The American Public Power Association this week awarded Energy Northwest first place in its 2015 Safety Awards of Excellence for safe operating practices. EN received top honors in the category for utilities with between one and four million worker hours.

“We’re proud of the service we provide to the region,” said Grover Hettel, vice president for Operations, “but above all else, we’re proud of our safety record.”

Aaron Haderle, Chair of the APPA safety committee, recognized EN Monday during the 2016 Engineering & Operations Technical Conference in Minneapolis, Minn.

“A record such as yours is indicative of high standards in the workplace and is vital to safe and productive utility operations,” Haderle said.

More than 250 utilities entered the annual safety awards, which is among the highest number of entrants in the program’s history. Entrants were placed in categories according to number of worker hours and ranked based on the most incident-free records during 2015. 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 2015, as defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

“We did experience one recordable injury last year, which shows us that we are still in pursuit of excellence,” said Ed Prilucik, Industrial Safety Program manager. Prilucik said procedure adherence and use of human performance tools are two areas where the agency is focusing to improve safety.

“Safety is and always will be [the utility] industry’s top priority,” Haderle said. “Each of these utilities should be proud of the work they’ve done to make public power communities across the country safer.”

The safety awards have been held annually for the last 56 years. APPA is the national organization representing more than 2,000 not-for-profit, community and state owned electric utilities.

Energy Northwest employees Mark Domarotsky, plant technician; Scott Urban, Facilities and Commercial Engineering manager; Dave Anderson, craft and maintenance supervisor; Ed Prilucik, industrial safety program manager; and Doug Shaffer, craft and maintenance supervisor, review an electrical drawing to restore electricity at Site-1 of the Industrial Development Complex.