At Milliken, we put safety at the forefront of our manufacturing operations globally. Our associates are the most important part of our company, so we foster a culture of safety to provide for associate well-being. Since we have multiple work sites around the world, we cannot apply a ‘blanket approach’ to safety, nor would we want to. Each location’s needs are taken into account as we design a safety program specific to that site. Each and every associate plays a vital role in this culture of safety—from plant managers to newly hired associates—so we sat down with four Milliken associates to understand how they prioritize safety.
“The first thing we communicate to our new associates is that nothing we do is more important than their personal safety,” shared Nathan Blevins, plant manager at Milliken’s Valway and Pine Mountain Plants. “Here, every associate has the authority to stop operations if they see a potential safety hazard.” This initiative drives home the importance of safety over productivity and empowers associates to own the safety process while onsite.Sammy Davis, production safety and training facilitator for Milliken’s Allen Plant, trains new associates at his location on every aspect of safety at Milliken and encourages associates to identify and correct site hazards so everyone goes home safely each day. “The best part about my job is maintaining and growing a strong safety culture,” Davis said. “I once heard OSHA VPP leader Kenny Fernandez say, ‘safety is a race that has no finish line.’ That really helped me understand and refine my approach to safety.”
Susan Embrose, human resources manager at Milliken’s Johnson Plant, said, “your lowest expectation of someone is their highest output.” Drawing on this advice, she emphasizes Milliken’s high expectations of our associates to be empowered and actively engaged in plant safety. Davis agrees that empowering associates in the safety process has helped him create a solid culture of safety awareness.
In order to keep safety top of mind, Blevins and his associates attend weekly safety meetings as well as educational seminars. “My job is to provide a safe environment and an accountable culture of continuous improvement. When I see improvement ideas coming from the plant floor to me, that means we are fully engaged and successful.”
Stacey Chapman, manufacturing manager for four Milliken plants, said that she and her associates share operational best practices, and emphasize and encourage peer feedback on a day-to-day basis to elevate their safety standards.
Although each associate comes from different locations and different functionalities, they all emphasize the importance of associate empowerment for safety measures in the workplace. Giving associates the power to suggest safety changes fosters an engaged—and most importantly, a safe—work environment.
We are proud to have exceptional associates that prioritize safety as much as we do. It is our goal to achieve zero lost time due to safety incidents by 2025 as outlined in our first annual corporate sustainability report, and we will always strive to do the right thing by our associates by prioritizing their safety.
