Daniels Health

With the second largest healthcare service infrastructure in the United States, globally recognized clinical solutions, and an incredible founder and visionary who keeps us focused on why we exist, Daniels Health is poised to be one of the most influential healthcare companies in the United States in this century. At Daniels Health we are supported by an incredible team across the United States that serves with us every day to make an impact on US Healthcare. We believe that if we achieve nothing else but make work safer for the people who are at the front lines of healthcare, we have made a worthwhile difference.


At Daniels we have a strong vision that drives us every day. Whether this is preventing needlestick injuries and quite literally saving the lives of healthcare practitioners, or whether it is creating a platform that will facilitate our team to grow and find strength, courage and fulfillment in their careers; we are passionate about empowerment.


We don't fit the a-typical workplace; we're extremely entrepreneurial, we value leadership above degree, we believe in creating a family culture that empowers success rather than manufactures it, we believe in service at the most basic levels, we believe that what we do every day makes a difference.

The story of Daniels Health is not your typical narrative of a company starting out to make something quicker, easier or more economical, or a capitalist journey to commercial success; it started with a very earnest quest by an entrepreneurial engineer to reduce incidents of sharps injuries from medical waste handling in healthcare.


For Dan Daniels, our business founder and the man that has spent thirty years tirelessly advocating for higher safety standards in healthcare, the vision was birthed in a rather serendipitous way. While studying for a microbiology degree by day and running a family owned hotel by night, Dan had a chance encounter with a microbiologist by the name of Alan Perceval, which would forever alter his life course. Alan responded to Dan’s trading post listing for a second hand washing machine, and the conversations that were to follow from the $45 exchange, birthed the bold and unconventional idea that microbiology teamed with solution-driven innovation and entrepreneurialism, could save lives.


Some would call it an "A-ha!" moment--for Dan Daniels, he was simply presented with a reality which he felt he could not ignore. This confronting reality was the Aids epidemic in Australia in 1986. Previously unimagined, this disease bought to the forefront the very real threat to healthcare workers and patients alike that an encounter with a used syringe could be potentially deadly or in the very least irrevocably life altering.


In 30 years, from a home garage with nothing but makeshift PVC waste tubes and an irrepressible dream, Daniels has grown to become one of the most influential healthcare service companies in the world. Its safe practices have become the benchmark of global standards, its robotic washing and treatment technologies have achieved benchmark levels of decontamination, and its products are esteemed industry-wide to be unrivalled in protecting the safety of healthcare workers.


With Dan Daniels still leading the Daniels Health vision of our safer tomorrow, we, in our respective regions across the globe, are evidence of a dream that knows no borders. Across three decades, our innovations and advocacy for safer hospital waste solutions have helped rewrite global health regulations, and our commitment to environmental sustainability has driven us to pioneer solutions that have radically challenged conventional norms. In Australia, the United Kingdom, USA, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand, across a globally inspired vision unrestrained by culture or geographical footprint, we are working together to make healthcare safer

Without a strong sense of unified purpose, Daniels Health would not be where it is today. Over 31 years, our business has grown in strength and influence by the sheer determination of passionate individuals serving a vision bigger than themselves, and doing so with unwavering purpose.

Some of the principles that have guided us in our quest to make a difference are:


Invest
Empowering and mentoring our people to grow, lead, innovate and take risks.   

Trust
Believing in people; sometimes we have been disappointed, but this never outweighs the fulfillment of giving with transparency, sincerity and belief. 

Authenticity
Being real and genuine about who we are, what we value, how we give, and how we partner. 

Pioneer
Not being afraid to innovate or challenge comfort zones; pursue new ideas and ways of thinking, no matter how bold or impossible.

Maximize
Accepting with humility the gifts we have been given, and bearing responsibility to multiply and give back.

Agility
Harnessing energy, speed and flexibility in our thinking and execution.

Creativity
Being imaginative, expressive and innovative in the translation of our thoughts and ideas. Keeping vitality in the center of our perspective.

Sacrifice
Giving up to move up; without empowering others, we will never have the collective impact we aspire to make.

Focus
Keeping our purpose strong and single-focused in leaving an impact. 

Irrepressible
Being courageous; not allowing challenges, no matter how great, to deter us from our commitment to excellence, purpose and growth.

Vision
Having faith to believe in things that are impossible or implausible; enlarging our capacity to fulfill a greater purpose than ourselves.

Written by Therese Schultz
20 Aug 2018

Team Spotlight

“I don't mind what my role is in the long run as long as I'm helping someone grow and transform into something different.”

Visiting our Wisconsin clean processing facility last month, I had the opportunity to speak to Chris Smith, our truly amazing plant manager who joined Daniels Health in December last year. Being the closest facility to our Chicago support office, Chris has earned the title of part-time plant manager and part-time tour guide! He manages both roles with equal equanimity and has earned the respect of everyone who works with him.


What does a “Day in the life of Chris Smith” look like at Daniels?

The basics of what I do are simple. I work with the team to do the jobs that need to be done each day and try to get them to see the big picture about how their daily responsibilities contribute to healthcare. The ultimate goal that we focus on is to make sure the customer gets what they need when they need it. Beyond that, my responsibilities are normal firefighting for any plant manager; this involves everything from making sure the machines are running properly to ensuring that staff are aligned with company goals.



How do you define your leadership style?

I'm not a micromanager; my leadership style is to coach and be open. I want people to prove me wrong if they think they know better. I want my team to feel safe to fail and feel comfortable to make decisions on their own. It's great to have at least weekly checkpoints with my team because everyone works differently. Some people might want to work through a problem independently, where it may very well be beneficial to them to get the help and support of others around them.

 

"Daniels is clearly differentiated in our industry by the way people truly pour themselves into what they're doing here. Our team genuinely cares about what they're doing and how they perform. Nobody likes to hear that the customer didn't get what they expected or were unsatisfied."

 

Where do you see the business going in the coming months?

I see growth; I see growth for the people and the business. We are going to grow organically and quickly as we build up awareness around our vision. I see a lot of transition company-wide and scalability enabling growth without disruption. At the plant level, the capacity may naturally get a little constrained, but when you get put in a position like that, the true leaders come out.

 

What do you find the most meaningful in your job?

What matters to me most is the coaching aspect. I like to help people see things differently and push them to view themselves from a different perspective. I don't mind what my role is in the long run as long as I'm helping someone grow and transform into a stronger version of themselves.

"The future” is always bumpy at first, but I know there is a lot of excitement to come."

One thing I appreciate the most about this job is that we all come together to make it happen. Every person is driving in the same direction no matter what their position is, and the customer is guaranteed to be taken care of. In the short period of time I’ve been with Daniels I've had the opportunity to build out metrics to identify “did each person have a good day or not? Did we achieve our goals for the day?” by doing this we can achieve greater focus as a team.