Utility Trailer’s Glade Spring VA manufacturing plant recently received a Plant Safety Award from Liberty Mutual Insurance.
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.
“Being recognized by Liberty Mutual for this safety award was a great accomplishment,” said Keith Walsh, Utility’s Glade Spring environmental health and safety (EHS) manager. “Only through total participation by the Glade Spring team was this possible.”
In 2017, the Glade Spring plant had a DART rate of only 1.41, with nearly 1 million worked hours. The average DART rate for the trailer manufacturing industry is significantly higher, at 3.4. A Safety Commendation Award is presented for DART rates that are 50 percent or lower than the industry average rate.
“This is the fourth Liberty safety award for the Glade Spring plant,” said Bob Griffis, corporate EHS manager for Utility. “We couldn’t have achieved this award without the continuous focus by our employees on safety.”
Richard Williams of Liberty Mutual’s risk control services presented the safety award to a group of Glade Spring employees.
Utility Trailer Manufacturing Company is a leading manufacturer of refrigerated trailers, dry freight vans, flatbeds and Tautliner curtain-sided trailers.
“The management team here at Glade Spring puts safety at the top of our daily agenda,” said Sam Cassell, Utility’s Glade Spring plant manager. “If we do not place safety on our agenda and in our vision for the organization, it simply won’t happen. It does not stop there. This safety award represents the commitment and dedication of each member of the Glade Spring team. Those who build dry van trailers every day also make it part of their daily agenda.
“I cannot express how proud I am of each person on the shop floor.”