Coastal Electric Cooperative leads the state for electric cooperative safety

Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive was recent­ly rec­og­nized for com­plet­ing 12 con­sec­u­tive years with­out a lost-time injury, rank­ing first among Georgia’s 41 elec­tric mem­ber­ship cor­po­ra­tions for the longest cur­rent safe­ty record.

Safe­ty of employ­ees and the com­mu­ni­ty is a pri­or­i­ty for elec­tric co-ops like Coastal Elec­tric Cooper￾ative, giv­en the com­plex­i­ty and inher­ent dan­gers of work­ing with elec­tric­i­ty. For the last 12 years, the co-op boasts no injuries at all requir­ing employ­ees to miss time from work.

“Our busi­ness inevitably involves risks from ener­gized wires, work­ing high off the ground and mov­ing heavy items like poles—not to men­tion being out in inclement weath­er to restore pow­er,” says James Thomas, Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive Train­ing and Safe­ty Coor­di­na­tor. “We strive every day to min­i­mize these dan­gers by invest­ing time and atten­tion to safe­ty mea­sures and care­ful work prac­tices.”

To acknowl­edge the 12-year mile­stone, Georgia’s statewide elec­tric coop­er­a­tive asso­ci­a­tion rec­og­nized Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive with the No Lost-Time Award dur­ing the Geor­gia EMC Annu­al Meet­ing on Nov. 10 in Savan­nah.

Through the years, advances in equip­ment and safe­ty tech­niques, enhanced safe­ty reg­u­la­tions and stricter over­sight have led to a sig­nif­i­cant reduc­tion in acci­dents and time away from work for elec­tric util­i­ty employ­ees. Still, the nature of the elec­tric­i­ty busi­ness makes avoid­ing injury chal­leng­ing, no mat­ter the safe­ty prac­tices in place.

“It’s a tes­ta­ment to our inside employ­ees and our employ­ees who work in more hands-on envi­ron­ments— mechan­ics, line­men, ware­house staff and engi­neers,” Thomas says. “Our suc­cess and safe­ty depend on all of us fol­low­ing care­ful­ly designed pre­cau­tions to ensure we return home to our fam­i­lies at the end of the day.”

While pro­tect­ing the well-being of employ­ees and the pub­lic is the pri­ma­ry goal of work­place safe­ty and train­ing, Coastal Elec­tric Cooperative’s safe­ty record also trans­lates into sig­nif­i­cant finan­cial sav­ings for the coop­er­a­tive and its mem­bers.

When an injury does occur, the costs go beyond emer­gency depart­ment vis­its and doc­tors’ appoint­ments. Indi­rect costs, such as admin­is­tra­tive time deal­ing with the injury, increas­es in insur­ance pre­mi­ums, hir­ing replace­ment employ­ees, legal action and even loss of rep­u­ta­tion can add up to four times the direct costs of the injury.

So, safe­ty is not only valu­able for co-op employ­ees, but it is also ben­e­fi­cial for co-op mem­bers and the com­mu­ni­ty.