JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Feb. 01, 2019) – Suddath® reached a significant safety milestone in its Global Logistics division – over 500 days without lost workdays due to injuries. The impressive achievement means not only that the division’s 217 employees are enjoying working in a safer environment, but also that its clients benefit from uninterrupted efficiency and productivity.
Suddath, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, is a leading global transportation, relocation, and logistics company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. Employees in the Global Logistics division are located in warehouses across the United States. Over the past 500 days, Suddath employees clocked 753,743 consecutive injury-free labor hours.
“I’m proud of our Global Logistics team for this milestone accomplishment of consistent high-quality care,” said Scott Perry, president of Suddath Global Logistics. “Safety is a leading indicator of quality. If we foster a safe, efficient, innovative, and caring environment for our employees, the sky is the limit on the outstanding solutions they can give our clients and partners.”
The Suddath commitment to being lost time injury (LTI) free is driven by a core belief embodied by Perry and the entire Suddath leadership team. “We are responsible to return everyone back to their loved ones in the same condition in which they arrive at work,” Perry explains.
The most recent figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics show there were 5,147 fatal workplace injuries and 2.8 million non-fatal workplace injuries across the country in 2017, with one-third of all non-fatal injuries and illness resulting in days missed at work. Statistics involving workplace injuries, particularly related to warehouses, are startling. For example, the Office of Environmental Health and Safety reported that about 200,000 forklift-related injuries occur in the U.S. annually, as well as 100 forklift-related fatalities.
“This milestone is a result of the safety culture built into everything we do,” said Mike Brannigan, President and CEO for The Suddath Companies. “Our goal is to be audit ready every day, so we have created an environment where making daily warehouse observations rewarding outstanding safety practices and taking corrective action or assigning training for near-misses is the standard. We’re focused on prevention and safety lives in our DNA.”