Value Safety at Luck Stone is a change from how we traditionally asked our associates to look at their jobs. Value Safety requires our associates to have direct involvement in their personal safety and the safety of their co-workers. Value Safety challenges our managers to invite feedback on safety issues and address safety improvements. We have asked our associates to share ideas on how routine tasks we have done for years can be done more safely. We have dispelled the old myth that faster (at the expense of safety) is better. In most cases, we have demonstrated that the safest way is in fact the most efficient way to complete tasks. While Value Safety clearly focuses on safe behaviors, we believe Value Safety goes beyond the traditional behavior-based safety program. With Value Safety, we have trained our associates how to give effective feedback to each other as well as to their managers about safety. We have challenged our associates to address safety issues themselves when appropriate without the need for a lengthy approval process. The most critical success factor for Value Safety is open dialogue between associates at all levels of the organization. When a loader operator feels equally comfortable discussing a safety issue with a peer, a site manager, an EHS Coordinator, or the CEO then an organization is transitioning to Value Safety.

Since the inception of Value Safety in 2000, we have seen a steady improvement of our incident rate. Incident rate is a measure of total number of reportable injuries as a function of total hours worked. In addition, our workers compensation costs and number of loss-control incidents continue to trend downward. The challenge for us as we move forward is to continue the momentum and encourage our associates everyday to "Make the Right Choices."