Mercury Marine celebrates 8 million hours of no lost time, makes donation to local first responders

Mercury Marine’s Plant 12 product development team has been presented with the Brunswick Safety Leadership Award and a check for $10,000 for driving safety improvements leading to more than eight and a half million hours of no-lost time dating back to 2004.

During a ceremony in Fond du Lac on Friday, Mercury donated $5,000 to the Town of Fond du Lac Volunteer Fire Department and another $5,000 to the Fond du Lac Fire and Rescue Department. 

“The town of Fond du Lac Fire Department is flattered and humbled to be chosen to receive this donation,” said Fire Chief Dean Birschbach.  “To be chosen by the employees who earned the award makes it that much more meaningful to each and every one of our members.”

The town of Fond du Lac volunteer Fire Department serves 30 square miles surrounding the city and since its founding in 1959, at least one Mercury employee or retiree has been on the department’s roster.

Fond du Lac Fire and Rescue Chief Peter O’Leary was also on hand for the celebration and says the partnership developed with Mercury Marine over the past several years continues to strengthen.  “We are extremely grateful to Mercury for their commitment not only to the safety of their employees, but to the safety of our department and community,” said O’Leary.

“We are continually driving safety culture improvement at all of our facilities, but our Plant 12 product development team continues to perform at the highest level, and they deserve this recognition,” said Jim Sutton, Mercury Marine director of safety and occupational health. “Plant 12 has a high level of employee engagement with all employees participating in the Safestart personal safety training process, resulting in Mercury’s SAFE Award in 2018 for our trainers.”

Multiple employee led projects involving reduction in risks, from engine testing to ergonomics and chemical safety helped pave the way for the success of the Plant 12 facility, so much so, that the facility had zero recordable injures in 2018.

Safety, innovation and development go hand in hand at all of our plants and it is very important that all of our employees are engaged to drive our safety culture” said Sutton. “Our commitment to safety begins with everyone doing their part and I’m so proud of our team and all that they have accomplished.”

“Safety has been a continuing focus and a cultural value across our business, especially as we continue to grow and expand,” said Tim Reid, Mercury Marine vice president of product development & engineering.  “Ergonomics, product safety innovations, pre-work assessments and personal safety accountability are just a few examples of the work being done by our team.  But most importantly, it’s the commitment by everyone on the team to make safety a priority.”