SafeSource Direct keeps promise to bring jobs to Acadiana Region
March 21, 2022
BROUSSARD, Louisiana – SafeSource Direct LLC is keeping its promise to bring jobs to the Acadiana Region while preventing the U.S. from facing a shortage of personal protective equipment.
Ochsner Health partnered with Trax Development on a joint venture to create SafeSource to manufacture, warehouse and distribute PPE for health care and other industries last spring. Since then, SafeSource has invested $150 million to develop facilities in Lafayette and St. Martin parishes. Both plants are already producing PPE, and they have hired more than 500 of what will eventually be a workforce of 1221.
SafeSource Direct Human Resources Director Kevin Domingue said the company expects to hire about 40 people a week as production lines for nitrile rubber gloves and other PPE come on line.
“We have a dedicated recruiter, and we’ve had several job fairs,” Domingue said. SafeSource has hired for a variety of jobs, from welders assembling the plants to quality inspectors, equipment operators and line workers. SafeSource is also looking for chemical and mechanical engineers, according to Domingue. He said there are eight engineers on staff now. When they are at full capacity, they will need three times that many engineers.
Domingue, who has worked in human resources in the Acadiana Region for years, said SafeSource will be one of the largest employers in the region when it’s at full capacity. He said SafeSource is attracting folks who worked in a textile mill that closed in the region a few years ago. “They’re used to working around big machinery,” he said.
SafeSource has two facilities in Acadiana – an 280,000 square-foot manufacturing facility in Lafayette Parish that will also house its headquarters, and a 400,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in St. Martin Parish.
The Lafayette Parish facility will create 245 new direct jobs with an average annual salary of $45,300, plus benefits and will result in 199 new indirect jobs. It will include the company’s headquarters and a manufacturing plant for surgical tie-masks, bouffant hair covers, shoe covers, isolation gowns, procedure masks and N95 masks. Manufacturing operations will be located in an existing building near the intersection of the Evangeline Thruway and St. Nazaire Road in Broussard.
The St. Martin Parish facility will employ 976 direct employees with an annual salary of $38,000, plus benefits, and will result in 793 new indirect jobs. The greenfield facility will include 400,000 square feet of manufacturing space located on 49 acres in Broussard. It will include multiple production lines for PPE manufacturing, with nitrile rubber gloves as the main product.
SafeSource is adding an additional production line for nitrile gloves every four or five weeks, and each line needs 88 workers, Domingue said. There will eventually be 16 production lines in the first phase, each producing 650,000 gloves a day, with room to expand if necessary.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said at the groundbreaking last May that SafeSource will provide jobs and allow Louisiana to “play a key role” in preventing the U.S. from facing another shortage of PPE as it did at the beginning of the COVID pandemic.
“COVID-19 brought to light our nation’s dependence on foreign countries, primarily China, for PPE,” SafeSource CEO Justin Hollingsworth said. “By manufacturing right here in Lafayette and St. Martin parishes, and selling directly, SafeSource Direct will be positioned to eliminate the lag times, uncertainty and frustration that plague international manufacturing and shipping. Our hope is that these facilities will lay the foundation for more independently sustainable health systems in the U.S.”
To view the current employment opportunities or to submit your resume, please visit the SafeSource Direct Career page.
About SafeSource Direct
SafeSource Direct LLC is an American manufacturer of personal protective equipment (PPE) dedicated to keeping our nation’s healthcare and other essential workers safe on the job. At SafeSource Direct, success minded team-members use innovation and automation to provide high-quality American-made PPE at prices competitive with those of foreign suppliers. Headquartered in Lafayette Parish, La., SafeSource Direct operates a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Broussard as well as in neighboring St. Martin Parish. Positioned near the Mississippi River, rail lines and interstate highways, it is well positioned to distribute PPE to the nation. To learn more about how SafeSource Direct is laying the groundwork for sustainability in the healthcare industry, visit SafeSourceDirect.com.