Daniels and Daniels earns SHARP safety certification
By Brandon Davis
Published in News on July 19, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/BRANDON DAVIS
Daniels and Daniels Construction Co.'s vice president Jeremiah Daniels, left, stands with company superintendents Shannon Longfellow and Mike Bryan, project manager John Schultheis and safety director Glenn Plummer as they hold the SHARP banner. OSHA awarded Daniels and Daniels last Friday for its high safety compliance at a current construction site.
Daniels and Daniels Construction Co. received the SHARP certification from the North Carolina Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Friday for its safety compliance record during the Wallace Elementary School renovation.
The Safety Health and Achievement Recognition Program awards construction companies -- that carry high safety regulations, low injury rates and have no hazards or fatalities -- an exemption from scheduled OSHA inspections.
Four OSHA safety consultants met with Daniels and Daniels' superintendents and project managers to present the certification.
The certification placed Daniels and Daniels into an elite group of three other N.C. construction companies that possess the SHARP certification. But the journey to meet OSHA's safety standards proved challenging for the 48-employee construction company.
Glenn Plummer, who has served as Daniels and Daniels' safety director for 12 years, said it took two years to get employees and the owners of Daniels and Daniels to jump on board with OSHA's requirements for a much safer company.
Plummer said the tree-page safety manual went through extreme updating, but after hours of training and continued safety compliance at construction sites, Daniels and Daniels caught OSHA's attention for the certification.
"We're actually trying to become the benchmark of safety in our area," Plummer said. "There are huge companies (and) we want to be on the same level as they are when it comes to safety. Just because we're a smaller company doesn't mean we can't strive for the same thing."
He worked closely in January with OHSA's industrial hygiene consultant, Jiles Manning, and safety consultant Chuck Murdock as they reviewed Daniels and Daniels' safety procedures for the school's remodeling progress.
"I've had a lot of contact with this company," Murdock said, who worked with Daniels and Daniels' compliance program for 14 years. "I've always encouraged Glenn and the folks there that they had a real good program and stuff in place and that they really needed to go ahead and step on up to the next level."
Murdock said Plummer listened to his advice, and Daniels and Daniels' superintendents Mike Bryan and Shannon Longfellow, along with project manager John Schultheis, met with OSHA's team for four hours and explained their updated safety program and procedures for the certification process to be finalized.
"We're finally moving to the next step," Plummer said. "We've worked hard to get where we are, and this is just one more milestone for us. We're just going to keep going."
The certification lasts the length of a construction project. Daniels and Daniels will keep the certification for 18 months until the school's renovation ends. OSHA will stay in contact with the construction company and visit on site for reports on continued training and any potential hazards from Daniels and Daniels.