By Rich Larson
Cardinal Glass in Northfield has been accepted into a state workplace safety program reached by only a small number of employers. The city will recognize the plant this week, and a flag-raising ceremony will follow next week.
The Northfield City Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday night on a proclamation honoring the company. The flag-raising ceremony is set for 10:30 a.m. Nov. 19 at the plant.
Cardinal was officially accepted Sept. 9 into MNSTAR, Minnesota’s version of the federal Voluntary Protection Program. Vern Volkert of Cardinal said the program is run by OSHA and requires a company to open its doors to regulators.
“Basically it’s an OSHA-based program where you invite OSHA into your plant and you work with them to go over your processes,” Volkert said. “It’s kind of a rigorous system.”
Volkert said the plant began working toward acceptance about 18 months ago. It started with a 55-page application, followed by a pre-audit and then a full audit.
“It takes quite a bit just to get them to look at you,” he said.
Volkert said the effort is mostly about changing the plant’s culture. “Every process that we look at now, we want to look at it differently,” he said. “And every employee is looking at things differently now.”
He said the change spreads through the workforce of about 130 employees. The plant also uses Safe Start, a safety mindset program it adopted from Cardinal’s Fargo, North Dakota, plant. Safety teams from Cardinal’s plants also audit one another.
Representatives of Minnesota OSHA will attend the Nov. 19 ceremony. Afterward, the whole plant will raise the MNSTAR flag. Volkert said the company put up a new flagpole just for the occasion.
The recognition comes as the plant celebrates 40 years in Northfield. It opened in 1986 as the company’s first coated-glass operation. It was the fourth Cardinal plant, and the company now has 48 nationwide. Volkert said company president Roger O’Shaughnessy picked Northfield partly because his daughter was attending St. Olaf College.
Volkert said the anniversary is about people, not production, and he attributed the success of the Northfield plant to “the dedication of the employees over the years.”
Cardinal is hiring. Volkert said the company looks for people with good attitudes and trains them on the job.
Rich Larson is the owner and General Manager of KYMN Radio. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
