Safety in the Utility Industry

The Basics Dangers

This course is dedicated to discussion surrounding safety. 

Some topics include dangers of working within utility industries and safety culture. 
In the first module, 
we'll be talking about safety and its history, 
and we'll see how we can play a role in enhancing it. 
Let's face it. At the end of the day, 
we all want to live and work in environments in which we feel safe. 
An ideal workplace is an environment in which you feel 
safe and you are able to maximize your productivity. 
On completion of this course, 
you will be able to recognize danger, 
recall the history of safety, 
State safety aspects in the workplace, 
discuss how to control your own safety on the job, 
and identifying necessary precautions for issues in specific industries. 
There's always a risk of electrical hazards at home or on 
the job when working with power tools or on electrical circuits. 
Utility workers have a greater risk. 
They're exposed to more hazards, 
especially electrical hazards on the job due to use of a variety of tools and machinery. 
Dynamic outdoor weather conditions varying levels of 
experience and other factors not common in home settings. 
Energy and electrical trade workers encounter 
a variety of occupational hazards due to the nature of their work. 
Although many of these occupational hazards are specific to electrical trade, 
electricity is the most common source of occupational fatalities and serious injuries. 
Electrical trade workers must pay special attention to 
electrical hazards to prevent injury and maintain a safe working environment. 
Contact with electrical voltage can cause current to flow through the body, 
resulting in electrical shock, 
burns, or even death. 
It's not uncommon for people in society to 
use electricity without much regard for safety. 
Because electricity is a familiar convenient part of our lives, 
it is not always treated with enough caution. 
As a result, on average, 
one person is electrocuted on the job every day of every year. 
What have we done to address these conditions? 
Let's consider a history surrounding raising awareness to hazardous conditions. 
In 1903, the US Bureau of Labor began 
publishing studies of occupational fatalities and illnesses, 
and certain traits, as well as other unsafety health topics. 
1912, the Bureau released a study of industrial accidents in 
the iron and steel industries in addition to a survey 
of safety and health conditions in the American workplace. 
During the 1960's occupational injuries 
and illnesses were increasing in number and severity. 
Disabling injuries increased 20 percent throughout the 
60s,and approximately 14,000 workers died on the job annually. 
Amongst an increased public uproar against this rising injury and death rates on the job, 
the government recognized the need to create a national safety regulatory agency. 
After nearly a century of efforts by government to mitigate 
the vulnerabilities of employees exposed to workplace hazards, 
president Richard Nixon signed the occupational safety and health act, 
otherwise known as OSHA into the law on December 29th, 1970. 
The OSHA act of 1970 is the most important factor of why 
today's workplace is much safer than those prior to it's being signed into law. 
Since the inception of OSHA, 
overall workplace fatalities have been cut by more than 60 percent, 
and incidence rates of occupational injury and illness have declined by 40 percent. 
Although dramatic advances in health and safety had been 
established through local state and federal regulations, 
there are still thousands of work related fatalities and life altering injuries annually. 
We must continue to reinforce the need for safer environments, 
and you can be a contributor to the field.
 Utility Workplace Culture

