(WASHINGTON, DC) – For
the second consecutive year, Mason County PUD No. 1 has earned the American
Public Power Association’s Safety Award of Excellence for safe operating practices.
The utility earned another first-place award in the category for utilities with
30,000-59,000 worker-hours of annual worker exposure. Brandon Wylie, chair of
the APPA’s Safety Committee, presented the award during the Association’s annual
Engineering & Operations Technical Conference, held in Kansas City,
Missouri. “Strong safety programs are essential to ensuring that electric
utility employees are informed and trained on safe work procedures,” said
Wylie. “The utilities receiving this award have proven that protecting the
safety of their employees is a top priority.”
More than 335 utilities
entered the annual Safety Awards contest, which is the highest number of
entrants in the history of the program. Entrants were placed in categories
according to their number of worker hours and ranked based on the most
incident-free records during 2019. 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 2019, as defined by the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA).
“We are very proud of our
safety record, which is a direct carryover of our continuous-improvement safety
culture,” said Kristin Masteller, general manager of Mason PUD 1. “This award
reflects the leadership from our operations director and foremen, our safety
training program, and the hard work that goes into ensuring that our team
members go home safe to their families every day.”
