J. L. Malone & Associates is committed to providing for our employees both an Equal Employment Opportunity and safe working environment, free from illegal drugs and alcohol abuse. To this end, we long ago developed in house policies addressing these subjects. Our Supervisors and Project Managers are all familiar with the guidelines provided in these programs. We have personnel in our office who have specific duties to monitor these programs to ensure that the guidelines are being followed. We also make these policies known to our suppliers and subcontractors. They are required to adhere to these guidelines on our projects. All of our employees receive a careful drug screening at the time of hire and periodic random tests are performed to ensure a safe, drug free work environment.
As an Equal Employment Opportunity company, we make a diligent effort to see to it that minorities and females are given equal opportunities, not only for employment, but also for advancement within the company. We encourage minority, female and disadvantaged companies to bid and perform work with us, whether as suppliers or subcontractors. Our company performs annual in house reviews of our EEO performance. Because we are a government contractor, the US Department of Labor, OFCCP, also performs periodic reviews of our programs to ensure that they comply with Federal EEO / AA guidelines.
We have realized over the years that due to the specialized nature of the work we perform, it is not easy to find qualified personnel, especially in the areas of substation and line work. To this end, our company established and maintains an accredited, four year apprenticeship training program, which was built around U.S.D.O.L. guidelines, and which has been approved by the US Department of Labor. The program has been specifically tailored towards the type of work that we do. This helps us to develop employees specifically trained for this type of work. Many of our employees, especially those at the Supervisory and Project Management level, have taken additional specialized training such as the Corps of Engineers training on Safety and Project Management, OSHA compliance and courses on the terminating and testing of medium voltage power cable.
Most of our Supervisory and Project Management personnel have come up through the ranks within the company and have graduated from these programs, as well as having served time working out on projects in the field. We have, over the years, been able to maintain a good, stable base of supervisory and project management level employees. Because of this, our Superintendents and project managers have many years of strong background with our company in the types of work which we perform.
We are a "Drug Free Workplace" employer. All of our employees are screened for the presence of illegal drugs or alcohol at the time of hire and periodically thereafter. We have developed an in house policy on this subject and we also work with a number of Owners and Engineers who have similar policies for the projects that we do for them. Our Safety Representative oversees and monitors this program on a continuous basis to ensure the it is administered properly and to keep us in proper compliance with current laws and regulations.
We are also an active participant in the Federal "E-Verify" program, which is used to verify that all new employees have the legal right to work in the United States.