TIFTON – When the hundreds of employees that call Heatcraft Refrigeration home clock out every day, there is a feeling of satisfaction that another work day has been successful. But for a company that values and stresses safety as much as Heatcraft does, those successful days with no lost time due to accidents start to add up to an impressive number. Tuesday, company officials and employees celebrated such a milestone.

Heatcraft, one of Tift County’s largest employers located in the Magnolia Industrial Park, held a cookout for their employees and other community members to celebrate one million work hours with no lost time due to accidents. In fact, company officials say that the employees are already well on their way to working on a second million. Under a picture perfect blue sky day, the local management team took time to say thank you.

“This is a big deal,” said Chris Styles, Heatcraft Tifton’s Environmental Health Safety (EHS) manager said. “We have employees that want to do well and when you have an accomplishment like this, it’s something tangible that they can take pride in.”

The Tifton facility, which more than doubled in physical size when the second plant opened nearly seven years ago, employs more than 450 people and over the last several years, the emphasis on safe working conditions has been noticeable. Project Manager Bob Gurz said that is stressed from the local management team as well as from the company’s corporate headquarters.

“We get great support from corporate and that makes everything easier,” he said. “Their commitment to doing things the right way for the employees can be seen on the floor. Everybody here wants to do a good job and we have programs in place to reward that. We have a recognition council made up of staff and hourly employees to reward those that have gone above and beyond what their job requires. It’s just the fact that someone notices what they are doing that goes a long way.”

Styles agreed that the employees take pride in what they do. He added that there is a constant sharing of ideas throughout the company, including a four-day summit to review the best practices at each of the company’s facilities that helps local officials re-emphasize their mission.

“That kind of information is valuable because it reinforces the company’s commitment to employee involvement and achieving success the right way,” he said.

The Tifton operation is one of the company’s three manufacturing facilities, joining Columbus and Stone Mountain, where Heatcraft has its headquarters. The company serves customers in more than 70 countries and produces evaporators, condensers, merchandise display cases and other top-quality refrigeration products for its brands.