Aurubis Richmond and Nemak (formerly AGF Casting) have a lot in common:
Both are in the smelting business. Both are neighbors in the Augusta Corporate Park, and both are leading the way in the hiring of workplace safety managers in the CSRA.
Efforts from those manufacturers and other industries caught the attention of a national safety regulator.
Researchers at Trace One analyzed the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics series. Metro Augusta ranked #7 amongst mid-market cities in the United States.
There are 18.1 safety managers per 10,000 workers in our area.
“This makes sense,” said Cal Wray, Executive Director of the Augusta Economic Development Authority, whose staff focuses on recruiting companies like Aurubis Richmond and Nemak. “We have more than 25,000 employees in both manufacturing and healthcare.”
Here is a summary of the data for Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC:
- Workplace safety managers per 10k workers (2025): 18.1
- Total workplace safety managers (2025): 420
- Total workplace safety managers (2022): 300
- Percentage change in workplace safety managers (2022–2025): +40.0%
- Median annual wage (2025): $88,843
Wray says he’s noticed that most of the new manufacturers coming to Augusta are first hiring HR managers and shortly thereafter Health and Safety managers.
“It’s very important to our manufacturers that they have a culture of safety in place,” added Wray.
