CCI Ammo Plant Highlights Impressive Safety Record

The CCI/Speer Quality Department in Lewiston, ID, logged zero OSHA recordable injuries in the last 14 years, a period in which its staff shot and tested 50 million rounds. The 160-member team worked nearly 1.1 million hours during the timespan.

Figures were released for the observance of National Safety Month in June 2019 and underscore the industrywide emphasis on accident prevention, one that’s particularly noteworthy in this ammunition plant. It’s not simply a “check the box” exercise at CCI/Speer, according Bill Mackleit Sr., factory division operations director in Lewiston.

“Safety is deeply engrained in our culture,” he said. “The alliance between engaged employees and servant leaders allow injury-free environments and safety-conscious cultures like ours to exist.”

The facility’s approach begins by enlisting employees to provide process-improvement suggestions and observations, including those capable of minimizing workplace accidents. Supervisors, in turn, harness those deemed beneficial to the staff and company and are required to complete an annual safety scorecard.

In addition, staff members routinely participate in ergonomic assessments, audits, training sessions and other tasks tailored to minimize accidents. “All safety concerns are worthy of timely, corrective action,” the CCI press release explains.

CCI is part of the Vista Outdoor family of companies and is known for its high-performance and reliable rimfire loads. The firm’s workplace safety mark is particularly notable because it continued through the height of a .22 LR shortage that virtually made inventories vanish for months, putting added pressure on manufacturers to increase production.

The company was originally founded by Richard “Dick” Speer, brother of Vernon Speer of Speer Bullets fame, in 1951. The initials stand for Cascade Cartridges Inc. Although one of the company’s most popular products, the Mini-Mag, was introduced in 1962, it has never slowed in bringing new loads and technology to market. This year, for example, its debutants included the CCI Quiet Semi-Auto .22 LR, tailored for suppressed firearms—an innovation, no doubt, tested thoroughly by the CCI/Speer Quality Department.