Cintas Corp.’s Fire Protection Division Location F99 in Durham was recognized as a Carolina Star site during a ceremony on Thursday, June 9. Labor Commissioner Josh Dobson provided keynote remarks and presented the Carolina Star award and flag to company leadership.
“Congratulations on receiving the Carolina Star award, which is the highest safety honor we bestow on employers,” Commissioner Dobson said. “We do this because we know it saves lives and prevents injuries, and to achieve Carolina Star status you have to have buy-in from everyone, not just management.”
A comprehensive evaluation was conducted in September at the Durham location by the N. C. Department of Labor Carolina Star Team to determine the site’s eligibility for certification. Earning Carolina Star certification requires submitting a Star Annual Report. This report includes a review of company health and safety policies, as well as three-year averages of the annual Total Recordable Case (TRC) rate and Days Away, Restricted or Transferred (DART) rate data from 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Cintas Fire Protection Location F99 had a TRC rate for 2018-2020 that was 100% below the comparable rate for its industry, as well as a DART case rate that was 100% below the comparable industry rate, meaning there were no cases recorded during that three-year period. To qualify for Carolina Star Certification, a site must have a minimum TRC and DART rate that is 50% below the comparable industry average.
Dustin Hicks, director of Cintas Fire Protection’s Durham location, reflected on the challenges their safety partners encountered on the way to meeting the stringent Carolina Star requirements.
“It’s amazing to me how far our leadership and frontline partners have come regarding their foresight and true engagement in safety activity,” Hicks said. “In 2019, this location started the initial preparation and application for Carolina Star. Despite navigating through a pandemic, a constantly changing environment and many partners working remotely, the partners at our location stuck with it and here we are three years later. What a journey.”
Alice McKinney, senior safety and health manager for Cintas’ Fire Protection Division, reiterated the concept of an all-inclusive approach to safety, where everyone is active in ensuring the health and safety of their colleagues.
“The most important requirement for earning this distinction is that the location management team and the front-line partners must work together toward the common goal of eliminating workplace injuries and illnesses,” McKinney said. “Without this critical element, a company will not qualify for this recognition.”
Cintas Corporation
Cintas Corp. helps more than one million businesses of all types and sizes get Ready™ to open their doors with confidence every day by providing products and services that help keep their customers’ facilities and employees clean, safe and looking their best. With offerings including uniforms, mats, mops, restroom supplies, first aid and safety products, fire extinguishers and testing and safety training, Cintas helps customers get Ready for the Workday®.
The company is also the creator of the Total Clean Program™ — a first-of-its-kind service that includes scheduled delivery of essential cleaning supplies, hygienically clean laundering and sanitizing and disinfecting products and services. Headquartered in Cincinnati, Cintas is a publicly held Fortune 500 company traded over the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol CTAS and is a component of both the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index and Nasdaq-100 Index. For more information, visit cintas.com.