What started as a local effort to improve workplace safety has led to a prestigious designation for a Clancy firm.

Marks-Miller Post & Pole recently re-joined the Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) from the Occupational Safety & Health Administration.

The firm first sought and earned the SHARP designation last year, at the suggestion of the Montana Department of Labor and Industry. The latest renewal is for a two-year term.

"We asked for an independent inspection from them, and once they did that, they asked us if we would consider going the extra step and becoming a SHARP program, and we went the extra step," said Karen Miller, a co-owner of Marks-Miller who's in charge of safety and compliance.

Marks-Miller manufactures fence posts and rails. In addition to cutting and peeling raw logs, the company chemically treats the finished products, and employs its own truck drivers to deliver the fence products.

The entire process leaves plenty of opportunity for workplace accidents, and Miller said the 15-person firm (plus four owners) strives to push safety at every turn.

The SHARP designation doesn't bring any immediate benefits, other than two years without and OSHA inspection. But Miller said it's all part of developing a culture of preventing injuries.

"Basically, it's having a place where your employees are safe, and a good environment for them to work in," she said. "The employees feel a part of what you're doing, and you set up that whole culture."

Sandra Mihalik, project manager for Labor & Industry's Bureau of Workplace Safety and Health, said the department conducted a thorough inspection of every process at the 31-year-old business, and made suggestions that might improve safety.

"We not only evaluate those hazards, but we look at their injury logs, ask how they include their employees, what kind of safety committee do they have, that kind of thing," she said.

She noted that while the designation itself doesn't mandate lower rates for things like workers' compensation insurance, most SHARP particpants have lower rates based on clean safety records.

Mihalik said Marks-Miller is one of just a handful of Montana firms included in the SHARP program, and is quite small by SHARP standards.