A Shining Star

Mt. Olive Pickle earns

Carolina Star Recertification

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 25, 2005

MOUNT OLIVE -- North Carolina’s Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry honored Mt. Olive Pickle Company, Inc. April 25 with its recertification as a Carolina Star site.

"Thank you from the bottom of my

heart for how much you care about each other,” Mrs. Berry said in a ceremony held at the Corner of Cucumber & Vine on the plant site. “It is truly a high honor we bestow on you today.”

The ceremony was attended by invited guests, supervisors, Mt. Olive Pickle’s Safety Committee members and Five-Star Employees. Five-Star Employees are those who have identified at least five significant safety hazards for correction. All employees joined in the celebration Tuesday, April 26 with a catered steak meal.

“I congratulate each and every employee here at Mt. Olive Pickle Company,” said Vic Beverage, vice president of manufacturing. “It’s your participation and your dedication to the safety and health of your fellow worker that has made this process work, and will carry this process forward as we start a new quest tomorrow.”

Mt. Olive first earned recognition as a Rising Star in 2001, and achieved full Carolina Star status in 2003.

The Carolina Star program is a rigorous safety process that requires management’s support and employee involvement, working in conjunction with North Carolina’s Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) division. Only 72 manufacturing and construction companies in North Carolina have earned Carolina Star status.

Star sites must meet all relevant OSHNC standards and have ongoing health and safety programs. They must also achieve injury and illness incidence rates and lost workday case rates at 50 percent below the national average for their type of industry. The three-year national average is 7.9. Mt. Olive’s three-year average is 1.53.

 The Carolina Star Program is known nationally at the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP).

During the April 25 ceremony, employee Brenda Pemberton spoke on behalf of the Day Shift Safety Committee about the impact of Carolina Star. “It has kept us safe. When we go out that gate, we carry safety home. When we come back, we carry it with us inside the building.”

Michell Swinson, chairman of the Night Shift Safety Committee, told the crowd that while Carolina Star is hard to earn, “it’s just as hard to maintain it.” She expressed appreciation to employees for their efforts. “It’s the employees who do the audits, it’s the employees who find hazards in the plant. They let management know what’s going on.”

Employee Eva Hinson summed it up in a line from her poem, “A Shining Star,” that she read to the crowd:

“From the front gate to the back fence / Safety is our number one defense. / So come on over to Mt. Olive Pickle and you’ll find / A Carolina Star that will always shine.”

-end-

For more information, contact Lynn Williams, community relations, at 919.658.2535 or 800.672.5041.