Hatteras reaches safety milestone

NEW BERN, N.C. – Hatteras Yachts received its third Chairman’s Gold Award for Safety from its parent company, Brunswick Corp., as well as its third Million Hour Safety Award from the North Carolina Department of Labor last week, the company reported in a release today.

Both awards reflect Hatteras’ achievement of more than 3 million hours worked without a lost-time injury.

George W. Buckley, chairman and CEO of Brunswick, and Dusty McCoy, president of the Brunswick Boat Group, presented the Chairman’s Gold Award, along with commemorative gifts for all Hatteras employees, at a celebration and luncheon held at the boat builder’s New Bern facilities.

Joining Buckley and McCoy was North Carolina’s Commissioner of Labor, Cherie Berry, along with NASCAR driver Jeff Burton.

As a demonstration of the importance of the achievement within Brunswick and Hatteras, a $100,000 check was presented to the Craven Regional Medical Center Foundation. Margaret Shields, the foundation’s executive director, was on hand to receive the donation.

“This is the sort of gift that makes a non-profit employee’s career,” said Shields, adding that the $100,000 would be used to set up the Team Hatteras Endowment for Community Wellness. Shields said that the first project funded by the endowment would likely be a diabetes prevention education project.

Hatteras’ current stretch without a lost-time injury dates back to September 2002, and at the date of the ceremony stood at 3.4 million hours and counting. The company stands only weeks away from breaking its all-time mark for safety – 3,506,061 hours worked without a lost-time injury, established in December 1996.

Hatteras’ safety effort is built around a multilayered campaign, founded on the DuPont STOP program, a behavioral-based program that encourages supervisors and employees to work together to identify and correct potential safety hazards. Hatteras also has instituted a tiered safety organization that involves and empowers employees at every level of the company, including the company’s team of executives.

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