Ale-8-One reached a milestone for workplace safety Wednesday when it received the Destiny Award from Kentucky Employers’ Mutual insurance for the sixth year in a row, making it one of only three businesses to do so.

The Destiny Awards are presented annually by KEMI to policyholders that best exemplify the insurer’s motto of “control your own destiny.”

Award recipients have reduced workers’ compensation cost through the implementation of formal safety programs, the completion of on-site training and hosting regular safety meetings.

“We insure over 24,000 policyholders in the state of Kentucky, and there’s an established criteria in order to be considered for this award,” KEMI Underwriting Manager Ryan Pinkston said. “Once all that criteria gets put into our system, 52 accounts out of this original 24,000 became eligible for the award.”

After determining which companies are eligible, KEMI then completes an individual analysis of each company to narrow down the 14 winners of the award.

From a practical standpoint, the work put into earning the award on the part of Ale-8 has helped reduce the company’s insurance premiums by about 75 percent compared to when the company first began doing business with KEMI.

Ale-8 President Ellen McGeeney said receiving the award for the sixth time consecutively was one of several successes the company has seen in 2016 — including being offered nationally at all Cracker Barrel old country stores.

“But I think every one of our employees knows that I don’t value any of that — even close — comparably to our safety,” McGeeney said. “There’s no job more important than everyone going home safely.”

The other two businesses to receive the Destiny Award five or more years in a row include Clas Coal Company and the Northern Kentucky Water District.