May is National Electrical Safety Month and this is a perfect time to launch an electrical safety awareness campaign to educate key audiences about the steps to take to prevent electrical fires, injuries, and fatalities in the home and workplace. The most recent data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission shows that on average, there are over 400 electrocutions in the United States each year. Of these, electrocutions from wiring hazards, including damaged or exposed wiring, ladders contacting power lines and contacts with high voltage lines accounted for 34 percent of the incidents.

In the workplace, data from the National Safety Council indicates that electrical hazards cause nearly one workplace fatality every day and ranks sixth among all causes of occupational injury in the United States. Electrical incidents, while only a small portion of those that occur on-the-job, are far more likely to be fatal. Total economic losses due to electrical hazards are estimated to exceed $4 billion annually.

In 2009, Federated received 12,807 new claims for the year. Included in the new claims reported were 117 public contacts with 25 fatalities. Those totals compare to 109 public contacts and 25 fatalities for 2008. During the first three months of 2010, we’ve received 3,045 new claims. Included in the claim count for the first quarter were 10 public contact claims. Fortunately, we have had only one serious injury among the ten claims reported through March. As we enter into spring, this trend, as illustrated below, has changed which is just another reminder why we must remain ever vigilant in educating the general public and our employees about power line safety.

Public Contacts Reported in April 2010:

• Contact by roofer with ladder – Burns to hands and feet
• Man was unloading a 20 foot piece of rebar from a truck and made contact with overhead line – FATALITY
• Residential painting contractor’s ladder fell into overhead line – FATALITY
• Single vehicle accident where claimant’s vehicle left roadway and struck insured’s utility pole. Driver exited vehicle and made contact with insured’s energized line - Minor injuries
• Raised irrigation pipe into overhead line – FATALITY
• Farmer came in contact with overhead line – FATALITY
• Foreman sustained fatal injuries when contact made with underground line while boring a pipeline - FATALITY

As a member of Federated you have access to information to help you prevent accidents before they happen. Just login to our website at www.federatedrural.com and click on “Loss Reports.” You can track your cooperative’s losses by dollar amount and type of claim, and then compare your safety record to cooperatives throughout your state. Updates to the data are done in real time, so you get the most current information possible on property loss, automobile accidents, workers’ compensation and other areas. You’ll be able to pinpoint areas in your organization where training or equipment changes may help you avoid a costly accident and downtime. We also encourage you to take advantage of the resource materials that are available on our members’ website. Our web-based Safety Knowledgebase covers a range of topics from “Developing Your Strategy for a Culture of Safety,” “Leadership Training Principles,” “Directors and Officers Responsibilities & Liabilities” and more. New information is added frequently, so we encourage you to check back often.

When it comes to public safety education, Federated is proud to be a national sponsor of the award-winning Safe Electricity public outreach and education program. Safe Electricity® is a unified industry effort to broadly communicate vital safety messages with the goal of increasing electric safety awareness to consumers, thus reducing accidents and mitigating risk. Safe Electricity leverages the common interest and strong commitment within the electric industry to promote electrical safety. The program is a natural fit with Federated’s initiative to promote a Culture of Safety within rural electric cooperatives nationwide and underscores the collective commitment to protect consumers. Click on www.safeelectricity.org learn more about how you can become a member of the Safe Electricity Program.

Culture is just a way to describe how things get accomplished in the work place. It is an invisible force that dictates the behavior of employees. Providing value and service to members – keeping costs low and the power on – are part of the culture at cooperatives, too. In the flurry of day-to-day operations, it is easy to lose sight of what’s important, or to send “mixed messages” that production “might” be more important.

May is National Electrical Safety Month and is a perfect time to put safety at the forefront of your cooperative’s culture. It is a natural fit with the caring, family-type atmosphere that is evident at many cooperatives. It’s not just the safety coordinator’s job or the crew supervisor’s duty or the general manager’s responsibility. It’s from within the organization. Because the bottom line is this, “Operational excellence equals safety excellence. Believe it, Expect it, and Live it.” As always, let us know how we can help.