Public Power - November 2008 - (Page 48)

SAFETY ducted immediately. Reports must be filed with the safety department within 24 hours. Emergency response teams are trained in First Aid, firefighting, and rescue. TMPA monitors its contractors, as well as employees. Some utilities are reluctant to do this, Sanford said. “We expect contractors to adhere to our safety regulations,” he said. “If there is a problem, we discuss it with the contractors.” In some cases, TMPA has had to shut jobs down. In one instance, it had to remove a contractor from its site because the contractor would not adhere to TMPA safety regulations. “Years ago, contractors thought they could come in here and do what they wanted,” said Sanford. “These days, though, they know they have to follow our procedures, and they come in prepared to cooperate.” Of the safety programs and processes TMPA has introduced to improve safety since 1985, Sanford believes the written policies are most important. “These need to be specific, they need to have the input of employees, and everyone needs to be able to access them quickly and easily,” he said. In the last 28 years, TMPA has received 75 safety awards, mostly first place, at the state, national and international level, including awards from the American Public Power Association and the National Safety Council. TMPA has received the National Safety Council’s “Green Cross” award four times in a row. “We also received an award from our workers’ compensation carrier with the state of Texas, and not many people can say they received that award,” he said. More impressive than the awards are the “safety streaks” that TMPA has accomplished. The two longest streaks of no lost-time accidents total 17 years. The first streak began in 1986 and ended in 1993 (6 years, 11 months). The second streak began in 1997 and ended in May 2008 (10 years, one month). The more recent streak might still be going were it not for a problem in a hospital. In late 2006, an employee sustained a mild fracture to a finger and received prompt medical attention. However, during follow-up treatment, the employee acquired a severe staph infection at the hospital, which led to the lost work time. Because of its sterling safety program, TMPA often hosts visitors from companies and utilities around the United States and abroad who want to follow TMPA’s safe practices model. The visits are informative for visitors, but also help TMPA. The positive publicity TMPA attracts for its safety streaks, and the number of visitors seeking to emulate the agency record relays a healthy message to the employees. “The employees have become very excited about the safety streaks, and they have also begun to realize just how good our program is when they see people from around the world visiting us for information on safety,” he said. ❚ Maintenance Program FIXTURE ANALYZER KIT Test kit with special base adapter quickly identiﬁes system issue. EYE Ignitron™ LAMP Long life EYE Ignitron™ lamp with internal ignitor eliminates the HPS ﬁxture ignitor. REDUCED LIGHTING MAINTENANCE Identify and replace ﬁxtures nearing end-of-life that can cause costly return trips to the pole. 48 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2008 PUBLIC POWER http://www.eyelighting.com http://www.teainc.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Public Power - November 2008

Public Power - November 2008 Contents Perspective 10 Questions Capturing Knowledge Before It Retires Jackson’s GIS Search Keeping a Job Journal Japan Tackles the Kyoto Protocol Getting to 20 by 10 Damless Hydro Power Earthquake: The Hidden Disaster For Engineers Safety For Governing Boards DEED Hometown Connections Parting Shot

Public Power - November 2008

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