How Lamar Advertising Builds Safety, Trust, and Opportunity Through Certification
In 2026, Lamar Advertising is being recognized with a Gold Employer Volume Recognition Award from CCO, an honor based on the volume of exams taken across its workforce. The recognition reflects the scale at which certification has been integrated into the company’s operations. In an industry where work happens in public spaces, at height, and across thousands of sites, consistency is not easy to achieve. For Lamar Advertising, maintaining that consistency across 200 branches comes down to investing in people and holding them to a higher standard.
A Reflection of Leadership in the Industry
Chuck Wigger, VP of Safety and Risk Management feels the recognition aligns directly with how Lamar views itself within the outdoor advertising industry. He states, “From my perspective, we view ourselves as the leader in our industry… and I think we’re leaders in safety as well.” As one of the largest companies in advertising, Lamar has taken a proactive approach to safety which has often led to initiatives that others have not adopted. When speaking about CCO Certification, Wigger said, “We were the first to the table, and we’ve got the biggest table.”
Building Trust Through Verified Standards
For Lamar, certification is not just an internal benchmark; it’s something that extends outward to customers and communities. “Hopefully [our customers] can trust us and know that we’re highly trained and highly certified in the work that we do,” Wigger said. That trust is critical in an industry where crews are working in visible, public-facing environments. CCO Certification provides a way to reinforce that the people doing the work have met a nationally recognized standard. “It goes a long way,” he noted.
When it comes to employee development, certification at Lamar serves as a pathway for growth. Employees often begin with one certification and build from there, using it as a stepping stone to advance within the company. “We’ve got individuals that it’s a goal—to become certified, to move up the ladder, to advance, to better themselves,” Wigger explained. He notes that certification provides something more than internal validation, it offers a nationally recognized symbol.
Leaders within the company have followed that exact path. “[Some of our leaders] had every certification available to them when they worked in the field… that absolutely played an impact on them applying for the next job and receiving it,” he said. It’s important to the company that their leaders understand the roles they are supervising. “To be able to talk somebody through a job, you have to know how to do that job,” Wigger added.
Lamar’s investment in certification has evolved over time, but the impact has been significant. “Making the move to decide to become certified in every way that we can… I think that changed a lot for us,” Wigger said. That distinction has helped strengthen both confidence and professionalism across the workforce.
What This Recognition Represents
Lamar’s recognition as a 2026 Gold Employer Volume Recognition Award recipient from CCO reflects more than participation. It reflects a sustained commitment to CCO Certification as a core part of its safety and workforce strategy. From leadership to field operations, certification is used not only to establish a baseline, but to build trust, create opportunity, and reinforce a culture of safety! Thank you to Lamar Advertising for being a difference maker in the industry!
