Vitaquest prioritizes workplace safety, and while an industry leader, the company still strives for continual improvement in its safety procedures and processes. Recently, Vitaquest hired workforce safety veteran Dan Franzen to serve in the newly created role of Senior Manager of Environmental Health & Safety to further expand on Vitaquest’s highly effective safety program.
“Vitaquest is incredibly focused on safety, and it has a great vision for how to continue to build on what has already been accomplished. Our commitment is clear to anyone as soon as they walk into any of our buildings because our safety charter is framed in posters on the walls for all employees and visitors to see,” says Dan, who started his career in workforce safety 27 years ago. While impressed with Vitaquest and its team, Franzen is excited to bring his experience to the role and to expand the company’s focus.
He continues: “There is a great opportunity at Vitaquest to bring Environmental, Health and Safety under one department. It is a great challenge to be presented with, but all three of these areas are interdependent and when executed together effectively it helps to ensure the health and welfare of not only our employees, but the surrounding community, and our customers as well.”
As part of its safety initiative, Vitaquest has established foundational processes and intensive training programs. The company has also invested in facility upgrades, including dedicated safety initiatives. In his new role, Dan has established safety committees at each of the company’s three operating facilities, and selected a core team of employee safety representatives that focus on each building’s specific operations. He has also introduced a “Safety Takes Two” initiative, where employees are randomly asked to identify a statement line from the Vitaquest Safety Charter and explain their part in the safety program. If the employee does, they receive a unique reward, and it is helping to get people more excited about safety. Dan says one of the keys to effective Safety is awareness, and this initiative is helping to keep safety at the top of everyone’s mind.
“Another key is training and re-training. It’s important to retain information after initially learning it. Training is crucial to keep your focus on your performance,” says Dan. To that end, he introduced hazard awareness training sessions to daily safety “huddles” throughout each department.
Moving forward, Dan’s focus is to: make Vitaquest a best-in-class organization for safety, reduce the company’s environmental impact, and introduce new strategies and technologies to keep Vitaquest competitive within its manufacturing and production environment.
“It’s exciting to work for an organization that invests in what needs to be done to ensure safety. If you don’t have the foresight to do that, you’ll definitely pay more for it down the road,” says Dan.
If you are interested in working with an innovative supplement manufacturer that prioritizes workplace safety to best deliver your products to market, contact us today.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
