Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Whelen Springs Mill Touts Safety Record

The 23 team members at the Whelen Springs Lumber Mill have something to brag about. Not only do they produce high quality, square edge export lumber products for their customers, but they also have an impressive safety record.

As of May 29 the Whelen Springs team members celebrated working safely for 21 years without a lost-time incident. This impressive record means the team has logged more than one million safe work hours without a team member missing a scheduled work day due to an injury.

The Whelen Springs Lumber Mill is one of seven wood products facilities within International Paper to have recorded more than five years without a lost-time incident.

"Safety is something that we really focus on," said Andrew Jumento, operations manager at Whelen Springs. "We are dedicated to keeping the Whelen Springs Lumber Mill a safe working environment and we are always looking out for the safety of our coworkers. We all see working safely as the only way to do our jobs correctly."

According to Jerry Wicker, safety manager at IP, Whelen Springs owes its impressive safety record to the dedication of the team. Team members regularly participate in SMTP programs and activities to ensure that everyone is committed to working safely.

"Working safely is everyone's responsibility, and our team realizes that," said Dennis Williams, sawmill supervisor. "You can't earn a great safety record like ours unless everyone is totally committed to building and keeping a safe work environment."

Donnie Gulley Jr, SMTP team leader, said that all the team members at Whelen Springs are committed to working safely, because safety is a tradition at the Whelen Springs Lumber Mill.

"I take my safety and the safety of my coworkers very seriously," said Jimmy Mitchell, green chain operator. "We believe that by keeping ourselves and our coworkers safe, we will create an accident-free workplace. We've already done that here."

The Whelen Springs Lumber Mill, with 23 team members, is one of 41 U.S. sites in IP's Wood Product business within the company's Building Materials Group. The business includes 27 lumber mills, three oriented strand board plants, five plywood facilities, two pole plants, one laminated veneer mill and two distribution centers. Through improved log recovery and enhanced productivity, the business continues to increase its capacity and provide high quality lumber products. More than 6,000 employees are part of the Wood Products team.