Pallet employees honored for safety record

PRESQUE ISLE – Despite working in an industry rated in a national survey as more dangerous than logging, employees at a local pallet production facility – including many with developmental disabilities – received recognition Wednesday for their safety record.

Supervisory staff and production employees at County Box and Pallet were to be honored at a Wednesday night safety award banquet at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. The company has gone 1,100 days, or four years, without any work-related injuries, said Don Chapman, director of work services at the Work Opportunity Center on Wednesday.

The Work Opportunity Center oversees the nonprofit County Box and Pallet. Both programs come under the umbrella of the Central Aroostook Association for Retarded Citizens.

About 11 employees and six supervisory staff members were to be recognized at the banquet. Chapman said they each would receive a fleece vest purchased by CAARC with the County Box logo on it and the inscription, “Celebrating 4 years without a loss-time injury.”

County Box and Pallet, located on the Skyway Industrial Park, has six supervisors on staff who oversee the work of about a dozen employees who have developmental disabilities, Chapman said.

The workers spend eight-hour days using industrial equipment – such as air nailers, pallet dismantlers, sky hooks and pallet assembly machines – as they recycle old, broken wooden pallets into new pallets for use by the transportation industry.

The work can be dangerous. Scott Searles, County Box and Pallet production manager, said Wednesday that the pallet industry is rated one of the most dangerous and that according to a national survey, it is more dangerous than industries such as logging, because there is more potential for injury.

“When we first initialized [the pallet facility], people were like, ‘Holy cow! What are you thinking?’ because we were putting people with disabilities in a dangerous environment,” Searles said. “But the philosophy of CAARC is to not put outer limits on these people. If we let them try, we’re often amazed at what these individuals can do.”

The facility began operations in May 1996 and did not have a loss-time injury until Oct. 5, 2000. Chapman said that not only did County Box and Pallet recently break its old record of 1,084 days without a workplace injury, it also means that in its nine years of operation, the facility has had only one workplace injury.

In its years of operation, the facility has gone from producing 30 to 40 pallets a day to producing 300 to 500 pallets per day.

Chapman and Searles said one of the main reasons they have been able to increase production while still maintaining an impressive safety record – aside from more advanced equipment – is because everyone stays focused on safety. There is constant safety training and supervision, employees participate in a stretching program every morning because of the repetitive work they do, and facility officials have set up an ergonomically correct environment.

Still, the men don’t see the recognition as anything different than what any company should do for its employees who maintain such a safety record.

“There’s a huge potential for injury if we don’t pay attention to what we’re doing,” Searles said. “It’s quite a remarkable feat.”