ASHTABULA — It may have been windy and a bit rainy Thursday, but many area business people were basking in sunshine.

Availability to more than a dozen vendors, door prizes, an enthusiastic guest speaker and a delicious catered dinner created a warm atmosphere for the Ashtabula County Safety Council’s annual awards banquet held Thursday afternoon at the Andrus Party Center. The event was sponsored by the Ashtabula County Joint Vocational School and presented by Ashtabula County Safety Council and the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.

Luke Sawicki, president of the Safety Council’s board of trustees, welcomed the crowd of more than 225 people.

“We have a record crowd today,” said Michelle Francisco, senior manager, Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Division of Safety and Hygiene. “This is the first time it’s ever sold out.”

The guest speaker Brad Hunt, who is a veteran environmental health and safety consultant, talked on the use of appropriate business management principles to reduce risk, create operational efficiencies and control costs.

Andy Laituri of Ashta Chemicals won Dixon Greenwood Award. This award was created in honor of Dixon Greenwood, supervisor of operations and a safety engineer at Union Carbide for nearly 33 years. Since 1979, He has been instrumental in developing and growing the Ashtabula County Safety Council.

Pasticolors garnered the Safety is Paramount Award, designed to honor the company which has shown the most dedication and activity during the year.

Safety awards then were presented to more than 75 area companies: AE Steel Erectors, A. Louis Supply Co., Advanced Medical Systems, Advanced Technology Corp., American Alert Corp., Andover Village Retirement, APL Electric, Aqua Ohio, Arthur Louis Steel, Ashta Chemicals, Ashtabula Area City School, Ashtabula Concrete, Ashtabula County Joint Vocational School, Ashtabula Metropolitan Housing Authority, Ashtabula Rubber, Ashtabula Township, ATC Lighting and Plastics, Austinburg Township, Buckeye Local Schools, Catholic Charities, Channel Products, Community Care Ambulance, Creative Millwork of Ohio, Delta Railroad Construction, Detrex, Domino Logistics, ESCA Welding, F&B Briningers, Fenton Manufacturing, Foseco Metal, Gabriel Performance Products, Geneva Area City Schools, Grand Valley Local Schools, Greenleaf Motor Express, Hart and Hart, Have Inc., Holiday Camplands, Homestead, HS Spring of Ohio, Hughes Roller, Iten Industries, Jim Dandy Cleaning, KD Lamp Company, Kennametal, Kinder Morgan/Pinney Dock, Koski Construction, LT Harnett Trucking, MDR Corporation, Meese Orbitron Dunne, Metal Sales, Molded Fiber Glass-Composite, Molded Fiber Glass Premier, MIllenium Chemicals, Mohawk Fine Papers, Nassief Ford, Northeast Box Company, Occupational Safety Solutions, Ohio American Water, Plasticolors, Presrite Corp., Reserve Environmental Services, Schwartz Construction, Smurfit-Stone, Speech, Hearing and Rehab, Spring Team Inc, State Road Occupational Medicine, Sunshine Healthcare, Tegam Inc., Thomas Fence, TMK and Associates, Union Industrial Contractors, Village of Jefferson, Village of North Kingsville, Wayne-Dalton Plastics, Welded Tubes Inc., Witt Enterprises, Zehrco-Giancola and Ziegler Heating Company.

Francisco said she was thankful the Ashtabula County Joint Vocational School took over the sponsorship of the program.

“They are serving it very well,” she said. “We also appreciate the work of the steering committee members.”