OCE Safety Moment Safety Shoutouts

FROM DAN OBERLIES - DIRECTOR OF SAFETY & RISK MANAGEMENT

As we close out the safety year, we have plenty of outstanding accomplishments to be proud of. We have experienced tremendous growth in our geographic footprint, varieties of service to our customers, number of employees, labor hours worked, and the size of our fleet. We also had our struggles, but we worked our way through those challenges. In the end, we learned and grew in our safety culture, and we are stronger because of it.

When we needed them most, our three Field and Office Safety Committees came together to identify more clearly what was challenging us, and what we could do about it. Out of those meetings came specific Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), best practices, alternative tools, and more focused training and safety education. We relied on each other to find solutions. Coming together as a team made us stronger.

We stayed focused throughout the year on the projects that we had on our annual agenda. We methodically made our way through those projects with the leadership of our Safety Team and collaboration of our stakeholders. The initiatives we launched have proven to be beneficial and helped to produce positive results.

Mixed into the year are some outstanding accomplishments:

• Increased our Human Performance Improvement education and execution. • Continued to develop standard operating procedures that can be used to ensure safe and efficient task execution. • Developed an entirely updated New Hire Safety Orientation Program. • Kicked off a telephonic triage program to offer fast, appropriate care for injured employees. • Internally developed hands-on training for our Vegetation Management Group. • Conducted hands-on training for our Telecommunications Group. • Conducted Electrical Hazard Awareness and High Voltage Awareness Training. • Redesigned our safety audit form and process, including data trending and reporting. • Added two new members to our team of Safety Specialists. • Launched our Annual Safety Day initiative, including administrative and operational leadership participation.

Thank you to all our employees for their hard work and commitment to working safely and collaboratively every day. We are each other’s keeper, and one of the most powerful safety tools we have is looking out for each other and caring for our colleagues.

Please enjoy the holidays responsibly and safely.

SAFETY SHOUTOUTS

“Recently, John Currier, JW, LU 43 reached out to the Safety Team with a question. At the Milton Cat project he was working on, the customer wanted a 480-breaker switch opened. The switch they wanted open fed another panel. John remembered from his training that this work activity required a switching plan. John’s foreman happened to be sick, and without someone speaking up, who knows what could have happened? Thanks to John, our safety team and the Project Manager discussed the work task and a plan was created. The switching activity was completed safely. Thank you, John, for displaying a questioning attitude and avoiding a possible error trap.” - Submitted by Todd Forman, Safety Specialist