PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. — A construction firm in south metro Atlanta will soon reap the benefits of a new partnership organized by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
In October, the Peachtree City–based MEJA Construction plans to start its collaboration with OSHA and Georgia Tech’s Safety Health and Environmental Services (SHES) program, which is housed in the Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2). The partnership entails the building phase of two initiatives: the Riverdale Early Learning Center, in Riverdale, and a Henry County school project in Stockbridge.
“The technical term for the program is OSHA Strategic Partnership Program (OSSP),” said Thomas Dean, SHES’s senior safety consultant and partnership coordinator for the program. MEJA’s designated OSHA liaisons are Terrell Colvin, lead safety consultant, and Jenny Houlroyd, health consultant, both of SHES. To fulfill partnership agreements on schedule, however, any SHES consultant could find themselves working on any given partnership.
As cooperative initiatives between the U.S. government and a private contractor, OSSPs aim to reduce hazard exposure and prevent injuries for workers by flagging high-risk activities, tracking onsite safety, and identifying areas with room for improvement. Industrial hygiene visits, overseen by a health consultant, can include air sampling, noise sampling, and heat stress training. Paul Schlumper, director of SHES, characterized the group’s participation in these partnerships as “an important component of OSHA’s On-Site Safety and Health Consultation Program.”
The newly contracted OSSP for Riverdale and Stockbridge is not MEJA’s first. A previous partnership, related to the building of Forest Park Middle School, in Clayton County, was initiated in November 2023 and is currently in the process of ending.
For that collaboration, Colvin served as the primary safety contact and worked with MEJA for more than a year and a half. During the process, he said, “I provided safety consultations, employee trainings, toolbox talks, and supported MEJA in OSHA partnership meetings.”
Houlroyd also consulted on the Forest Park project and noted that OSHA’s offered services can even include foreign-language accommodation. “The last time I was at a MEJA partnership, our intern helped to translate the safety briefing into Spanish for the company,” she said.
There are numerous other advantages for organizations that engage in OSSPs. As Dean put it, “They gain national attention for entering into the partnership, and if OSHA does find a problem resulting in a citation, the company would receive maximum penalty relief as a result of being involved in the collaboration.”
The Henry County school project encompasses the demolition of Patrick Henry High School and the existing gymnasium at Stockbridge Elementary gymnasium as well as the construction of the new 171,855-square-foot Henry County STEM High School and a 9,804-square-foot gymnasium for the elementary school. The Riverdale Early Learning Center, when completed, will be a 90,000-square-foot building set on 9.3 acres.
MEJA Director of Safety Glenn Barr, CHST, cited some of the assets that the SHES team has brought to their consulting work with the company so far. “They don’t just point out problems—they help us find solutions. They’ll even walk the site ahead of an OSHA visit so we know what to fix or adjust before it ever becomes an issue,” said Barr, noting that he would not think twice about recommending OSSP to industry colleagues.
“Having an outside perspective pushes you to look at things differently and strengthen the systems you already have in place,” said Barr. “We’ve already seen a big difference in how smoothly our teams are working together. It’s not just about checking boxes; it’s about building a safer environment for your people. At the end of the day, that benefits the whole project.”