For the seventh consecutive year, General Shale has received the N.C. Department of Labor’s (NCDOL) Annual Gold Safety Award for its Wilmington retail location.
 
The NCDOL presented the award, which recognizes outstanding health and safety efforts during 2016, to General Shale’s retail sales center located at 3750 Highway 421 North, according to a news release from Johnson City, Tennessee-headquartered brick, stone and concrete block manufacturer.

“At General Shale, safety is one of our core values,” Charles Smith, president and CEO of General Shale, said in the release. “These awards are the direct result of teamwork and our company-wide commitment to workplace safety. I am proud of the dedication displayed by our North Carolina teams, and I commend them for their exceptional records of accident-free operations.”

The Gold Award is the top annual safety award issued by NCDOL. The NCDOL Safety Awards Program recognizes private and public firms throughout the state that achieve and maintain good health and safety records, officials said.

To qualify for a safety award, a company must have had no fatalities during the calendar year at the location for which the award was given, and must have maintained an incidence rate that is at least 50 percent below the average for its particular industry group.

General Shale is the North American subsidiary of Wienerberger AG and a manufacturer of brick, officials said in the release.

“It is an honor to be recognized for excellence in safety,” Brian Ogle, safety and risk manager for General Shale, said in the release. “We have gone to great lengths to ensure our employees, who are our most valuable assets, are safe on the job, and our company remains committed to making safety a top priority.”