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Boart Longyear, a global drilling products and exploration services company, received the Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) award for its Salt Lake City manufacturing plant from the Utah Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The SHARP award is given to companies that maintain exemplary safety and health management systems.

The company's SLC operation manufacturers diamond coring bits. It employ 92 of Boart Longyear's 950 Utah employees who work at five different facilities.

"Boart Longyear is the best of the best, one of only nine SHARP companies in Utah, " Sherrie Hayashi, Utah Labor Commissioner, said in a statement. "It's all about making sure employees go home safely, and Boart Longyear has shown this is a high priority in [the] Salt Lake City plant."

The facility works with Utah's OSHA to identify and implement best practices to protect workers by developing an innovative management system, said Kelly Call, environmental health and safety coordinator for the plant.

"Not many companies would invite OSHA to inspect their facilities," Call said. "However, we want to assure our employees that they are working in the safest place possible."

With the recognition as a SHARP facility, the Boart Longyear plant is granted an exemption from OSHA programmed inspections for up to two years.