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Coors Shows How Safety is Done
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- Created on Monday, 04 July 2011 13:41
Combustible grain, 30-ton semi-trucks and moving rail cars are just a few of the safety hazards elevator employees and farmers at the MillerCoors Barley Operations in Huntley, Mont., face everyday as they handle the highest quality barley for the MillerCoors beers. Their effort to work safe is not only making sure that they do their part to create the first-rate beers customers expect, but that they go about doing it as safely as possible.
In a new web video called “Setting the Gold Standard,” MillerCoors employees at the barley elevator in Huntley tell the story of how they are committed to working safely and making sure employees and barley farmers go home at the end of the day without incident. WorkSafeMT produced the video, at http://www.youtube.com/user/WorkSafeMT.
“Farmers and elevator employees are some of the hardest workers around,” said George Kochman, program manager for WorkSafeMT. “We want to show the agricultural community an example of how workplace safety can be integrated with the same dedication to producing the highest quality product.”
In recognition of its safety excellence, the MillerCoors elevator is considered a “star” site in OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program.. “At our elevator, managers and employees come together to solve safety concerns and issues,” said Wade Malchow, group manager of Brewing Materials for MillerCoors Barley Operations. “We use our safety management system to make sure workers are educated on all hazards and taught to be vocal about pointing them out, and for each safety concern, we have specific tools and protocols in place to prevent injuries.”
To lower the risk of explosive barley dust, the elevator has an extensive filtration system and housekeeping is of utmost importance. Around rail cars, workers are in constant communication and have a comprehensive training and fall protection system. And for those 150 to 225 semi-trucks that come through the elevator each day, signs and electronic tools are in place to make sure farmers stay in their trucks and out of harm’s way.
“We want people to know that when they open a Coors Light or a Blue Moon that they’re not only drinking some of Montana’s finest barley, but that the workers and farmers who helped produce that beer also went home safely at the end of the day to their families and enjoyed a cold one too,” said Malchow.
