Star Life Safety Inc.

New York-based company to open new facility in Myrtle Beach area

BY STEVE JONES - SJONES@THESUNNEWS.COM

MARCH 18, 2015 11:48 AM, UPDATED MARCH 18, 2015 04:07 PM

A New York-based company that is an integrator of life safety systems for hospitals and other users is renovating a 7,600-square-foot building near Myrtle Beach International Airport and plans to be up and operating by June 1, said John Cook, one of the company’s two principal partners.

Star Life Safety will be hiring about 30 people initially for jobs ranging from office personnel to engineers with salaries up to $60,000 per year.

Cook said all employees but himself will be hired locally. He expects to start interviewing in April.

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Originally founded on Long Island in 1988 as Star Fire Protection, the company formed Star Healthcare after Cook joined it four years to five years ago. It will be known as Star Life Safety in South Carolina.

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People interested in work will be able to apply through the company’s website, www.starlifesafety.com, which is under construction but should be online soon, Cook said.

The company is the first new business location assisted by the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corp. since former CEO Brad Lofton resigned last fall.

“This was the first project I’ve ever worked,” said Sandy Davis, the EDC’s director of operations and project management.

Davis said she got a call from the company in September and that it decided to move here in December.

Davis said the EDC is talking with two similar sized companies, one of which would be relocating its operations here, that she is confident will move to the area as well.

Fred Richardson, EDC board chairman, has said that smaller companies such as Star Life Safety likely will be the area’s economic development bread-and-butter at least until infrastructure such as a rejuvenated railroad, more natural gas lines and an interstate highway link is present.

Cook said he became interested in relocating to this area after his mother and two uncles moved to St. James, N.C., near Southport in Brunswick County.

Star Life Safety will sell, engineer and install integrated systems for healthcare such as fire sensors and nurse calls as well as inventory equipment it will be able to physically locate inside a facility using global positioning sensors, engineer and install temperature sensors that will keep track of food and medications as well as pressure sensors that can tell if infectious diseases are being kept within a patient’s room.

Cook said the systems can benefit hospitals, nursing homes and acute care facilities.

While the business will be headquartered in Myrtle Beach, Cook said it likely will have other offices to serve customers throughout South Carolina and parts of North Carolina.

“We’re going to start with an engineering department and see how it grows,” he said.

Married and the father of three children under 13 years old, Cook said he’s looking forward to a less stressful life for him and his family and the opportunity for his children to play outside year-round.

“I always wanted to move down there,” he said. “I always was a big fan of Myrtle Beach.”