Arctic Directory: EFS an industry leader in the life safety and asset protection arena

With a reputation for quality, EFS provides full protection for fire, security needs

Q. What do you most want people to know about your company?

A. We are an important part of United Technologies Corporation (UTC) Global Fire Suppression Group. We provide Fire Protection Engineering and Project Management services as well as field commissioning services, annual maintenance, repairs and fire protection products.

Q. Where is your company located?

A. 3138 Commercial Drive, Anchorage, AK

Q. What year was the company founded and by whom?

A. 1986 by Larry Jesclard.

Q. What is the company’s primary business sector?

A. Oil and gas, mining, telecommunications and power generation.

Q. Are there important projects the company is currently a part of or has done recently?

A. ENI Petroleum’s Nikaitchuq development on the North Slope, and providing fire and gas engineering support to a Solar Turbines project in South America. We are supporting Alyeska Pipeline Service Company with suppression system upgrades at several of their facilities and are providing engineering and equipment to BP Alaska’s 501 receiver mod project. We are also working on projects that will utilize fine water mist fire suppression technology in place of gaseous agents.

Q. How many employees does your company have?

A. There are currently 18 employees at EFS.

Q. Is your company expanding any of its operations or locations?

A. We have added to our field service staff throughout 2010 and our new Service & Operations Manager, Ron Rheinor, brings a wealth of experience to our business with over 30 years of experience in the fire protection industry.

Q. Is the company changing any of its services?

A. We have added services this year that benefit our clients, including restaurant hood system cleaning; we are the only certified company in the state to offer this service.

Q. What is your company’s main strength or its edge over the competition?

A. Our ability to leverage the resources of UTC Fire & Security (UTCFS.) Our close relationship with our sister companies within UTCFS allows us to draw on the strengths of all the companies within the UTCFS group and provides significant value to our clients as we are addressing all of their fire protection needs under one brand - UTCFS.

Q. What new markets, clients or projects did your company attract in the last year?

A. We have secured contracts for our services in support of contracts outside of Alaska and the US. Our support of the Solar Turbine’s project in South America has been a tremendous experience and allowed us to show that being based in Anchorage does not limit our ability to work on projects taking place around the world.

Q. What are the biggest obstacles to completing work the company undertakes?

A. Oftentimes it’s coordination of all the various groups at the work site that are impacted by the life safety systems we work on.

Q. What do you see as your company’s biggest challenge in the next five years?

A. Managing our growth.

Q. What is the average length of time employees work for the company?

A. Seven years

Q. What is your company’s safety record? What steps does the company take to ensure a safe work environment?

A. We have gone nearly five years with an incident-free workplace. We actively engage our employees in Job Safety Analysis steps and perform Safety and Environmental Task Assessments at the start of every job every day. We partake in third-party safety auditing programs and continually work to improve the effectiveness of our safety program.

Q. Has your company received any awards or recognition?

A We received awards from BP Alaska for our contributions to their Oil Transit Line Upgrade projects on the North Slope as well as outstanding sales awards from Detector Electronics, Siemens and Kidde-Fenwal.

Q. Has your company been involved in any community projects or charities events?

A. We take part in the United Way’s annual fundraising effort.

Q. Does your company have a website?

A. www.efs-fire.com and www.utc-fire.com