Guntersville Terminal Celebrates Two Safety Milestones

Watco’s Guntersville Terminal in Alabama takes a simple, but effective, approach to safety: “Be where your feet are.” This philosophy helped the team reach 6,000 days without a reportable injury on November 28, and on December 1, they marked 28 years without a lost-time injury.

“We have signs with the phrase on every door. Everyone sees it before they leave the office,” said Terminal Manager Scott King. “It’s a reminder to be present in the moment. If you’re working on a railcar, just focus on that railcar. If something doesn’t look right, sound right, feel right, or even smell right, stop work and we’ll figure it out.”

There are six team members at Guntersville, including King. They handle everything from pig iron and steel to rock, caustic soda, and more. They move the commodities between barges, trucks, rail, and storage in tanks or near the dock. No days are the same due to the diversity of their work.

King says the willingness of more experienced team members to teach newer hires and the team’s ability to quickly welcome new faces into the family are key parts of their safety culture. It helps make everyone feel invested in safe operations and reduces turnover. Team members at Guntersville range in experience from two years to 30.

“Some of us have been here long enough to celebrate the births of children and then births of grandbabies,” said King, who’s in his 28th year at the terminal. “We do our best to bring in the right people and invest in them professionally and personally. When you feel like a family, safety becomes
second nature.”

The team celebrated both milestones with a Christmas luncheon on December 19, where they received gifts to commemorate the accomplishments.