WASHINGTON — The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) marked the 21st year of its workplace safety awards Dec. 11, honoring 20-plus facilities with its Dairy Industry Safety Recognition Awards.
The award program, IDFA shared, has categories that cover processing facilities, as well as trucking operations for the industry.
The association this year allotted 20 outstanding facility safety awards, as well as three awards for significant improvements in facility safety.
The 2024 Most Improved Facility awards went to Albertsons Companies, Hatfield, Pennsylvania; Idaho Milk Products, Jerome, Idaho; and The Kroger Co. Crossroads Farms Dairy, Indianapolis.
IDFA noted the companies recognized for their improvements were selected based on “significant decreases in recordable injury cases, and the rate of days away from work, restrictions and transfers for each of the last two years when compared to all other facilities that applied.”
The 2024 Outstanding Awards in Worker Safety went to:
• Agri-Mark, Inc./Cabot Creamery Cooperative, Transportation DSD
• Agri-Mark, Inc./Cabot Creamery Cooperative, Transportation Shuttle
• Albertsons Companies, Safeway Ice Cream – Bellevue, Washington
• Byrne Dairy, Inc. – Cortland, NY
• Centennial Farms Dairy – Atlanta
• Crystal Farms Dairy Company – Lake Mills, Wisconsin
• Columbia River Technologies – Portland, Oregon
• Glanbia Nutritionals – Richfield, Idaho
• Glanbia Nutritionals Transportation
• HP Hood LLC, Vernon Transportation
• The Kroger Co., Layton Dairy – Layton, Utah
• The Kroger Co., Mountain View Dairy – Denver
• The Kroger Co., Pace Dairy of Indiana – Crawfordsville, Indiana
• The Kroger Co., Pace Dairy of Minnesota – Rochester, Minnesota
• The Kroger Co., Swan Island Dairy – Portland, Oregon
• Lactalis American Group – Merrill, Wisconsin
• Michigan Milk Producers Association – Constantine, Michigan
• Nelson-Jameson – Marshfield, Wisconsin
• Nelson-Jameson – Turlock, California
• Tolleson Dairy – Tolleson, Arizona
IDFA said the application process for the awards calls for companies to provide occupational injury and illness performance rates, plus a detailed narrative essay on safety and training efforts, and leading indicators. IDFA shared that equal weight is given to essays and injury statistics from Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Michael Dykes, IDFA’s president and chief executive officer, said workplace safety culture should be viewed as a responsibility in the dairy industry.
“Each award represents the success of the innovative and proactive approaches that IDFA members take to improve safety within their processing environments,” Dykes said. “Consumers and customers of dairy foods companies value how these innovations help to deliver safe, nutritious food to people around the world.”
