Liberty Building Systems Makes Notable Safety Gains

Liberty's manufacturing facility in Selmer, Tennessee. The company made noticable safety gains during the previous fiscal year.

BARTLETT, Tennessee, July 7, 2006 - Liberty Building Systems (www.LibertyBuildings.com) achieved a remarkable 420 percent improvement in the company’s safety record for the recently concluded 2004 through 2005 fiscal year, it was announced by Tom Chaney, general manager of the company. Liberty Building Systems is a pre-engineered metal building manufacturer with offices in Bartlett and manufacturing operations in Selmer, Tenn. The company employs approximately 150 personnel in the office and plant workforce.

The record compared to the previous year represented the best improvement among the six regional locations that comprise the Buildings Division of Butler Manufacturing Company, a BlueScope Steel Company. Liberty operates as a business unit within Butler but sells metal buildings on the open market versus an affiliated network of Butler Builders®.

The company measures the safety performance by a formula that compares the number of manhours worked against the incidence of injuries. Chaney added that industry studies conclude the challenge of maintaining favorable safety records is even greater in a company with a relatively young labor force, such as Liberty Building Systems. The safety program at Liberty Buildings set a goal to stay at or below a 40 Medical Treatment Incidence Ranking (MTIR). The fiscal year closed with a modest 18.5 MTIR, compared to 77.67 MTIR the previous year. Liberty operations have gone 12 months without experiencing a lost-time incident.

Chaney attributes the improvement to the addition of a full-time safety coordinator, renewed focus by all work teams in the company through monthly reviews of safe work practices and total participation by workers in the Safety Audit and Recommendations Program.