BELGRADE — The Northeast Lumber Manufacturers Association announced in June that it has given Hammond Lumber Co. two awards for outstanding safety performance during 2016 at Hammond’s sawmill and planer mill in Belgrade. The awards are given to mills operating in the New England states, New York and Pennsylvania.

A Maine family-owned business founded in 1953, Hammond finished first in Division 2 for the combined operations of both mills. Hammond’s sawmill also earned an honorable mention in Division 2 for an accident-free year. Divisions are determined by the number of worker-hours logged during a calendar year. A Division 1 classification represents 1 to 25,000 hours, while Division 2 represents 25,000 to 50,000 hours.

In its 63 years of continuous operation, the Hammond mill has seldom had a lost-time accident and has won many safety awards. According to safety director Bruce Pelletier, there has not been a lost-time accident in the sawmill since 2004, nor in the planer mill since 2001.

A safety committee established in 1985 continues to meet once a month to identify and correct potential safety hazards on the job as well as discuss ideas for keeping everyone in the company safe during their off-hours, too. The position of full-time safety director was created in 2005 and has been filled by Pelletier since.