BPU Honored with National Award for Outstanding Safety Practices

The Hillsdale Board of Public Utilities has earned the American Public Power Association's Safety Award of Excellence for safe operating practices in 2022. The utility earned a second place award for having 55,913 total hours worked involving 33 employees without any "Days Away From Work" injuries.

"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 Electrical 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."

283 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 number of worker-hours during 2022, as defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

"The Hillsdale BPU cares deeply about sending our employees home to their families safely every single day," said Hillsdale City Manager and BPU Director David Mackie. "We are proud to be honored for all the work that goes into standing behind this committment."

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 more than 2,000 towns and cities nationwide.