The honors, given out annually to operations for safety commitment and maintaining a record of safety excellence, were earned by Consol’s Fola No. 1 surface mine and Peach Orchard preparation plant in Bickmore, and the Southern WV Resources No.1 surface mine in Naugatuck and Loveridge underground mine in Fairview.

"There is nothing more important than safety – it trumps production; it trumps profits; and it trumps everything we do,” chief executive officer Brett Harvey said.

“The employees we have at the four operations that earned the awards are to be commended for the personal commitment they each have to safety every day. It is that commitment to safety which is recognized through these awards."

Fola, Peach Orchard, Southern WV Resources No. 1 and Loveridge also earned Mountaineer Guardian awards earlier this year from the West Virginia Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training and the West Virginia Coal Association.

The Holmes Safety Association, established in 1916, will present the honors on May 22 at its annual meeting of the West Virginia State Council.

Consol said in late February that it planned to restructure its production plan from a continuous operation to a traditional five-day work week, retaining 301 workers but forcing 157 to the unemployment line.

The plan went into effect February 22. The potential for layoffs was announced in December via a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notification.

The two operations within the Fola complex produced almost 2 million tons of coal in 2007. Portfolio-wide, Consol produced 65Mt that same year.