For more than 20 years, Georgia Tech has run a program for the federal Occupational Safety and health Administration (OSHA) in which the university’s industrial health and safety experts help small and mid-size firms make their workplaces safer for employees. The no-cost assistance ranges from machine guarding to repetitive-motion injuries to indoor air quality.
In 2000, OSHA inaugurated a new aspect called SHARP (Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program). It relieves exemplary worksites from random OSHA inspections, and can make firms more attractive to customers and more competitive in pursuing contracts. Georgia Tech assists in such areas as hazard identification, safety and health policy, training and leadership.
Two Georgia firms are nearing final approval for SHARP status – Phoenix Stamping in Atlanta and Hydrochem in Holly Springs – and four other Georgia Tech client companies are in the process.
