From left: Lineman Apprentice II, Scott Sonke; Line Foreman, John Hernandez; and Job Training, Safety and Loss Control Coordinator, Tim Landes.
BEC reached 1.5 million hours without a lost time injury as of September 17. The new record marks eight years since the last lost time accident in July 2012.
Lost time injury is an industry standard that refers to incidents that result in a disability or an employee missing work due to an injury. It is an important metric to evaluate the overall effectiveness of a safety program.
“This is an outstanding and significant milestone that all BEC employees worked hard to achieve, resulting in safer operations, more confident employees, and a reduction in overall costs associated with safety,” said Tim Landes, BEC job training, safety and loss control coordinator.
Electrical line workers face one of the top 10 most dangerous jobs in America. As an electric cooperative, accident prevention matters most. BEC has developed a robust safety-training plan that includes a safety orientation, behavior-based safety coaching and management committed to ensuring all lines of work have the best working conditions. BEC continually emphasizes safety as a top priority and has built a culture that shares safe practices and attitudes throughout the cooperative.
“Without our employees, servicing our members is impossible,” added Landes.