Kroger Dairy Plants Recognized for Worker Safety

The International Dairy Foods Association named nine Kroger dairy facilities winners of the IDFA Dairy Industry Safety Recognition Awards and Achievement Certificates.

"Kroger is committed to continually improving the overall safety of our associates and we are so proud of these nine facilities for their hard work to deliver a safe work environment for all employees," said Erin Sharp, Kroger's group VP of manufacturing. "We appreciate the IDFA's recognition, which highlights our objective to be the safest company in America."

The honored dairy plants are Crossroad Farms Dairy, Indianapolis; Heritage Farms Dairy, Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Jackson Ice Cream, Denver; Layton Dairy, Layton, Utah; Pace Dairy Foods of Indiana, Crawfordsville, Ind.; Tamarack Farms Dairy, Newark, Ohio; Tolleson Dairy, Tolleson, Ariz.; Westover Dairy, Lynchburg, Va.; and Vandervoort's Dairy, Fort Worth, Texas.

This is the 10th year that the IDFA has sponsored these awards, which highlight outstanding work-safety records in U.S. dairy companies.

Safety is one of Kroger's core values. The company's overall accident rate has been reduced by 76.3 percent since 1995. In 2012, 782 retail locations, nine manufacturing plants and one distribution center went the entire year without a recordable accident. Also in 2012, Kroger's manufacturing division received an OSHA Recordable Accident rating of 1.4 FTE, the lowest in company history.

Cincinnati-based Kroger operates 2,418 supermarkets and multidepartment stores, along with 37 food processing plants across the United States.