Twelve ElectriCities of North Carolina member utilities have earned the American Public Power Association (APPA) Safety Award of Excellence for safe operating practices in 2022.
The award recognizes a utility’s incident rate and the state of its safety program and culture.
Recipients of the 2022 Safety Award of Excellence are:
Group B (systems with 15,000 to 29,999 worker-hours of exposure)
- First place: City of Monroe, N.C.
- First place: Town of Granite Falls, N.C.
Group C (systems with 30,000-59,999 worker-hours of exposure)
- First place: Gaffney Board of Public Works (S.C.)
- Third place: New River Light & Power (N.C.)
- Honorable Mention: City of Rocky Mount, N.C.
Group D (systems with 60,000-109,999 worker-hours of exposure)
- First place: Town of Apex, N.C.
- Third place: City of Statesville, N.C.
- Honorable Mention: City of Lumberton, N.C.
Group E (systems with 110,000-249,999 worker-hours of exposure)
- Second place: Greenwood Commissioners of Public Works (S.C.)
- Third place: City of Concord, N.C.
- Honorable mention: City of Rock Hill, S.C.
- Honorable mention: Wilson Energy (N.C.)
“Safety is the top priority for ElectriCities and for our members,” said Craig Batchelor, ElectriCities Manager of Safety and Training. “It takes a lot of hard work to create and maintain an exceptional safety program. I commend these public power providers for their dedication.”
According to an APPA news release, 166 utilities nationwide earned Safety Awards of Excellence in 2022 out of the 283 utilities that entered.
To determine award winners, APPA first categorized entrants according to their number of worker-hours. Then APPA ranked them based on their incident-free records and overall state of their safety programs and culture during 2022.
The incidence rate, used to judge entries, is based on the number of work-related reportable injuries or illnesses and the number of worker-hours during 2022, as defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
“Safety needs to be the first thing on every utility employee’s mind as they go about their work,” said Jim Boyd, Chair of APPA’s Safety Committee and Electric Operations Safety Manager at Tacoma Power in Washington. “The utilities honored by APPA for excellence in this area should be proud of the culture they have instilled in serving their communities.”
Review the national list of 2022 Safety Awards of Excellence honorees at www.PublicPower.org.
For a list of awards ElectriCities member utilities have won since 2020, visit the Awards and Accolades page on the ElectriCities website.