Beacon OHSS Moves to Midtown
Alaska business
“We provide multiple services, and before they [clients] may have had to go to two or three places to receive that full gamut of services, and now that’s all under one roof,” says Chief Operating Officer Amanda Johnson.
The old location on Cordova Street was about one year away from being too small, given Beacon’s rate of growth, she says. “Before, we had three or four exam rooms that were available at any given time for our physicals,” Johnson explains, “and now we have ten exam rooms available. Our drug and alcohol space has more than doubled: we had three collection stations; we have eight here at our new location.”
Plus, she says the Midtown location is more convenient, and there’s plenty of parking.
Current Issue
April 2024
For instance, Beacon staff operate a medical clinic for the US Space Force facility on Ascension Island, midway between Africa and South America.
Alaska is still home, however. Johnson says clients range from Alyeska Resort to the oil and gas industry, mining, fisheries, banks, housekeeping, catering—“anyplace that has opportunity for risk and exposure, regulated or not, based on their health and safety plan.”
With employment drug testing a mainstay of Beacon’s business, its client base expanded with cannabis legalization in 2014. Johnson says, “We’ve had a lot more small business opportunities since the legalization of marijuana and individuals having concern… about their liability and incident exposures.”
The COVID-19 pandemic provided another route for spinoff services. “Infectious disease is something that we’ve focused on for years,” Johnson says, “whether it was TB or flu and the initiatives around that, so COVID is no different.” Beacon partnered with the state government, the legislature, and the Anchorage School District to provide COVID-19 testing and vaccines.
As a result, Beacon’s pre-pandemic payroll of 260 employees has enlarged to 330, on par with Northrim Bank or Chugach Electric Association.
One Roof, Many Homes
alaska business
The new Midtown headquarters puts many of Beacon’s services under a single roof, but far from all of them. For instance, the company maintains a presence on the North Slope, operating nine year-round clinics, including ambulance service and a trauma room.
Beacon also runs an airport rescue firefighting (ARFF) training center in Kenai. “We have the opportunity to partner with the State of Alaska and have the firefighters that are across Alaska in small, remote villages all come to that Kenai training facility once a year for their renewed trainings,” Johnson says. “We have full live-fire training, we have aircraft props, both basic and advanced ARFF training.” Even out-of-state firefighters attend the trainings.
Wherever oil workers must clean, inspect, or repair storage tanks, Beacon is there, too. The Confined Space Rescue Team is standing by with specialized skills, just in case.
Beacon shares those skills, too, with hazardous materials training, fire extinguisher training, really all the common industrial training before sending workers north to the Slope. That employee preparation, plus pre-employment physicals, Fit-for-Duty evaluations, drug and alcohol testing, annual checkups, and safety consulting remain Beacon’s core services.
“We’re unique in regards to having both the physical infrastructure to render services for compliance, medical surveillance requirements, but also the administrative back office functions to serve as a third-party administrator or consultant and/or assistance with writing policies, conducting audits, and so forth,” Johnson says. And that physical infrastructure is all new at Beacon’s new home. Johnson welcomes anyone to stop by and see the space and find out how Beacon might serve them, as the company has for twenty-two years.
In their company kitchens, the Corporate 100 blend wholesome ingredients with exquisite utensils to create the scrumptious ambrosia that keeps employees gratified and contented. Meet the top Alaska employers ranked by number of Alaskans on their payroll, and learn the recipe for success. This issue also includes a focus on economic development initiatives in Anchorage and Kodiak.