Roger Bleigh, Jimmy Wilfong and Andy Orsburn received Safety Champion T-shirts for helping a coworker with an overhead door issue. The idea that everyone contributes to success, from safety to reliability, is deeply ingrained in Buckhannon’s culture.
At our engineered wood products plant in Buckhannon, West Virginia, success isn’t merely a goal. It’s an ongoing journey fueled by teamwork and collaboration — a journey that has made Buckhannon one of our most consistent top performers in both safety and manufacturing reliability.
There’s no doubt that safety and manufacturing reliability go hand in hand; a safe operation tends to be reliable, and reliability enhances safety by reducing upsets. At Buckhannon, this interrelationship is driven by robust processes, effective communication, clear goals and process discipline. And it all starts with a focus on people and culture.
“From operational reliability to fostering a culture of safety, our success stems from the collective effort of our team,” says Jason Hoffman, maintenance manager.
The results speak for themselves. Buckhannon’s employees have operated injury-free for the past two and a half years, and contractors have been injury-free for 12.5 years. At the same time, the mill has consistently outperformed its peers in manufacturing reliability and innovation.
For its dedication to excellence, the team won three 2023 Wood Products Awards: Safety; Reliability & Breakthrough Performance; and Innovation.
“Our people consistently take the basics seriously and work together daily to execute them to the best of their ability,” Jason says. “We’re always pushing to take performance to the next level.”
Kenny Mealey and Melinda Cutright show off their personal protective equipment. At Buckhannon, process discipline, such as always wearing the correct gear, signifies a shared commitment to teamwork and success.
THE HEART OF SAFETY
At the heart of Buckhannon’s people-oriented focus is a safety program whose namesake embodies the mill’s spirit of collaboration and camaraderie. This safety subcommittee, the Hazard Evaluation and Review Team — HEART for short — uses various methods to identify and eliminate or mitigate hazards in the workplace.
“One of the most valuable aspects of HEART is our collaborative approach,” says Renee Kelley, safety coordinator. “We have representatives from every department, which brings diverse insights and expertise to our discussions.”
HEART uses many standard processes, including data tracking and personal observations, to log and remedy observed hazards.
“The first step in HEART’s success, or any successful safety program, is get out on the floor and get to know the team,” says Renee, who joined Buckhannon 10 years ago in production, moved to maintenance five years later and became safety coordinator two years ago. “Communication and the ability to relate to people is the first step in safety success.”
Terry Shreves and Jacob Bolyard celebrate one of Buckhannon’s many safety milestones with a meal provided by the mill.
EDUCATING, MOTIVATING AND EMPOWERING OTHERS
Of course, Renee also looks for potential hazards while on the floor, ensuring they’re documented and addressed. However, another priority is finding ways to empower people to protect themselves and those around them.
Renee recalls a team member pointing out a potential hazard on the manufacturing floor, then suggesting she document it. Renee took a moment to discuss the hazard and whether it could be addressed immediately. Then she politely asked the team member not to pass a safety issue on to someone else, but to take ownership by addressing it properly on their own.
“The issue might be something as simple as a hose leaking water onto a floor, putting up warning signs, and then documenting it in our system so it gets fixed,” Renee says. “Of course, I'm happy to help as needed, but I try hard to counter the mentality that safety is someone else’s responsibility. It takes a team to make safety work.”
The HEART team’s monthly gatherings demonstrate this spirit of cooperation and ownership. During these sessions, the group reviews a video of a team performing a high-risk task and offers suggestions for making the process safer. After six months, the HEART team reviews the process again and offers new recommendations on the revised procedures.
“Safety calibration among employees is a significant benefit of the HEART team,” says Lance Miller, mill manager. “When you video a task and then sit in a room and critique it, everyone in the room gains a higher level of safety awareness. And because we also invite our new hires to participate, they’re able to rapidly acclimate to our safety culture.”
Renee Kelley, Buckhannon’s safety coordinator, rides a camel in Cairo, Egypt.
FEEDBACK, TRAINING AND CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
Renee says the hardest part about the HEART program is learning to accept critiques in the spirit in which they’re given.
“These aren’t gotcha moments,” she says. “It’s not meant to shame you or a manager. The critiques are an example of continuous learning and are given to make everyone better.”
This same commitment to teamwork and continuous improvement is also foundational to the mill’s reliability success — ensuring the team meets the mill’s and business’s rigorous standards in areas including preventive maintenance, vibration analysis and precision alignment.
“Integrating companywide standard manufacturing practices into our work systems was the boost we needed to get to the next level of reliability,” Lance says. “The structure they provide has driven a higher expectation on how we do reliability work and ensures more consistent overall results.”
Training is a key component to meeting companywide SMPs — starting the day a new team member comes on board and continuing until they move on or retire.
“There’s always something new to learn, whether brushing up on a previously learned skill or mastering a new one,” Jason says. “I have a military background and bring its ‘train as you fight’ mentality to everything we do. Every situation, from routine to upset, is an opportunity to learn why something went right or why it didn’t go as expected.”
BUILDING TEAM SPIRIT
Jason relies on another lesson learned from his military combat-deployment experience to create a successful team: working together, which is also a fundamental part of our company vision.
“Training is just one component of establishing esprit de corps,” he says. “No matter how much training a team has, it must work well together, which means everyone has to be on the same page. We must have a sense that we win and lose together.”
To foster camaraderie and teamwork, Jason focuses on communications. That includes sharing departmental, mill and business priorities, discussing how to work effectively with operations and other departments, and identifying and addressing recurring frustrations — big and small — that can diminish enthusiasm. He also works hard to understand individual goals and aspirations, then finds a way to create a plan of action to achieve them.
”Process discipline is vital in both maintenance and safety,” he says. “And it comes from people making the right decisions because they understand why processes exist and how to implement them. At the end of the day, our safety and reliability success is the result of building a winning team.”
