Town of Granite Falls Electric Department Honored with National Award for Outstanding Safety Practices

WASHINGTON, DC (May 2, 2023) — The Town of Granite Falls Electric Department has earned the American Public Power Association’s (APPA) Safety Award of Excellence for safe operating practices in 2022. The utility earned the first-place award in the category for utilities with 15,000 to 29,999 worker-hours of annual worker exposure.

“Safety needs to be the first thing on every utility employee’s mind as they go about their work,” said Jim Boyd, Chair of APPA’s Safety Committee and Electric Operations Safety Manager at Tacoma Power, Tacoma Washington. “The utilities honored by APPA for excellence in this area should be proud of the culture they have instilled in serving their communities.”

Two hundred and eighty-three utilities from across the country entered the annual Safety Awards. Entrants were placed in categories according to their number of worker-hours and ranked based on incident-free records and overall state of their safety programs and culture during 2022. The incidence rate is based on the number of work-related reportable injuries or illnesses and the number of worker-hours during 2022, as defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

“The Town of Granite Falls cares deeply about sending our employees home to their families safely every single day,” said Jerry Church, Town Manager of the Town of Granite Falls. “We are proud to be honored for all the work that goes into standing behind this commitment.”

The Safety Awards have been held annually for more than 65 years. APPA is the voice of not-for-profit, community-owned utilities that power 2,000 towns and cities nationwide.

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