Environmental Health and Safety at UNC Pembroke recently received a Safety Award from the North Carolina Department of Labor.

The Annual Safety Awards Program is administered through the Education, Training and Technical Assistance Bureau of the Occupational Safety and Health Division for the Department of Labor. Through the Safety Awards Program, private and public organizations that achieve and maintain good safety records are recognized.



To qualify for an annual safety award, an organization must have no fatalities during the calendar year at the site or location for which the award was given, and have maintained an incidence rate at least 50 percent below the average for its particular industry group.



Qualifying organizations can be awarded a gold or silver distinction. The Gold Award is based on the days away, restricted, transferred (DART) rate, which includes cases of days away from work, restricted activity or job transfer. The Silver Award is based only on cases with days away from work. They are recorded when the worker misses at least one full day of work, not including the day of the injury.



This is the second consecutive year UNC Pembroke has been awarded the Gold-level Award.



This program is designed to stimulate interest in accident prevention and to promote safety in the workplace by providing an incentive to employers and employees to maintain a safe and healthful workplace.     



The UNC Pembroke Environmental Health and Safety team was presented with the award at a banquet in Lumberton by North Carolina Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry.



“The invitation to represent UNC Pembroke at the awards banquet means the campus safety programs currently in place are working effectively to keep our employees safe. Our goal is to have a hazard-free work environment where each employee returns home every day without incident or injury on campus,” explained Michael Bullard, director of Environmental Health and Safety.