On Thursday, July 12, 2018. OSHA Consultants, Mr. Gerald (Jerry) Cunningham, visited our facility and presented our long-awaited SHARP Awards to Zookbinders and its employees. It was an extensive, arduous (and strenuous!) process to get to where we are today. Zookbinders is named as the 35^th company in the entire State of Illinois to be awarded OSHA’s reputable Safety and Health Achievement and Recognition Program (SHARP). Over the years since Zookbinders started in 1995 as a professional wedding album manufacturing company, we’ve had many attempts to place a sustainable OSHA program that will work for our type of manufacturing company. Ideas shaped from Wedding Photo Album Manufacturing Managers to Human Resources Managers in developing the right program for us.  Other than our commitment to documenting the required annual OSHA Log, ensuring that employees are safe based on what we’ve read from books or seen on training videos, no one really knew exactly what we had to do in order to be OSHA compliant that will pass an audit with flying colors. Fortunately, in April 2017, one of our managers reached out to the OSHA Department and inquired for an onsite consulting service to further (and better) guide us through establishing a solid OSHA program. Although she initially hesitated to contact them in fear that the OSHA Consultants may find our facility non-compliant and penalize us; she was transparent of our need for their help. We received a response from OSHA stated that there was a long wait for an onsite consultation. This didn’t deter us. We kept an open-mind until we finally received a call for a scheduled visit! After 5 (five) months of waiting, we started the process to get our professional photo album manufacturing floor in tip-top shape. Our Program Consultants, Jerry and Ms. Mica Chunes, were instrumental to our success. They led us at every step and ensured that we thrived to get to where we needed to be. We solidified our OSHA Committee led by Mr. Greg Martinez, Director of Operations and Ms. Marisa Alfaro, HR Manager. With the help of many Zookbinders employees dedicated to the safety of our workplace, we continued to work with the Program Consultants for the next 6 (six) months understanding and identifying hazards on our wedding photo album facility. Most importantly, we learned “not to expose ourselves to hazards”. The OSHA Committee continued to meet weekly and discussed preventative safety measures and propose appropriate solutions. Today, our employees’ awareness to safety is heightened. We place a great deal of importance in keeping our place safe and secure from harm. We are VERY PROUD to be recognized by SHARP and are committed to maintain our safety programs!