CPPD honored with national safety award
WASHINGTON, D.C. and BROKEN BOW Congratulations to Custer Public Power District (CPPD)! Our local utility has earned the American Public Power Association’s Safety Award of Excellence for safe operating practices in 2021 in Group D category (60-109,999 annual worker-hours).
“Custer Public Power District values employee safety above all else,”Rick Nelson, CPPD general manager said. “We all recognize the importance of going home to our families each day; this is what drives our dedication to safety.”
This is the first time CPPD has received the award, however, it is not the first time they submitted an application. “You have to submit an application for three years. It’s part of the criteria,” Nelson explained. “It shows you sustain good safety practices for the long term.”
There is a lot of competition with 318 utilities from across the nation entering the annual Safety Awards. Part of the judging is based on the most incident-free records during 2021. The incidence rate is based on the number of work-related reportable injuries or illnesses and the number of worker-hours during 2021, as defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Nelson added, “This is a big deal.”
Cindy Linder, CCPD Assist. Operation Manager and Safety Director, said the award shows the dedicated the entire utility has to safety. “It’s not only one person. This is done company wide. It shows the commitment of the employees to be safe,” she stated.
While the award is for the entire company, Nelson said there is potential for more things to happen to line workers. Protective gear for line workers includes personal protection equipment including boots, gloves, hard hats, belts and hooks and reflective gear. It also includes managing line work in high winds and dry conditions. Last week, gusts of winds in the Custer County area topped reached 67 mph on April 6, 73 mph April 7 and 49 mph on April 8. “We don’t spend a lot of time in the field in the wind, especially when it is so dry,” Nelson said. “There are precautions we have to take.” Workers were taking plenty of precautions last Thursday as they worked on outages between Broken Bow and Hazard. Nelson said it wasn’t trees on the transmission lines that caused outages but rather debris flying through the air.
Bob Scudder, Chair of APPA’s Safety Committee and Industrial Hygiene and Corporate Risk Manager at Grand River Dam Authority said utilities like CPPD should be lauded, saying,“In our industry, safety is the top priority. This is a commitment that needs to come from the top down and permeate every aspect of operations. These awarded utilities have embraced this priority, and they deserve to be celebrated.”
The Safety Awards have been held annually for more than 65 years. APPA is the voice of not-for-profit, community-owned utilities that power 2,000 towns and cities nationwide.