Donald Fohrman Applauds Workplace Safety Accomplishment At Illinois Cargill Plant

Chicago, illinois, January 31, 2015 (Newswire.com) - In October 2014, the Cargill plant in Beardstown, Illinois celebrated a major safety accomplishment. It's been more than six million work hours since the plant had a lost-time injury. The streak extends over a span of more than 18 months. Chicago workers' compensation attorney Donald Fohrman applauds the plant's accomplishment and said it shows how easily safety can be achieved when leadership makes it a priority.

The southern Illinois plant has more than 2,000 employees who produce more than 1 billion pounds of pork each year. The company stated that the safety streak is remarkable considering how many employees are on-site at any given time and how many different functions are performed inside the plant.

Mr. Fohrman, a workers' compensation attorney in Chicago, agrees. "Most workplace injuries are preventable," Mr. Forman claimed. "The problem arises when management doesn't make safety a priority or when they don't implement some of the most basic safety measures. By focusing on safety, Cargill has shown that injuries can be prevented, lost time can be avoided, and the business can ultimately be more productive and profitable."

The plant and its employees celebrated the accomplishment with a prime rib dinner. A company spokesperson said that the plant sees safety as a core part of its culture and that it likes to celebrate major safety accomplishments just as it would business or financial accomplishments.

According to Mr. Fohrman, safety measure are most effective when they're part of the culture. Mr. Fohrman argued, "You can't just tell employees to be safe. Management has to make it a part of their message. And safety measures have to be practiced daily, from management all the way down to entry-level employees. When that happens, you see injuries drop dramatically."