A local manufacturer attributes an outstanding safety milestone to the dedication of its employees.

In the first week of February 2008, Emerson Industrial Automation/McGill Manufacturing celebrated 2,000,000 hours without a lost-time accident.

"We're very proud of it!" exclaimed Plant Manager Glenn D. Fisher.
Emerson Industrial Automation/McGill, more commonly known locally as simply McGill, is an important brand of Emerson Power Transmission, a division of Emerson Industrial Automation which is a business of the larger Emerson group. Emerson (NYSE: EMR) is a $22.6 billion corporation with over 142,000 employees in 263 manufacturing facilities worldwide.

"We're part of the bearings division, which is headquartered in Valparaiso, Indiana," said Fisher.

The local, 145,000-square feet Emerson Industrial Automation/McGill plant on Sixth Street in Monticello manufacturers cam follower bearings of sizes ranging from one-half inch to eight inches. The bearings are used in many applications that include automotive, printing, packaging production, food processing, textiles, oil drilling equipment, metal stamping, medical tables, elevators and many more.

We make bearings for a wide variety of industrial applications," explained Environmental Health and Safety Coordinator Keith Tolen.
McGill's amazing 2,000,000 hours without a lost-time accident was made even more awe-inspiring by the fact that it took almost four years to achieve; four years in which none of McGill's nearly 250 employees allowed an accident causing lost-time to occur.

"We have an enviable safety record," said Fisher. "We've won some internal awards."

"We were a finalist for Emerson's Chief Operating Officer's International Safety Award," he explained. "We were one of the finalists out of 263 plants."

The key to the safety milestone, said Tolen and Fisher, is the employees' commitment to many programs.

"We have several different safety programs," said Tolen. "We have a 'nuts and bolts' program, where people earn credits towards stuff like t-shirts."

Employees that find damaged parts, such as stripped out bolts, can collect them to earn incentives like hats and shirts.

"We just recently launched safety Bingo, just to constantly promote safety awareness," said Fisher.

Constant training on safety programs and techniques also contributed to their no-lost-time record.

"We provide monthly safety training," said Tolen. "We have a 29-member safety team of both hourly and salary employees."

"We have a 21-member safety response team," Tolen said, adding that the response team is trained in CPR, First Aid and in the use of automatic external defibrillators.

Fisher stated that McGill also volunteers for a program through the Indiana Department of Labor, in which inspectors annually review the plant to ensure that every facet complies with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards, "as a proactive measure, to identify opportunities for improvement."

"Not a lot of places can say that," added Tolen.

Above all, they said, the employees really made the difference.

"The average age of our workforce is 49 years old, so there's a lot of experience here, and that's contributed to it," said Fisher. "Safety is part of the culture here!"

"I think it might be the Monticello culture," said Tolen, citing the neighboring Ball Corporation plant's recent celebration of 1,000,000 hours without a lost-time accident. "We're just safety conscious!"

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