Farmside Landscape & Design has thrown its hat in the ring for the National Association of Landscape Professionals’ (NALP) safety awards for 15-plus years.

Over the years, the Wantage, N.J.-based company has received Overall Safety Achievements in either silver or gold; the Best of the Best Award; and Most Improved in Employee Safety Award. Founder and CEO Miles Kuperus has been involved with the NALP Safety Committee for years.

“We’re not perfect, and we don’t profess to be, but we have a heightened awareness of safety,” Kuperus says. “Safety is all about heightened awareness and making sure the guys are doing the best possible job, and we give them the best means to do their job safely. Having a safe company is the beginning of being a professional company. If you’re not a safe company, you’re really not a professional company.”

To maintain its safety culture, the company holds weekly safety meetings that last about 15-20 minutes. Meeting topics are set at the beginning of the year by the designated leader of the meetings.

The leader is an up-and-coming employee chosen by upper management, and the company changes the leader each year for a fresh perspective, Kuperus says.

“We talk about near misses and direct hits every week and lessons learned and how we can improve off of what we just experienced,” Kuperus says.

Kuperus adds that the benefits of being a safe company have yielded positive side effects, as well.

“It’s a great recruiting tool by showing people that we are safe and professional and that we care for our people,” he says. “From an insurance standpoint, we’re able to get some reductions in our premium because they know that we’re doing everything possible to prevent injury and that we have the proactive approach.”