Our History - Since 1971 — Major Safety Skip to content

Our History - Since 1971

On April 28, 1971 the Federal Government established OSHA. As a result, the cities and businesses of Southeast VA were in dire need of help. They needed a company that understood OSHA and the products and procedures that would comply with OSHA. In September of 1971, Major Safety was started to meet this need. Our first base of operations was the garage of a home on 5849 Frament Ave in Norfolk, Virginia.

Within less than a year, July of 1972, Major Safety moved to its first warehouse location at 3424 Azalea Garden Road in Norfolk, Virginia. During this time, Major Safety entered into partnerships with the likes of American Optical and Gastech. We began to sell everything from respirators and safety glasses to gas detection equipment. Even from these early years, we were focused on education, service, and product knowledge.

Major Safety 1979 WarehouseAs the demands for our expertise grew, so did the need for more space. In 1979 we moved to a new warehouse at 4500 Patent Road, Norfolk, VA. We've been here ever sense. How many businesses can say they've had the same phone number for 40 years?

It is here that our innovations began in earnest. We set up our industry recognized gas detector service and repair center - one of the first in the country. Over the years we have been and are a factory authorized repair and service center for Gastech, Aim, RKI, 3M, GFG, Gas Clip, Lumidor, and Honeywell BW.

We began our confined space training school, training hundreds on OSHA confined space standards, the use and maintenance of confined space gas detectors, and tripod rescue systems.

We were selected as the sole source safety supplier for the Norfolk Ford Plant. We received numerous supplier awards from the Defense Distribution Depot. Our owner was recognized for his excellence by being elected as president of the Norfolk Industrial Park association for 15 straight years.

We've led (and still lead) numerous safety fairs for the Naval Research Lab, NASA Langley, HRSD, and many more. We became an eVA/Swam micro business supplier for the state of Virginia. Additionally, we established ourselves as one of the largest FrenchCreek, Honeywell BW and RKI distributors in the Southeast.

One of our proudest achievements, this website, began in February of 1997. Through it we've connected with customers all over the US. We've brought our service oriented, small business approach to every state in the country. From Hawaii and Alaska to Maine and Florida, we've helped customers navigate through their confined space needs - providing know-how, product, value and service.

Going forward, we will continue to lead and innovate so that we can serve the needs of our customers with excellence.