Poultry producer plucks success from past struggles

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This article was published 08/05/2018 (2778 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If there were awards handed out for the largest decrease in Workers Compensation Board rates over the past 10 years, it’s likely that Granny’s Poultry would be in the running.

Over the past decade, the poultry processor — whose main plant is in Blumenort, less than an hour south of the city — has established a culture of safety in its workplace — a workplace that the uninitiated would be within their rights to imagine is less safe than the average.

But this year, with its Workers Compensation Board premium rate set at $0.78 per $100 of payroll, it is actually lower than the overall provincial average in 2018 of $0.95 per $100 payroll — an average that includes quiet, sedentary office environments that do not have any cutting machines capable of separating the legs and breasts of freshly plucked chickens.

But that was not always the way things were at Granny’s, one of the country’s last remaining poultry producers owned by a producer co-op. Ten years ago those rates were more than $7.00 per $100 of payroll.

“We’re really thrilled with the progress we’ve made in health and safety,” Granny’s CEO, Craig Evans, said. His tenure at the helm of the province’s largest poultry processor has coincided with the stellar improvement in its safety rating.

The WCB sets its rates based on a combination of the risk of incurring claims costs and the value of what is insured. The risk is the potential cost of future workplace injuries (based on the costs of past claims).

Clearly the number of incidents and lost time due to injury has come way down at Granny’s.

Evans said in addition to investing in new technology, the co-op has invested significantly in its human resource office and now runs extensive training courses required for all supervisors and employees.

In addition to the full compliment of mandatory safety equipment worn by every worker, if there are on-the-job injuries, concerted efforts are made to get that person returned to work as soon as possible with individually tailored light duty programs or restricted movement programs or whatever works for that particular employee.

“We are not talking about a business thing where we can save all sorts of money,” Evans said.

“It’s just the right thing to do. You want your people going home with the same number of fingers and toes as they came in with in the morning.”

In recognition of North American Occupational Safety and Health Week, Safe Work Manitoba’s mobile safety demonstration trailer is set up in the Blumenort facility for three days worth of half-hour safety demonstrations that all Granny’s employees will experience.

Of the almost 580 employees at Granny’s, 60 per cent are women. The core of the operation — 400 workers — have an average tenure of 10 years with the company.

Granny’s operates within the province’s poultry marketing board which sets the volume needed to supply the market — Granny’s chicken is sold in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Northwestern Ontario and a small amount into Alberta — and sets a fair price.

Granny’s has about a 55-per-cent share of the Manitoba chicken market. The only other Manitoba chicken producer, Dunn-Rite Food Products, has the remaining 45 per cent.

It’s also the only turkey producer in the province and sells its frozen turkey across the country. Evans said the turkey business is not in great shape.

He said retailers have chosen to limit the length of time they use turkey as loss leaders down from three-to-four weeks to one and that, he said, has flattened out turkey sales.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca