The North Carolina Department of Labor (NCDOL) presented the Building Star award to Patterson & Wilder Construction Co. April 16.

Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry presented company officials with the award at a ceremony at the company’s Castle Hayne offices.

“Each employee should be very proud of this achievement,” Berry said. “We are working with companies like Patterson & Wilder to make the workplace as safe as possible.”

The Building Star is part of the NCDOL’s Carolina Star Program. The Carolina Star is the most prestigious safety recognition given by the department. Companies that qualify for the award have exemplary safety and health programs in the workplace. One criteria of the program is that worker injury and illness rates and lost/restricted workday rates must be at least 50 percent below the national rate for the company’s industry.

This elite recognition program is awarded to less than 0.005 percent of North Carolina companies. Currently there are 15 Building Star companies in North Carolina. Patterson & Wilder is the only pipeline company recognized as a Building Star.

Additionally, before applying for the Building Star award, Patterson & Wilder entered into a safety alliance with NCDOL, which was officially kicked off in 2004. This alliance with a construction company marked the first of its kind for NCDOL.

“It is such an honor to be presented with this award,” said Gray Lewis, vice president of Patterson & Wilder. “It is something that our company and our employees have taken to heart and worked very hard to achieve. It really meant a lot to the employees to have Cherie Berry and Leonard Mangum come to our luncheon to personally present the banner and certificate. We are very excited about working together with the NCDOL to reduce, even eliminate worker injuries.”

Patterson & Wilder Construction Co. was founded in Birmingham, Ala., in 1962. For more than 45 years, the company has been involved with many different facets of construction, but has developed a specialty in the pipeline industry. The company performs mostly natural gas pipeline construction projects, some water and sewer utility projects and also environmental management and coastal recovery work. Patterson & Wilder maintains a regional office in Garner, N.C., and performs many of its contracts within the state. Currently, the company is performing two pipeline construction contracts for Piedmont Natural Gas in Wilmington, N.C., and Wadesboro, N.C.

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