By Louie Graves
News-Leader staff
“This has been a great day,” Husqvarna’s “Wilson Plant” manager Chris Smith said over and over Tuesday, Sept. 19, early afternoon when company and state officials gathered for presentation of major safety awards.
The Wilson Plant, named for its location on Wilson Street in Nashville, was cited by the Arkansas Department of Labor and by Husqvarna for 15 years without recordable injury.
The company celebrated. Employees received T-shirts and lunch, and they were entered in a drawing for a zero- turn Husqvarna mower. “Every employee got a prize,” Smith said. “This has been a great day.”
The Wilson Plant shift gathered in a large warehouse to hear from Nashville general manager Tony Cochran, Ralph Hudson of the Arkansas Department of Labor, and Pat Hart of the Arkansas Workforce. The plant’s workers, all clad in matching gray T-shirts, were lauded for their consistency for safety.
“The real prize is that you’ve had 15 years worth of Christmas, birthdays, grandbabies, etc.,” Hart said. “You are more important than you know to someone in your life.”
Hudson emphasized how rare the safety achievements were, but he warned, “You can’t get complacent.”
Cochran said that the Wilson Plant had the best safety record in Husqvarna.
