Monsanto Site Earns Minnesota Star
Employees of the company’s corn research facility in Olivia, Minn., received the honor Jan. 25.
Representatives from the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry were on hand Jan. 25 to honor Monsanto's Olivia, Minn., corn research facility for becoming the 31st Minnesota Star (MNSTAR) work site, meaning the site joined the Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration program that recognizes sites where managers and employees cooperatively develop safety and health management systems that go beyond basic compliance.
"We are pleased to reward Monsanto for its commitment to communicate, demonstrate and practice safety and health excellence at all levels of the organization. Because of their ongoing efforts to reduce on-the-job injuries and illnesses, more workers go home safe and healthy each day," said Ken Peterson, DLI's commissioner.
"MNSTAR certification cannot be attained without the support and dedication of the site's staff, employees and management," said Mark Sellmann, a Monsanto testing and operations manager. "At Olivia, we have created an atmosphere of ongoing commitment to safer equipment, safer processes and maintaining a safe workplace." The facility breeds and selects inbreds for the development of corn hybrids.
Program members receive a flag and a certificate that exempts their facility for three years from MNOSHA Compliance scheduled inspections. MNSTAR began in Minnesota in January 1999 and is modeled after the federal OSHA Voluntary Protection Program.