The National Safety Council announced last month that six Hammond Lumber Company stores have won the 2018 Industry Leader Award for outstanding safety. The award goes to the top five percent of NCS member companies, units and facilities that have qualified for the Occupational Excellence Achievement Award based on 2017 safety data.

The Hammond stores recognized as NSC Industry Leaders are Belgrade, Brunswick, Damariscotta, Farmington, Portland and Skowhegan.

According to Hammond Safety Director Bruce Pelletier, the six stores had no lost-time accidents last year, a reflection of the company’s emphasis on safety.

“We strive to have no lost time,” says Pelletier, who became Hammond’s first full-time safety director in 2005. “And by lost time, we mean not only time lost here at work, but also time lost at home with family. There are three generations of Hammonds working in the company, and they understand what it’s like for other families. They want to keep everybody safe.”

Hammond Lumber’s Belgrade store won the NSC’s Million Work Hours Award after going more than a million consecutive hours between May 2012 and November 2015 without a job-related injury or illness that resulted in lost time. As of last month, Belgrade had reached 1,665,255 hours. Despite much smaller crews, Farmington and Skowhegan were also closing in on a million and hadn’t had a lost time accident in more than 17 years.

With the addition of the stores and staff of EBS Building Supplies in June, Hammond Lumber now has 21 stores and more than 800 employees in southern, central, northern and downeast Maine.

More information about Hammond Lumber Company's safety programs, as well as its products and services, is available at 1-866-HAMMOND and www.hammondlumber.com.