Employees from Salmon Arm鈥檚 Bid Group will be making time to mark 2,000 days with no time lost due to work-related injuries.

Staff and management, including management from Bid Group鈥檚 Quebec head office, will be at Elks Park on Saturday, June 10, to celebrate the safety milestone reached on April 22.

鈥淭wo-thousand days is a big thing for this company 鈥� not just this company but any company,鈥� said Bid Group Salmon Arm branch manager Wilf Rischmueller, noting the branch also celebrates each of its 500-day milestones. He noted how easy it is for that record to slip back to zero.

鈥淲e lost a considerable amount of days having one minor situation where somebody didn鈥檛 come to work because they had a sore back,鈥� said Rischmueller, referring to another branch. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how simple it is to lose their record.鈥�

The Salmon Arm branch works with other Bid Group branches to manufacture turnkey sawmills and planar mills.

鈥淲e can do that within a year with the help of all our different companies that we own,鈥� said Rischmueller. 鈥淓ach one of our branches builds a portion of a complete mill.鈥�

With 60 staff, the Salmon Arm branch is the company鈥檚 smallest. That means staff are working closely together.

鈥淚t鈥檚 extremely unheard of to have this many safety days in our industry, because there鈥檚 so many little things that can happen,鈥� said Salmon Arm branch assistant manager Jason Rischmueller, Wilf鈥檚 son.

Rischmueller explained Bid Group is very safety oriented. When employees are hired they go through a 鈥渟afety indoctrination,鈥� and are required to learn safe working procedures for every tool or piece of equipment anybody would use here.鈥�

鈥淲e go through that with the individual and they sign off and they understand how they should be using that piece,鈥� said Rischmueller, adding the company also supplies all the necessary personal protective equipment.

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鈥淲e have toolbox meetings every morning and we discuss what we鈥檙e going to be doing during the day鈥� We discuss if there have been any recent close calls in our plant or any of the other plants, or any accidents.鈥�

If there is a potential for an accident, a 鈥渘ear miss report鈥� is created and shared.

鈥淥bviously nobody got injured, but we make sure everybody in the Bid Group is aware,鈥� said Jason. 鈥淲e share all our safety information so we can alleviate that safety concern in all the shops.

鈥淲e have developed over the years a culture of safety with our employees. For the most part, everybody looks after each other and if they see something that looks unsafe, they report it or stop the person.鈥�

Jason said employees at the Salmon Arm branch are proud of the safety record and their quality of workmanship.

鈥淭he Salmon Arm branch prides ourselves on being the best of our company 鈥� for a little operation we鈥檙e outstanding in our safety and our quality,鈥� said Jason.

Wilf said safety isn鈥檛 just important to the company, but also to prospective clients.

鈥淲e do large projects; they鈥檙e in excess of $250 million-$300 million US dollars to do one complete mill, so these companies, they鈥檙e large forest companies鈥� The first thing in a negotiation period, yeah, price is important, delivery is important, but your safety record is also very important,鈥� said Wilf. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 have a good safety record鈥� they don鈥檛 want you.鈥�

Jason said reaching the 2,000-day milestone hasn鈥檛 been an easy feat, but it鈥檚 something he and fellow Bid Group personnel believe in and work towards as a team.

鈥淓verybody on the shop floor obviously wants to reach the goal and they don鈥檛 want to have an injury that jeopardizes things,鈥� said Jason. 鈥淓verybody works as a team and looks after each other, and that鈥檚 how we鈥檝e made it this far.鈥�

For more information about Bid Group, visit bidgroup.ca.