Employers, employees, and customers have 

an obligation to work together to create a safety culture. 
This holds true for all sectors including the Energy and Utilities Industry. 
Employers must consider the safety of their employees, 
and employees must consider the safety of the customer's. 
Organization says spent countless hours 
developing a solid safety culture for their organizations. 
Training has developed a little bit, 
and being that the people have changed. 
We went from a workforce of older people with 
more hands-on experience where you could get 
the field experience to now that the older generation of now retired, 
so now training focuses more on hands-on training, 
and more training in the classroom, 
so that when they go out to the field, 
they have more field experience 
to get them qualified for the task that they're performing. 
So, it's just developed from more less classroom training, 
to more hands-on in classroom from 10 years ago when I started. 
Example of this can be seen in NASA. 
NASA requires all of its employees and outside contractors, 
to take an online course in the company's safety culture. 
This is followed by an online quiz which 
must be passed prior to working on any of their projects. 
Many companies have stringent safety protocols and 
policies including those in the utility industry. 
Why do we want to consider enhancing our workplace safety culture? 
The Liberty Mutual workplace safety index estimated $60 
billion of cost in 2017 was due to workplace injuries. 
The cost of workplace injuries go beyond simple monetary costs. 
They have physical, operational, 
and financial consequences as well. 
Let's look at some of the potential cost of accidents. 
First, physical accidents. 
These can result in injury, disability, 
and death. Next, operational accidents. 
Some potential costs include repair and replacement of equipment, 
implications of public image, and regulatory repercussions. 
Finally, financial. 
These could be lower operational effectiveness, 
and or the loss production. 
What we need are consistent safe work practices, 
and a commitment of personal responsibility 
from all to create and maintain a safe workplace. 
Safety at all levels and sectors of a company is 
integral to personal well-being, and operational effectiveness. 
Companies must make it a priority to create 
an atmosphere that places an emphasis on safety, 
and all levels of employees throughout the company must be involved. 
If you're out in the field and if you see something, say something. 
We try to address issues basically from the core with if something's gone wrong, 
or something has gone awry, 
we always try to a dress it, 
we try to encourage our folks to speak up, 
even if it's anonymously. 
So, that's gone a long way in the last couple years. 
Management can drive and motivate safety leadership. 
Although employee involvement is vital, 
management is responsible for 
establishing opportunities for employees' commitment to safety. 
Employees must know that company leadership is fully committed to safety. 
Sticking to establish policies and procedures endorses the commitment to safety. 
Management must be clear that all employees adhered to 
the company's safety policies and procedures without exception. 
Let's look at some employer responsibilities. 
Employers should ensure compliance with OSHA standards and regulations. 
They should provide employees with the training, 
tools, and equipment needed to perform responsibilities safely. 
Employers should develop safety and health programs, policies, 
and procedures along with conducting routine observations and scrutiny. 
Employers should keep records. 
Make sure to resolve safety and health issues in a timely manner, 
and inform workers of the rights and responsibilities. 
Employers are also responsible for investigating, 
or resolving all allegations of unsafe practices and 
violations and employers should always maintain confidentiality and privacy. 
Although any utility companies have designated safety 
professionals so serve as leads for safety issues and resources. 
It is important to establish a company culture of safety by 
encouraging all employees to partake in creating and maintaining a safe workplace. 
Let's reinforce our discussion about outlining 
the major elements for an effective workplace safety and health program. 
Three major elements include leadership, action, and education. 
For great leadership, you should have an awareness, commitment, and incentive. 
Awareness consist of safety committees, 
safety posters, and safety bulletin boards to name a few. 
Commitment consists of management and employee involvement. 
Incentives consist of rewards for safety performance, 
and awards for maintaining safe work practices. 
Now moving to the second element to an effective workplace, action. 
To maintain consistent action, 
there must be effective hazard preventions and control. 
These can consist of worksite hazard analysis, 
toolbox safety meetings at 
all job sites which we'll discuss in more detail in a later lesson, 
and daily job site briefings also covered in a bit. 
Finally, the third element to an effective workplace education. 
To achieve maximum unstructured, 
you must establish conventions of safety rules, 
standards, and procedures, as well as, 
effective safety and health training for all categories of employees. 
To do all of these, we must constantly be aware of 
conditions in our work areas that can produce injuries. 
No employee is required to work at a job he or she knows is not safe. 
Your cooperation in detecting hazards, 
and in turn controlling them as a condition of your employment. 
Let's everyone do their part to create a strong well-maintained, 
and safe work environment.
 Responsabilities

