Santee Cooper Honored Nationally and Statewide for Outstanding Safety Practices
MONCKS CORNER, S.C. – Santee Cooper has earned second place in the American Public Power Association’s Safety Award of Excellence for safe operating practices in 2020. The South Carolina Chamber of Commerce also honored Santee Cooper with a safety award for making safety a priority. Santee Cooper tied for its fewest number of recordable incidents ever in 2020.
The South Carolina Chamber of Commerce honored South Carolina companies that had a successful safety record in 2020 at a virtual meeting on March 25. This program recognizes companies and their employees who have had a commendable Lost Workday Case Rate during the 2020 calendar year.
The national award was announced by Brandon Wylie, Chair of APPA’s Safety Committee and Director of Training & Safety at Electric Cities of Georgia on March 24 during APPA’s annual Engineering & Operations Virtual Conference.
“Utilities that receive an APPA Safety Award have demonstrated that they have made the health and safety of their employees a core value,” said Wylie. “Designing and maintaining a top-notch utility safety program takes a lot of hard work and commitment. These utilities and their communities should be very proud.”
Nationally, 329 utilities entered the annual APPA Safety Awards. Entrants were placed in categories according to their number of worker-hours and ranked based on the most incident-free records during 2020. 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 2020, as defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
The APPA Safety Awards have been held annually for the past 60 years. APPA is the voice of not-for-profit, community-owned utilities that power 2,000 towns and cities nationwide.
“Santee Cooper values safety and our employees work diligently to make safety a priority for all,” said Ken Lott, Santee Cooper’s Chief Financial and Administration Officer. “We are very proud of these awards in recognition of our safety efforts. Safe and healthy employees are the key to our reliable electric service and commitment to keep rates low. Santee Cooper employees did an admirable job staying focused on safety, even through the many distractions 2020 held.”
