Liberty Mutual Insurance Recognizes Utility’s Glade Spring, Virginia Manufacturing Plant with its Silver Safety Award
CITY OF INDUSTRY, Calif., May 21, 2019 — Utility Trailer Manufacturing Co., the industry’s largest manufacturer of refrigerated trailers and a leading manufacturer of dry freight vans, flatbeds, and Tautliner® curtainsided trailers, is pleased to announce that its Glade Spring, Virginia manufacturing plant has received a Plant Safety Award from Liberty Mutual Insurance.
Utility’s Glade Spring, Virginia trailer manufacturing plant was recently presented the Liberty Mutual Silver Safety Award. Liberty Mutual’s Safety Awards are based on the days away, restricted and transferred (DART) rate, which is calculated from the number of hours worked relative to the number of accidents at the plant. Lower numbers of accidents result in lower DART rates.
In 2018, Utility’s Glade Spring plant had a DART rate of only 1.36, with over 1.3 million worked hours. The average DART rate for the trailer manufacturing industry is significantly higher, at 3.9. A Silver Safety Award is presented for DART rates that are at least 40% lower than the industry average rate. The Glade Spring plant’s DART rate was nearly 1/3 of the industry rate.
“Receiving a Safety Award is an honor and takes a total team effort to accomplish. Keeping safety at the forefront everyday with employee participation is key to earning such an award. Employees identifying hazards, removing them, or managing them in the work place, keeps us all safe,” said Keith Walsh, Utility’s Glade Spring Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) Manager.
“This is the 5th Liberty Safety Award for the Glade Spring plant. This is a huge honor, particularly considering less than 0.5% of Liberty’s customers receive this award. More importantly, our employees are continuously focused on the safety of themselves and each other,” said Bob Griffis, Corporate EHS Manager for Utility Trailer Manufacturing, Co.
Sam Cassell, Utility’s Glade Spring Plant Manager stated, “Walking through the front door of the Glade Spring facility, the commitment this team has toward safety is obvious. It is reflected by the five safety awards hanging on the wall. Each of our over 700 team members were part of achieving each of those awards. An award like this is more than a commitment towards doing the job safely, it is a commitment each team member has toward each other. Many of our employees will stop others, even managers, to point out safety issues. That is a commitment toward safety and to each other. I cannot express how proud I am of each person on the shop floor.”
Richard Williams of Liberty Mutual Insurance, Risk Control Services, presented the Safety Award to a group of Glade Spring employees on behalf of all Utility’s Glade Spring employees.