH terminal - two years
Cargill Salt, Newark, CA processing plant - one year

Posted by Dick Hanneman at 01:05 PM | Permalink