News Operations & Management
Resolute mill in U.S. recognized as employer of the year for its resilience after a major fire

Resolute shares in a blog post that in October 2022, the company evacuated its Menominee (Michigan) pulp mill when a major fire broke out. The fire burned for 16 days through the densely packed bales of recovered paper, stored for manufacturing into recycled bleached kraft (RBK) pulp, in a warehouse space the company leases from a third party. The facility resumed production four months after its 100 employees were allowed back in.

In September 2023, the mill’s general manager Todd Clausen accepted the Employer of the Year award from the Marinette Menominee Area Chamber of Commerce and Michigan Works! at the annual awards ceremony.  

Clausen told the assembled crowd what it was like to rebuild. He recalled employees asking each other for the most basic workplace necessities. “Paper, pens, flashlights and crescent wrenches: Items that were once taken for granted had now become precious commodities,” he said.

The employees worked together to ensure no one was injured in the fire. While the mill was idled, Resolute reportedly continued to pay its employees.

Despite the fire, in December 2022 the Menominee mill reached 2 million hours without a single recordable injury. In recognition of their remarkable achievement spanning almost a decade, the employees were granted US$15,000 through the company’s Safety Award Program to donate to local charitable causes. They chose to distribute the reward among five volunteer firefighting departments that helped battle the fire.

Resolute shares that its employees also earned a safety award in 2021 for achieving 1,750,000 injury-free hours, donating $10,000 to a local organization that provides nutritional support to 200 school-aged children, and $5,000 to the local police’s canine unit.