Benton PUD received first-place awards in the category of utilities with 250,000 – 999,999 worker-hours of annual worker exposure from APPA and 225,001 – 500,000 hours of exposure from NWPPA.
 
“Strong safety programs are essential to ensuring that electric utility employees are informed and trained on safe work procedures,” said Brandon Wylie, Chair of the American Public Power Association’s Safety Committee and Director of Training & Safety at Electric Cities of Georgia. “The utilities receiving this award have proven that protecting the safety of their employees is a top priority.”
 
More than 335 utilities entered the APPA annual Safety Awards, 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).
 
Safety contest winners of the 2020 Northwest Public Power Association Safety Award are based on a review of the number of recordable injury/illness cases (the incident rate) in 2019, and the lost work days (the severity rate) in 2019.
 
“Benton PUD is proud of its safety record and safety culture,” said Rick Dunn, General Manager at Benton PUD.  “These awards are a testament to each of our employee’s commitment to take personal ownership of safety.”