PotashCorp-Aurora reached an important safety milestone in June when employees completed 1 million safe work hours without a lost-time incident. A lost-time incident is an at-work injury that is serious enough for the employee to miss work. “While reaching safety milestones is great, the most important thing is sending our employees home safely to their families each and every day,” said Greg Rowe, the site’s safety manager.
Recently, Leonard Mangum, Star Program consultant from the N.C. Department of Labor stated, “It is obvious to me, that safety at the Aurora site is no longer just a priority, but it is a core value.”
One method PotashCorp-Aurora uses to emphasize safety is through the Light Keeper Program, a behavior-based safety process which challenges and empowers all employees to work safely.
“Safety is spoken and emphasized at every level of the plant site,” said Richard Joyner, Light Keeper internal consultant, “from friendly safety competitions within departments to random observations by the Light Keepers.”
Additionally, PotashCorp-Aurora distributes a quarterly safety newsletter to all employees and contractors with content focused on safe practices at work and at home. These themes are repeated in other employee newsletters and signage throughout the facility.
“This is an important accomplishment that everyone on the plant site can be pleased with,” noted Steve Beckel, general manager at PotashCorp-Aurora.  “However, we can’t stop now — everyone needs to stay focused on safety so we can extend this milestone and continue to protect the people we care about.”