Of Our Dedication to Safety

Across our operations, associates work over two million hours a year. In each of these hours, they make decisions that impact their teammates’ and their own safety. Luck Companies is committed to ensuring our associates have the tools to make the right decisions and return home safely each day.

Our behavior-based safety program, Value Safety, empowers associates to hold safety as a core value, resulting in a focus on behaviors that eliminate potential hazards.

At Luck Companies, safety isn’t the safety manager’s job; rather, it is the responsibility of every associate. It is a value.

“What it really boils down to is a strong culture of looking after one another,” said Troy Austin, Value Safety Manager. “It’s looking to your right and left and making sure you and your teammates are not doing anything that will jeopardize safety, a critical pillar of our company’s people-focused culture.”

We support our safety culture with a rigorous set of tools, training, and resources to guide associates along the way.

“We invest in the equipment, processes, and educational curriculum our associates need to make their jobs as safe as possible,” said Abel Parker, Director of Risk Management. “This includes a rigorous training program for new associates, refresher courses for existing associates, and job-specific training to ensure they know how to apply it day in and day out.”

“Often, when something does break down, we can turn around and tie it back to one of those three components, reinforcing our belief that when all of the pieces are in place – our safety program really works. That’s a powerful message and reminder for all of us,” Troy said.

“It’s just mind-blowing to think about all of the choices made every single day at a location—thousands of choices. Crushing 20 million tons of stone and going 20 years without a reportable injury. It’s incredible,” Troy said.

Randy McMasters, Plant Lead at Powhatan, has worked at Luck Stone for 35 years and has seen firsthand how the culture led to this phenomenal record.

“We are family here,” he said. “We want everyone to go home the way they came to work. We aren’t afraid to approach each other if we see something that could be unsafe, and it’s a part of our culture to do that—it’s expected.”

Randy was also present on site when the last reportable injury occurred 20 years ago and attributes the commitment to training and communication for keeping Powhatan’s 23 associates safe since then.

Darren Prince, Plant Manager at Powhatan, can attest to Powhatan’s family-like, supportive atmosphere. He also attributes all of the success to the associates who are doing the work every day.

“In the last 20 years, the management has changed, and the team has changed, but the commitment to a safety culture has not changed,” he said. “The team in the field provides leadership to new team members and continues to reinforce that safety is a value.”