FRANKFORT, Ky. — More than 20 companies earned Governor’s Safety and Health Awards for demonstrating an outstanding commitment to workplace safety, the Kentucky Labor Cabinet announced today.
Employees working at four Big Rivers Electric Corp. locations in Western Kentucky logged more than 4 million consecutive hours on the job through Dec. 31, 2021, without recording a workplace injury accident or illness that resulted in lost time, according to the cabinet’s Department of Workplace Standards.
As a result, the company took home four of the 25 awards presented by Gov. Andy Beshear May 10 during an event at the annual Governor’s Safety and Health Conference and Exhibition in Bowling Green. The governor singled out Big Rivers employees, represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, for leading by example.
He also called attention to employees at Insteel Wire Products in Hickman, Kentucky, and Hood Container in Louisville for logging more than 329,000 and 500,000 safe hours, respectively, through the end of 2021.
“If the last couple of years have taught us anything, it’s that the power of example is incredibly important,” Gov. Beshear said. “Being out there doing the right thing – even if others aren’t – is a powerful message to other people out there.”
During his keynote address at the event, the Governor commended employers in attendance for not just focusing on efficiency in the workplace but also for looking out for the safety of workers fueling the state’s record-breaking economy. He also signed a proclamation declaring May 9-12, 2022, Safety and Health in the Workplace Week in the commonwealth.
“Protecting our folks on the job – it’s a part of our faith; it’s part of our values; it’s a part of looking out for everyone and living that very simple lesson that everybody counts,” Gov. Beshear said. “Every single person has value. Everyone is a child of God, and when we commit to safety, I think we live out that faith and those values.”
For more than three decades, the Kentucky Labor Cabinet and Kentucky Safety and Health Network, Inc., have partnered to host the annual conference. The event provides private-sector employers an opportunity to attend technical training on a myriad of workplace safety topics and engage with safety and health specialists.
The conference was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 global health pandemic, but organizers returned this year with a full slate of training events and workshops.
An increased focus on workplace safety by employers across the commonwealth is continuing to pay dividends, the Governor said.
“When we look at the statistics, especially year over year, you can see everybody’s hard work,” the Governor said. “There are many fewer injuries than if we go back five, six, eight years ago – that means we are all learning, and we’re learning together.”
Last February, the cabinet reported that the state’s recordable, nonfatal private- and- public-sector occupational injury and illness rate fell to the lowest point on record since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking that rate in 1996.
The fiscal year 2020 rate was 3.2 cases per 100 full-time equivalent workers. Fiscal year 2021 data shows the commonwealth’s rate has remained essentially unchanged at 3.3.
For comparison, Kentucky’s rate in 1996 was 8.4.
“No matter where you work in the commonwealth, every Kentuckian has the right to be safe and to earn a living they can raise their family on,” Gov. Beshear said. “And everyone should feel confident knowing their employer is working just as hard every day to improve safety in every single way.”
Governor’s Safety and Health Award Winners
Company name, number of hours worked without a lost-time injury accident or illness (through Dec. 31, 2021):
Louisville Region
- Abel Construction Company of Louisville, 1,025,014
- Chase Environmental Group of Louisville, 446,834
- Delta Services of Louisville, 756,337
- East and Westbrook Construction of Buckner, 535,897
- LG&E KU East Operations Center of Louisville, 550,760
- Meade County Rural Electric Cooperative of Brandenburg, 468,340
Western Kentucky
- AMFINE Chemical Corporation of Hopkinsville, 956,912
- Big Rivers Electric (Henderson), 750,119
- Big Rivers Electric Corp. – Green Station (Robards), 250,000
- Big Rivers Electric Corp-Wilson Station (Centertown), 1,000,000
- Big Rivers Electric Corp – Headquarters (Henderson), 2,000,000
- Domtar (Hawesville Mill), 1,033,079
- J-Lok Corporation of Earlington, 867,809
- Madisonville West Side Wastewater Treatment Plant, 607,280
- Mid-America Conversion Services of Kevil, 1,196,269
- Morsey Constructors of Calvert City, 697,680
- Sekisui Specialty Chemicals America of Calvert City, 2,305,650
- Swift & Staley of Kevil, 520,428
- Westlake Chemical Corporation of Calvert City, 2,868,206
Central Kentucky
- Kimball International of Danville, 519,093
- Toyota Boshoku Kentucky (Harrodsburg), 1,608,501
Northern Kentucky
- L’Oréal USA (Florence Manufacturing), 2,305,195
- L’Oréal USA (Walton Distribution), 777,410
Southern Kentucky
- Warren Rural Electric Cooperative of Bowling Green, 519,205
- Sumitomo Electric Wiring Systems of Edmonton, 6,630,700
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