Atkins Kroll is the first organization in Guam and first automotive dealership in all of Region IX to receive SHARP safety certification. AK President Alex Yap and company employees received the official certificate from the Guam Department of Labor during a presentation in the AK Toyota Showroom.
HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — It took almost four years, but Atkins Kroll Inc. has obtained Safety & Health Achievement Recognition Program certification to become the first company on the island and only auto dealership in the region to receive the award from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
“Safety is paramount to all that we do here at AK. While achieving this certification was by no means an easy feat, we are committed to providing a healthy and safe work environment for our employees. Protecting them and the safety of our customers was our motivating factor,” Alex Yap, president of Atkins Kroll, said during the ceremony at the dealership last week.
Guam falls under Region IX under OSHA, which includes California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
According to OSHA, AK had worked with the Guam OSHA on-site consultation program since 2019 to gain the SHARP approval. During the first visit, OSHA consultants noted 32 serious hazards at the auto dealership.
“Including slips, trips, and falls, lockout tagout, fire exits, fire routes, electrical issues, potential volatile organic compounds (VOC) exposure, machine guarding, hazard communication, and other hazards. AK corrected each hazard,” OSHA said.
After two subsequent visits, OSHA noted AK’s efforts to improve safety through the use of technology, which made reporting safety hazards easy.
“By the third consultation visit, AK had implemented the use of an app that reports any workplace safety and health hazards, notifies the people in charge to abate the hazards, and provides reports when hazards are abated or there is a delay in abatement,” said OSHA.
Jesse Pangelinan, program manager at the Guam Department of Labor’s OSHA on-site consultation division, said he’s seen the company’s efforts to improve every year.
“They’ve reduced the company’s incidents rate and DART rates (days away, restricted, or transferred), improved its safety and health programs, and continuously increased training and hazard identification. I look forward to working with AK to maintain its SHARP status for the future,” he said.
AK received OSHA’s SHARP approval Sept. 20, 2022, marking a major milestone for the program on Guam. The certification means AK will be exempt from programmed OSHA inspections for two years.
“Guam can now market SHARP, which is now an achievable endeavor for other small businesses,” OSHA said. “SHARP acknowledges small- and medium-sized businesses that have used OSHA on-site consultation services and operate exemplary workplace safety and health programs. Small businesses that achieve SHARP status receive a deferral from OSHA or state plan programmed inspections for the period that the SHARP designation is valid. Acceptance of a worksite into SHARP is an achievement that identifies the employer as a model for occupational safety and health among its business peers.”
Dave Dell’Isola, GDOL director, said he was impressed by AK’s achievement and called it a “win for Guam.”
“AK is the first company on the island and in the Pacific to achieve this, even before Hawaii,” he stated in a press release from AK. “We hope more companies follow suit and consider working with us to improve overall safety in the workplace.”
