Daniel Defense was recently selected to receive the 2017 Presidents Award for Overall EHS Performance by the Georgia Department of Labor and American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE). The award was presented earlier this month at the annual Georgia Environmental, Health and Safety Conference held in Savannah.
Daniel Defense is one of five Georgia-based companies recognized for excellence in health and safety by the Georgia Chapter of the ASSE, which covers roughly 100 of the 159 counties in the state of Georgia and has over 600 members. The 2017 Georgia Safety, Health and Environmental Conference award recipients were selected by a panel of volunteers comprised of professionals within the safety, health, environmental, workers compensation, human resources, risk management and compliance enforcement industries.
“The success of DD’s safety program is solely the result of an entire workforce that embraces teamwork, trusts in each other’s abilities, and celebrates winning attitudes and organizational achievements,” said Sean Polwort, director of training and safety for Daniel Defense. “Most importantly, Daniel Defense continues to create a climate where every voice is heard, every idea is embraced, and our employee's health and well-being is of utmost importance.”
With a combined 137,000 square feet of manufacturing space and a 49 percent increase in employment growth over the past four years, Daniel Defense’s training and safety division continues to maintain the highest health and safety standards for an ever-growing workforce by not only continuing to meet their health and safety goals but exceed them.
Up until late June of 2017, Daniel Defense experienced zero OSHA lost time incidents, a feat which totaled to 1,533 days or 1.2 million hours without work-related injury or illness.
Additionally, Daniel Defense has continued to decrease its total OSHA recordable incident rate from 12.8 percent in 2011 to 1.3 percent in 2016. Furthermore, the company sustained a streak from April 2013 to October 2016 without any OSHA Recordable Incidents.
“Every day we continuously strive to improve our programs, policies, and procedures regarding the environment, health, and safety of our employees,” explained Polwort. “We set the bar high, engage our employees, expect support, and always strive to achieve a zero-incident/accident workplace. This will continue to be the expectation placed on each and every employee at Daniel Defense. Our employees deserve to go home at the end of the day in the same condition that they arrived to work.”
Daniel Defense is constructing a $29.5 million expansion at its Black Creek facility that is expected to create 75 new jobs.