Processed cheeses manufacturing · Illinois

Berner Foods - Dakota

Name: Berner Foods - Dakota Workplace Safety Data
Creator: PlainSafetyScore
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Dakota, IL · ~728 workers · 7 years of OSHA Injury Tracking Application data.

Compiled by PlainSafetyScore · August 25, 2026

C
Average Safety Record: 3.2
Avg TCR: 3.3
Industry avg: 0
Fatalities

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The verdict

Berner Foods - Dakota runs at 98% of its industry's injury rate - about level with the typical Processed cheeses manufacturing workplace, earning a grade C.

Berner Foods - Dakota: 3.2 TCR = 98% of Processed cheeses manufacturing BLS 3.3 · 7y Form 300A (see methodology below)

Berner Foods - Dakota safety composite

Berner Foods - Dakota scores strongest on dart rate (safer than 80% of same-industry peers) and weakest on fatalities (safer than 51%), blended into one 0-100 breakdown against same-industry peers. A missing measure drops out and redistributes its weight rather than deflating the score. This is a per-dimension breakdown, distinct from the single letter grade above it (which weights TCR alone against the BLS industry benchmark).

70/100

Percentile-weighted across 3 of 3 measures

Total Case Rate (TCR): C 3.23 per 100 workers

Safer than 73% of industry peers
DART rate: B 0.79 per 100 workers

Safer than 80% of industry peers
Fatalities: D 0

Safer than 51% of industry peers

Benchmarked live against every credibly-rated employer in the same NAICS industry code in the current OSHA extract (a segment must have at least 8 rated peers to benchmark). Not a legal or compliance determination; PlainSafetyScore's own weighting (TCR 40%, DART 35%, fatalities 25%).

TCR Δ

−3.1

2017→2024

Berner Foods - Dakota injury rate improved

Berner Foods - Dakota's TCR fell 3.1 from 4.3 in 2017 to 1.2 in 2024. Peak filing year was 2018 at 4.7 TCR. In 2024, DART was 0.24× this establishment's average TCR (severity share of cases).

2017=4.3 · 2018=4.7 · 2019=3.9 · 2020=4.0 · 2021=2.3 · 2022=2.2 · 2024=1.2

OSHA ITA Form 300A scorecard

Establishment book 311513 · Dakota, IL AT/BELOW-IND · MID

Grade C · TCR 3.2 · 98% of ind

DART 0.8 DART
RANK #4/8
PHOTO DDN Plant
BOOK 7y book
INJ 173 inj
SIZE ~728 FTE

Nearest TCR peer: DDN Plant (0.0 TCR gap)

Read with this employer → · Industry book → · Illinois employers → · Look up another →

Saputo Cheese

3.3
This site

3.2
DDN Plant

3.2
Mount Vernon

3.2
Dixon Cheese &

3.2

What this shows Berner Foods - Dakota averages 3.2 TCR (98% of the Processed cheeses manufacturing BLS benchmark).

Berner Foods - Dakota TCR series: 2017=4.3 · 2018=4.7 · 2019=3.9 · 2020=4 · 2021=2.3 · 2022=2.2 · 2024=1.2 · BLS 3.3

Where Berner Foods - Dakota falls in its industry

377 Processed cheeses manufacturin establishments

Safer than 73% of graded establishments in this industry, whose median TCR is 4.9.

Grade C

More dangerous than peersSafer than peers

Narrower to Illinois alone (the establishments it most directly competes with for workers and contracts): ranked #4 safest of 8 Processed cheeses manufacturin employers in Illinois.

Berner Foods - Dakota (728 employees, TCR 3.2) among 29 same-industry peers, split at the industry median of 130 employees and a TCR of 4.9

Berner Foods - Dakota has more employees than the Processed cheeses manufacturing median and a lower injury rate than the industry's median TCR of 4.9. Workforce size and injury rate do not always move together within the same industry -- some of its smaller peers run higher rates than its larger ones, and vice versa.

Year-by-Year Safety Data

Year	TCR	DART	Injuries	Illnesses
2024	1.2	0.8	9	0
2022	2.2	1.7	18	0
2021	2.3	1.1	17	0
2020	4.0	2.8	30	0
2019	3.9	2.8	29	0
2018	4.7	2.3	37	0
2017	4.3	1.6	33	1

OSHA ITA peer cross-reference

Establishment peer ledger

311513 · IL · Dakota

377 Processed cheeses manufacturing employers nationwide with a credible TCR · 22,804 rated employers in Illinois with headcount on file · 3 employers in Dakota, IL · 4 cross-state NAT-TCR peers · 4 cross-state NAT-SIZE peers. Closest matches by relationship code are listed below.

Rel	Establishment	Place	Metric
NAICS-TCR	DDN Plant	CLINTON, MO	3.2 TCR
NAICS-TCR	Saputo Cheese Newman	SAPUTO CHEESE 691 INYO AVE NEWMAN, CA	3.3 TCR
NAICS-TCR	Mount Vernon	MOUNT VERNON, MO	3.2 TCR
NAICS-TCR	Dixon Cheese & Pudding	DIXON, IL	3.2 TCR
STATE-SIZE	Response Team 1	WHEELING	728 FTE
STATE-SIZE	Ed Miniat LLC	SOUTH HOLLAND	728 FTE
STATE-SIZE	Phillips 66 Wood River Refinery	ROXANA	727 FTE
STATE-SIZE	Arjo Inc.	ADDISON	727 FTE
CITY-NEAR	BLACKHAWK TRANSPORT BERNER	Dakota	35 FTE
CITY-NEAR	Dakota Coop	Dakota	20 FTE
NAT-TCR	Amick Farms, LLC SC FeedMill	Monetta, SC	3.2 TCR
NAT-TCR	S03890 - WM - Tampa	Tampa, FL	3.2 TCR
NAT-TCR	Vortex Colorado - NDN	Denver, CO	3.2 TCR
NAT-TCR	Caldwell Memorial Hospital	Columbia, LA	3.2 TCR
NAT-SIZE	Amazon.com Services LLC - SDF4	Shepherdsville, KY	728 FTE
NAT-SIZE	Amazon.com Services LLC - EWR7	Avenel, NJ	728 FTE
NAT-SIZE	LSG Sky Chefs	Los Angeles, CA	728 FTE
NAT-SIZE	6925-BOS	Boston, MA	728 FTE

Rel codes: NAICS-TCR · STATE-SIZE · CITY-NEAR · NAT-TCR/NAT-SIZE cross-state. Read with this employer →

Data Source: OSHA Injury Tracking Application (ITA), mandatory establishment-level injury/illness reports. Grades compare employer Total Case Rate (TCR) to BLS IIF industry benchmarks. Data covers years reported by this establishment: 2024, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017. This is publicly available government data - not a legal determination of workplace conditions.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details.