Overland Park, Kan.-based Ash Grove Cement recently announced that its Durkee, Ore., plant received the L.T. Sunderland Safety Excellence Award, the company’s most prestigious honor.
The award was established in 2006 and evaluates the company’s eight cement manufacturing plants and two grinding facilities on an extensive matrix of data related to health and safety processes and results. The Ash Grove Safety Leadership Steering Committee scores each of the metrics and selects the top-performing plants as finalists and the highest scoring plant as the award winner.
“Earning the Safety Excellence Award takes focused effort, teamwork, accountability and truly valuing the well-being of every person in the plant, and we congratulate the Durkee employees on their achievement,” said Steve Minshall, Ash Grove corporate health and safety director, who also oversees the evaluation process.
“The culture of a plant will determine its success or failure in any endeavor,” said Terry Kerby, Durkee plant manager. “Our employees know this and are determined to place safety responsibility where it belongs, on each individual. As a plant we collectively develop infrastructure and processes that assure each person’s opportunity to work safely. We then watch out for one another to ensure everyone maintains the high standards we set for ourselves. The same culture is the basis in every area of the plant and feeds our drive to be better each day. I am proud of our employees for this accomplishment and look forward to continued success in the safety area.”
In addition to the L.T. Sunderland Safety Excellence Award, the company’s plants in Durkee; Leamington, Utah; Midlothian, Texas; as well as the Rivergate lime plant in Portland, Ore., were recognized with the Ash Grove Safety Leadership gold awards. Louisville, Neb., and Montana City, Mont., plants, each received silver.