As mentioned previously, all levels of employees 

must be engaged in establishing a company's safety culture. 
Just as employers have a responsibility to drive a company's safety culture, 
employee commitment to policies is vital to the success of the workplace safety. 
It's mandated by federal law, 
employees must comply with the OSHA act. 
Employees who disregard OSHA regulations by blatantly committing unsafe acts 
or creating unsafe conditions or putting themselves in a position to be let go. 
For OSHA grants for immediate termination and most companies 
include drinking alcohol or using drugs prior to or during work hours, 
fighting, stealing, willful damage to property, 
failure to wear required personal protective 
equipment or PPE including eye and hearing protection, 
safety helmets and all as required. 
Failure to comply with tool and equipment operation procedures, 
inappropriately altering safety guards, 
barriers and old guardrails, failure to follow, 
recognize industrial practices, engaging in dangerous horseplay, 
failing to notify the company of hazardous situations, 
failing to notify the company of injuries and deliberately 
providing inaccurate information in incident reports. 
Most employers expect their employees to be responsible, 
ethical and have strong integrity. 
Employers need to be able to pin on employees to maintain a safe and healthy workplace. 
They can look for certain characteristics indicative of 
an individual who will contribute positively to a company's Safety Culture. 
Employees should strive to be good communicators and share knowledge, 
best practices and awareness to help prevent accidents and maintain safe workplaces. 
All employees must treat each other with 
respect and maintain a collaborative work environment. 
Workplaces should be without discrimination or harassment, 
and they should provide equal opportunities to all employees. 
Ideal employees work in accordance with applicable safety and health laws, 
they are independently motivated to make choices benefiting themselves and others, 
they are safety conscious, 
they recognize when they are increasing their likelihood of injury due to fatigue, 
illness or other and as for dismissal from a task and they live drug free lives. 
Substance abuse places a major burden on the workplace. 
The impact from employee substance abuse extends beyond individual employee. 
Drugs and alcohol can impair workers judgment and 
coordination which can lead to an increased risk of accidents and injuries. 
Workplace substance abuse is a serious problem especially 
in environments where co-workers rely on each other for safety. 
Be a good co-worker and help 
your fellow employees by encouraging them to practice safety. 
Many employees have confidential, 
third party centers that work with employees with substance abuse problems. 
Employers recognize the value of their employees and want to 
encourage them to resolve their addictions rather than losing their jobs. 
Another resource is the Department of Labor's Public outreach initiative 
called working partners for an alcohol and drug free workplace. 
They assist employers to develop drug free workplace programs. 
Drug free workplace programs help improve 
workplace safety and health in organizations of all sizes and in all industries. 
Generally, drug free workplace programs include the following components; 
drug free workplace policies, 
supervisor training, employee education, 
employee assistance and drug testing. 
Effective employee education programs provide information to improve work performance, 
health and personal choices. 
Let's look at some health and wellness programs that are available. 
Employees are encouraged to take part in 
activities that promote healthy and safe lifestyles. 
Companies also value your employee's opinion and encourage suggestions for improvements. 
What advancements could you suggest to make you feel safer and healthier? 
Here's how you can help; 
identify ways to improve existing policies and procedures, help develop goals, 
recommend resources to attain company goals, 
recommend training and education topics, 
help develop their plans and provide 
constructive evaluations of offerings available by your employer. 
Oh, we tried to encourage new folks coming in that just because you're new, 
you guys are being introduced to 
all the latest greatest technologies and training techniques, 
procedures, things like that. 
So, we try to encourage new guys to just make sure that they're comfortable, 
not to be afraid to speak up if they're in the field they may see one of 
the seasoned folks doing something wrong, things like that. 
So, we actually incorporate that now in all of our training material to. 
Every class actually starts with a slide that's kind of a reminder, 
you know, training is a two-way street. 
So just be concerned with the new guy.
 Nuclear & Natural Gas

