PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Smith’s Farm Inc. was honored with an award for outstanding safety performance during the Maine Employers Mutual Insurance Company’s annual meeting of policyholders last month.
Only nine other employers, out of more than 20,000 MEMIC policyholders, received workplace safety recognition.
Since 1861, more than five generations of Smiths have farmed the land in northern Maine, producing fresh broccoli, cauliflower and grains, according to an insurance company press release. Odds are high that broccoli displayed in the fresh produce section of supermarkets anywhere east of the Mississippi was harvested by hand in one of their 4,000 acres of fields in Aroostook County.
“Our employees are our most important assets,” said Zach Smith, owner and production manager of the Presque Isle farm. “We need to take care of them first and foremost.”
“A safety manager’s dream is to have management say, ‘What do you need for safety, what do you want done and what do you need from us?’,” said Miles Williams, MEMIC safety manager. “That’s the support I get from management.”
Williams has developed numerous policies and best practices for the operations with a strong and successful focus on injury prevention.
“Employees at all levels are involved in the day-to-day safety activities,” said MEMIC Safety Management Consultant Dan Clark.
The other workplace safety award winners from Maine were A.H. Grover Inc. of North Yarmouth, Dunbar & Brawn Construction of Bangor and R.H. Reny Inc. of Newcastle. Other winners were Aspen Aerogels, Inc. of Northborough, Mass.; Commonwealth Care of Roanoke Inc. of Virginia; Demoulas Super Markets Inc. of Tewksbury, Mass.; G.S. Precision Inc. of Brattleboro, Vt.; Iron Hill Brewery, LLC of Wilmington, Del.; and Richardson Brands Company Inc. of Canajoharie, N.Y.
