Huisken Meats Company flag-raising event, Oct. 5, 2005

Pictured above are (front row): Tim Kortuem, Brenda Leyendecker, Jim Lanz, Neil Bueckers, Jenny Molitor, DLI Commissioner Scott Brener, Cliff Albertson and DLI Assistant Commissioner Roslyn Wade. In back row are: Pat Tom, Paul Hayenga and Jacob Widmer

Huisken Meat Company a MNSHARP worksite, recognized Oct. 5

MNSHARP is a Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MNOSHA) program that recognizes companies where managers and employees work together to develop safety and health programs that go beyond basic compliance with all applicable OSHA standards and result in immediate and long-term prevention of job-related injuries and illnesses. DLI Commissioner Scott Brener will address the company and present the award.

"Huisken Meat Company is now recognized as one of the state's best worksites for safety and health," said Scott Brener, Department of Labor and Industry commissioner. "We are excited to reward them for their ongoing efforts to reduce on-the-job injuries and illnesses."

To achieve MNSHARP status, Huisken Meat Company worked with MNOSHA Workplace Safety Consultation to assemble a comprehensive safety and health program that includes: management leadership and employee involvement; an allocation of resources to address safety issues; systems that identify and control workplace hazards; and a plan for employee safety training and education.

"I am proud of our employees because they have earned this recognition for their dedication to maintaining a safe work environment," said Cliff Albertson, general manager and chief operating officer for Huisken Meat Company. "Our company has never lost the small-town values it was started with nearly 70 years ago in rural Minnesota. We feel a deep responsibility to our customers and ourselves to produce wholesome and delicious beef patties in a safe environment."

Since 1938, Huisken Meat Company, a JNR Corporation company, has worked to bring the highest quality meats to the dinner table. It produces high-quality frozen beef burgers for home consumers as Huisken and RG's brands, as well as store brand labels for some of the largest grocery distributors in the country.

Commissioner Brener and other DLI representatives will commemorate the company's employee-employer partnership by presenting a MNSHARP flag and a certificate that exempts the company from OSHA Compliance scheduled inspections for one year.