Like many utilities, noted Brian Johnson, fleet services manager, Engineering & Technical Services, Alabama Power Company has adopted a safety-first culture. “Over the past several years we have worked hard to transition our mindset and safety systems from a reactive approach to one that focuses on transparency, learning and improvement,” he said. “Previously, the emphasis was on measuring safety success mostly in terms of OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) recordable injuries.
“However, this approach damaged our safety culture by creating an environment where employees were not comfortable reporting injuries or events,” Johnson continued. “This was driven largely by perceived pressure to maintain long streaks of injury-free or event-free days. We feared these unintended consequences could lead to confusion and mistrust between workers and leaders, ultimately putting the organization at risk for blind spots regarding safety.”
Part of the Southern Company family, Alabama Power serves 1.5 million customers across a 45,000-mile territory covering the lower two-thirds of the state. The utility maintains 86,000 miles of power lines with 5,800 owned assets at 14 main service centers staffed by 205 personnel, including 139 technicians and utility assistants.
For the past five years at Alabama Power, according to Johnson, a safety-first strategy built on three areas has been focused on reducing high energy risks.
Understanding Critical Risk Management and Controls
“A critical risk exists when performing a job with high potential for serious injury or death due to a specific hazard that is basic to the work being performed,” Johnson related. “These risk areas were identified based on historical significant safety events known to our company, as well as other utilities performing similar work. We have identified 10 specific critical risk areas.
“Understanding these specific risks, which have a known history of repeated serious injuries and fatalities, is powerful,” Johnson said. “This approach ensures that job planning and execution are focused specifically on those critical factors that keep the job safe, rather than just aiming for a general aspiration of completing the job without injuries or events.”
A few of the common risks encountered and focused on at Alabama Power are falls from heights, line of fire, hoisted loads and arc flash/electrical contact.
Fall protection practices put in place at Alabama Power to mitigate risks included maintaining three points of contact when ascending or descending and utilizing measures such as platforms and restraints when three points of contact could not be maintained. Also advised is to wear the company’s approved fall protection system when operating aerial devices and to always keep fall restraints properly adjusted.
For safely working on mobile equipment, best practices put in place included setting equipment properly before each job task and disabling equipment by using Lockout-Tagout procedures. In addition, using wheel chocks appropriately as well as auto lifts, stand supports, cribbing and overhead cranes to support potential hazards.
“Our critical controls are selected safety rules that were identified as foundational life-saving requirements when performing a job task involving a critical risk,” Johnson said. “These controls, selected through a collaborative process between union leadership and management, identify and mitigate the top two or three critical risks for each work group and incorporate critical control checks that are covered in job safety briefings.”
Becoming a Learning Organization
At Alabama Power, teams that include employees who are closest to the work being performed share their experience with Serious Injury or Fatality (SIF) or Potential Serious Injury or Fatality (PSIF) events. “In a learning organization, sharing close calls and operating experience and discussing significant safety events helps develop action items for continuous improvement,” Johnson explained.
This process at the utility, Johnson noted, includes facilitating routine discussions on significant safety events for high-risk work groups that cover event causes, the critical risk involved, contributing factors and lessons learned. In addition, the company remains focused on increasing communication about the phases of the event learning process as well as creating a targeted collaboration process for those on event learning teams.
“By recognizing that all events and injuries are not the same, and through transparency that helps eliminate blind spots and develop trust, we’re focused on fostering a culture of system-wide learning in which information sharing is second nature,” Johnson added. “Completing event learning and post-job reviews in response to events, as well as proactively before an event occurs, helps address serious injuries and those with potential for serious injury.”
Continuous Improvement of Existing Safety Systems
Employee-led safety committees at Alabama Power, after identifying risks and hazards by reviewing and analyzing learning events, have addressed the need for new and improved safety technologies, including:
“We actively care about the safety and well-being of our employees, customers and communities,” Johnson said. “Through a partnership with the union and employees who are close to the work, and with safety leadership and management input and support, we’re more safely approaching every job, every day.”
Lift & Access is part of the Catalyst Communications Network publication family.
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