BELGRADE — The National Safety Council announced last month that six Hammond Lumber Co. stores have won the 2018 Industry Leader Award for outstanding safety. The award goes to the top 5 percent of NSC 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.

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.