BANGOR – A couple of years ago, after a longtime Cianbro employee died from lung cancer, the company became tobacco-free by banning smoking at all Cianbro job sites and offices.

Now the company is one of only 18 in the nation to have won the Wellness Council of America’s top award.

Cianbro President Peter Vigue said Tuesday that before the employee, who also was his close friend, was diagnosed with cancer, he had confronted the man about his drinking. The man, whom Vigue did not identify, was told he would have to get treatment for his alcohol problem in order to keep his job with Cianbro.

“As a result of that, he stopped drinking and regained favor with his family,” Vigue said.

Vigue never seriously pressed the man about his smoking habit, however.

“When he was diagnosed with that illness, I questioned my behavior,” Vigue said. “If we really care about [people], then we’ll say the difficult and challenging things.”

That realization and the emphasis Cianbro has placed since upon the health of its 2,000 employees have earned the company the honor of being the 18th recipient of the Wellness Council of America’s Platinum Well Workplace award.

On Tuesday, the company was recognized for the accomplishment at the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce office on Main Street.

By winning the award, Cianbro joins the ranks of other Platinum Well Workplace award recipients such as Merrill Lynch, Motorola and the Principal Financial Group. Cianbro also was a WELCOA Gold-level award winner in 2003 and in 2004 was recognized by the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine as the “healthiest company in America,” according to a prepared statement.

Vigue said businesses need to help change their employees’ unhealthy behaviors, but not just to improve workplace efficiency and to reduce health care costs. It is the morally right thing to do, he said.

“We’re very proud to have received this award,” Vigue said. “Hopefully, this becomes contagious in the state of Maine. There’s no reason why Maine cannot become the healthiest state in America.”

Cianbro, which pays 80 percent of health care costs for its employees and their families, does more than discourage its employees from smoking. It also offers its employees one-on-one health education sessions, access to software that tracks their individual health risks, and a $1,500 annual incentive to participate in the company’s health-improvement program.

As a result of the company’s efforts, some overweight employees have lost more than 100 pounds each and others have discovered health conditions they did not know they had, according to Vigue. Helping to preserve or improve the quality of life for those employees has made Cianbro’s efforts worthwhile, he said.

“We’ll expand and grow this program,” Vigue said. “We’re not backing off a bit.”

Dr. Larry Catlett, Cianbro’s medical director, and Rita Bubar, the company’s human resources manager, have been instrumental in making Cianbro’s health program a success, Vigue said.

Local business and health officials hope the award for the Pittsfield-based company will help Bangor become the first region in the country to be officially recognized by WELCOA for its health-promotion efforts. To qualify, at least 20 Bangor-area companies and 20 percent of the area’s work force must participate in WELCOA-sanctioned employee health programs, according to Katrin Teel, director of Bangor Region Wellness Council. The local council was founded in 2002 as a nonprofit affiliate of Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce, which was the first Chamber chapter in Maine to take on such an initiative.

“We are working madly to achieve that goal by January 2006,” Teel said of WELCOA’s Well Region designation. “We are close.”