We take off our hats to our first Safety Champion of 2019, Kara McElroy! (But not our hard hats, obviously, because that would be unsafe.)
Kara is, she tells us with a laugh, the only person her friends have ever heard complain about getting off work early. “I actually really enjoy going to work,” she says, as she explains what it’s like to be our team member at JRBC Packaging Solutions, a Pell City company that makes packing supplies used to ship automotive parts.
Kara started out heating plastic parts and assembling them into boxes, and then started helping run the machines that prepare those parts. “When I first started, I was basically babysitting the machines. But now I have a lot more responsibility.” Working closely to control the machines, she does maintenance when they’re not functioning right, and she still jumps back into assembly when she’s finished.
Her Operations Manager, Renee, tells us more: “Kara is aware of her surroundings and watches out for others. If she sees something that needs correction, she speaks out. She is a good example for our other team members,” and she gushes that in addition to all that, Kara’s work station is always clean and she always wears her PPE!
When it comes to safety, Kara tells us one of her secrets to success. She always carries in her purse a kind of “Safety Kit” – complete with gloves, goggles, even hair ties. Since she’s trusted with more jobs now, she never knows when she’ll need to protect her hands from the heat, her eyes from the machine blades, and more.
Motivated, cautious, and most importantly, always prepared.
Thank you to Kara for your hard work (and for bucking the expectation that you should dread Monday morning!) Congratulations on your achievement!
