Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Clark Public Utilities’ Joshua Vincent Receives 2018 Safety Heroism Award (Northwest Public Power Association)


(L-R) E&O Safety Committee Chair Sean Eskridge, Clark Public
Utilities' Joshua Vincent & Margaret Anderson, NWPPA
Board President Steve Taylor, and E&O Conference Chair
Pat Durham.
(VANCOUVER, WA) – Last week, Clark Public Utilities Customer Service Representative Joshua Vincent received the Northwest Public Power Association Safety Heroism Award at the association’s 2018 Engineering & Operations Conference on April 10 in Tacoma, Wash.

Vincent received the award for his life-saving actions on the evening of March 23, 2017. That day, Vincent was on a call with a customer when he noticed that she was disoriented and having trouble understanding basic information such as the time and date. Concerned, he suggested that the customer go seek medical help; she said she had a friend who was on their way. Not sure if she had help, Vincent called the customer’s home a couple more times over the course of 30 minutes and when her friend hadn’t arrived, he asked permission to call an ambulance to her address. The customer agreed, and the ambulance arrived just in time to save the customer’s life. She had been having a heart attack and was pre-stroke, so Vincent’s careful attention and concern was likely the reason she’s still alive. The customer and her family followed up with Vincent and thanked him.

“In a busy work environment, it would be easy to focus solely on the task at hand,” said Margaret Anderson, Clark Public Utilities’ assistant to the CEO.

Anderson also noted that Vincent showed compassion and fortitude in his insistence that this customer receive medical attention.

The Safety Heroism Award recognizes an NWPPA member utility employee or team that displayed an act of unselfish and voluntary assistance in a situation where life, significant injury, or significant property loss would have been incurred were it not for the efforts of the individual or team. The NWPPA E&O Safety Subcommittee selects the winner of the annual Safety Heroism Award with concurrence from the NWPPA E&O Policy Committee.