To ensure safe operation of nuclear facilities, 

the US Department of Energy or DOE, 
establishes standards for enforcing security at licence sites. 
Sites must be prepared to detect, 
assess, and neutralize threats by establishing, 
maintaining, and implementing safeguards, 
and physical security, cybersecurity, and personnel security. 
The protection of physical property and nuclear facilities 
includes: physical protection of plants and materials including during transit, 
material control and inventory, security clearances, 
area barriers and controls, 
intrusion detection and response, 
and assessment of alarm triggers. 
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission or NRC, 
licenses must establish, implement, 
and maintain a cybersecurity program that 
safeguards critical national security information and restricted data. 
The NRC requires stringent computer and communication systems protection, 
including safety-related functions, security functions, 
and emergency preparedness functions. 
Personnel security measures at nuclear facilities include: criteria 
and procedures for determining eligibility for access of special nuclear materials, 
access authorization for personnel, 
and evaluation of qualifications for duty. 
Supplemental to OSHA's standards, 
the US Department of Energy imposes special requirements for 
protecting individuals from hazards associated with working with nuclear materials. 
These include standards for internal and external exposure, 
monitoring of individuals and areas, 
entry control programs, posting and labeling, records and reports, 
radioactive contamination control and safety, 
and emergency exposure situations. 
Employees working with natural gas must be aware of the safety elements to remain safe. 
Natural gas is reliable and safe as long as it is used properly. 
Additionally, the related equipment must be properly maintained. 
As we learned earlier in this specialization, 
natural gas is odorless when taken from the ground. 
As you may recall, a harmless, 
a pungent odorizer called mercaptan is added as a safety precaution. 
The odor is so pungent, 
you can smell it even in small quantities. 
By adding the odorizer that smells like rotten eggs, 
folks are able to detect small leaks and can take measures to resolve the issue. 
How do you recognize a natural gas leak? 
There are three senses that can help: smell, hearing, and vision. 
Natural gas has no odor in its natural state, 
but the added odorant has a strong sulfur-like smell to indicate the existence of a leak. 
Depending on the size and pressure, 
a natural gas leak may produce a quiet, 
hissing, or blowing sound. 
A leak may cause the bleed to blow away from the source. 
A leak may also cause bubbling in the water, 
decaying vegetation, and in otherwise, 
robust area may also be indication of a leak. 
When the signs just discussed occur, 
move a safe distance away from the source. 
Since electric spark can ignite leaking gas and cause an explosion, 
remember to follow these tips. 
Call the responsible energy company or 911 in an emergency. 
Do not turn electric switches, appliances, or equipment. 
Do not start motor vehicles. 
Avoid open flames or other ignition sources. 
Stay away until the energy company or 
emergency responders have indicated that it is safe to return to the area. 
Service shutoff valves are located at multiple locations along 
the system and are used to shut off gas if needed in the event of an emergency. 
Prevent potentially dangerous natural gas conditions by calling 811 before you dig. 
Otherwise, you could rupture a buried gas line. 
Routinely inspect gas appliances to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning. 
As we learned in a natural gas course, 
PHMSA ensures safety in the design, 
construction, operation, maintenance, and 
emergency response planning of nation's pipelines. 
In accordance, companies must develop and implement 
a transmission Integrity Management Plan, 
IMP, that addresses the monitoring and 
maintenance of transmission pipelines for community safety. 
Pipeline markers are used in a pipeline right away to signify there's buried pipe. 
They typically follow the gas pipelines general location and route. 
They not only identify natural gas, 
for example, is being carried through a pipe, 
but they also include the name of a pipeline operator, 
an emergency contact number, 
and the area's call before you dig number, or 811 nationally. 
Federal regulations require some areas near pipelines to be 
designated as High Consequence Areas, HCA. 
An HCA is an area or building near gas transmission pipeline, 
more than 20 people gather, work, or live. 
HCAs include schools, churches, 
apartment buildings, and business establishments. 
While major pipeline incidents are rare, 
pipelines are frequently damaged by excavation and other construction activities. 
When a pipeline near an HCA is damaged, 
the area will be evacuated for 
safety reasons until the pipeline is repaired and is safe to return. 
Take notice of these pipeline markers. 
Knowing how to safely respond to 
natural gas pipeline incidents can 
increase your safety and the safety of those around you.