(WNY News Now) – The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities (BPU) Electric Division has been awarded the highest national safety distinction by the American Public Power Association (APPA), spotlighting a year of excellence in workplace safety and zero-compromise practices.
The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has earned the American Public Power Association (APPA) Safety Award of Excellence for safe operating practices in 2024. The utility earned the Diamond Award in the category for utilities with 151,946 worker-hours of annual worker exposure. The Diamond Award is the highest safety recognition a utility can receive from the APPA.
In 2024, the BPU Electric Division was honored with the APPA Gold Award for 2023 results.
More than 200 utilities entered the annual Safety Awards for 2024. The entrants are placed in accordance with their number of worker-hours and ranked based on the most incident-free records and overall state of their safety programs and culture during 2024. The incidence rate is based on the number of work-related reportable injuries or illnesses and the number of worker-hours during 2024, as defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
The safety award not only recognizes the electric line department and the power plant of the BPU. It also acknowledges administrators and managers, customer service representatives, customer service field representatives, billing staff and all employees involved in the Electric Division.
“The Jamestown BPU is proud of our overall safety culture and commend our Electric Division for this Diamond Award distinction,” Jamestown BPU General Manager David L. Leathers. “This award is a testament to the overall safety culture we have built at the BPU and the hard work that goes into ensuring that our employees have a safe work environment.”
“Harnessing electricity to keep our communities powered is vital work that can be dangerous, even deadly, if the proper attention isn’t paid to tried-and-true safety practices,” said Jon Beasley, Chair of APPA’s Safety Committee and Vice-President of Electric Cities of GA. “This award honors utilities that hold fast to these practices and – in doing so – put the safety of their personnel and their customers above all else.”
The APPA has conducted the Safety Awards annually for more than sixty-six years. APPA is the voice of not-for-profit, community-owned utilities that power 2,000 towns and cities nationwide.
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