Business Spotlight

Great Northern Corporation is a developer and manufacturer of packaging, shipping, merchandising, and distributing products for industrial, commercial, and retail markets. Great Northern is headquartered in Appleton, Wisconsin, and has operations in seven states.

Great Northern has large factory floors at each location, therefore it has its own set of occupational hazards. Supervisors and plant managers are responsible for daily hazard identification assessments and each location has a safety team in place. Environmental Health and Safety Director Jeff Van Thiel says, “Safety culture starts with leadership and correcting hazards on the floor.” He adds, “We want people to go home safely at the end of each day.”

Employees are very involved in the day-to-day safety procedures. They give feedback to their supervisors, do safety audits on the factory floor, and are involved in risk assessments. They are also required to have relevant safety training and keep their documents up to date. Great Northern's vision is to help team members be at their best and develop leaders from within, as well as sending their workers home safely. Van Thiel adds, “We have backed the safety issue into the core of what we do every day.”

Since 2014, Great Northern has had 177 leaders go through OSHAcademy training. Currently, supervisors and managers complete the 36-hour OSH Supervisor program and additional employees finish various OSHAcademy courses that are relevant to their position, such as forklift or hazard communication training. Van Thiel says “OSHAcademy training raises the level of safety knowledge for the supervisor and manager group, and they are better able to direct safety and assess the risks.”

OSHAcademy would like to recognize Great Northern Corporation for their continued efforts toward workplace safety and health.