SMITHFIELD, Va., April 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Smithfield Foods, Inc. is pleased to announce that it has honored multiple facilities and employees with Worker Safety Awards, including Safety Professional of the Year, Outstanding Safety Innovation, President’s Award, and President’s Circle Awards. This annual company awards program recognizes outstanding performance in workplace safety, effective implementation of Smithfield’s industry-leading health and safety management system, and monthly safety scorecard measurements, among other workplace safety criteria.

The health and safety of employees is a top priority for Smithfield, and the company is continuously working to improve safety performance across all locations. The employees and facilities honored are vital to Smithfield’s efforts to create and maintain an exceptional employee environment with injury rates that are significantly better than the industry average.

“We have seen dramatic worker safety improvements across our company in recent years,” said Kenneth M. Sullivan, president and chief executive officer for Smithfield Foods. “Those improvements are driven by our hard-working Smithfield Family members. The employees and facilities honored with these worker safety awards relentlessly pursue operational excellence and help to ensure that our company remains a safe place to work.” 

Bryn Jensson, safety manager for Smithfield Hog Production, Midwest, was named the 2019 Safety Professional of the Year for her efforts to reduce workplace injuries. Under Jensson’s leadership, Hog Production teams in the Midwest region have gone 230 days without any lost time injuries, or injuries resulting in an employee being unable to return to work.

Joaquin Garcia and John Dang, ammonia refrigeration technicians for Smithfield’s Crete, Nebraska facility, were awarded the Outstanding Safety Innovation Award for the creation of an ammonia valve training station. This new station allows employees to demonstrate competency and to conduct trouble shooting while working in a controlled environment, without impacting production.

“Our people are our most important asset, and their efforts consistently better our safety performance,” said Gary Walters, senior director of corporate safety for Smithfield Foods. “We are incredibly proud of these individuals and locations for their exceptional safety efforts, successful records, and for reinforcing our company’s culture of workplace safety in all aspects of our operations.”

The President’s Circle awards program recognizes locations with outstanding safety performance for the year, including worker injury reduction and other impressive safety achievements. The President’s Award is given to the individual location with the highest level of safety performance. The Arnold, Pennsylvania facility received this year’s President’s Award for safety improvements in several areas, including injury reduction, risk reduction, and exceptional Safety Compliance Audit Process assessment.

About Smithfield Foods
Smithfield Foods is a $15 billion global food company and the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. In the United States, the company is also the leader in numerous packaged meats categories with popular brands including Smithfield®, Eckrich®, Nathan’s Famous®, Farmland®, Armour®, Farmer John®, Kretschmar®, John Morrell®, Cook’s®, Gwaltney®, Carando®, Margherita®, Curly’s®, Healthy Ones®, Morliny®, Krakus®, and Berlinki®. Smithfield Foods is committed to providing good food in a responsible way and maintains robust animal care, community involvement, employee safety, environmental, and food safety and quality programs. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com, and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Contact:
Lisa Martin
Smithfield Foods, Inc.
(757) 365-1980   
lvmartin@smithfield.com