Heartland celebrates 3-year safety milestone

Employees of Heartland Rural Electric Cooperative were treated Wednesday to a catered steak dinner in celebration of achieving a milestone few others in the industry could boast.
For the past three years, as of last Friday, there hasn't been a lost-time accident at any of the cooperatives three locations in Girard, Iola or Mound City. That achievement encompasses more than 275,000 employee hours, and that's not counting overtime.
"In a field where we're dealing with high voltage, where we're dealing with getting up high in the air, where we're dealing with heavy equipment, it's tough to be safe," Ron Graber, members services and communications specialist for the cooperative, said. "This requires constant diligence by our guys."
It was noted in remarks before the meal, of the 28 electrical cooperatives in Kansas, only 12 can boast a similar safety record. This record wasn't something the local co-op could have achieved, even five years ago, said Dale Coomes, Heartland CEO.
"About five to seven years ago, we decided our safety record needed to improve," Coomes said. "We were seeing injuries that didn't need to happen."
Coomes recommended, and the co-op's board of directors agreed, a change in the way the organization trained its employees in safety practices. Employees had always received safety training but, now, there's more emphasis placed on the training and it's paid off, he said.
"We looked for ways to promote safety and to focus our employees on the importance of it," Coomes said. "We made a commitment to change the culture" of how safe work practices were viewed.
Heartland R.E.C. has 39 employees in its three offices, serving more than 11,000 locations in a 12-county region of southeastern Kansas. About half those employees are on line crews, working daily with high voltage electrical lines, Graber said.
One day a month, all the line crew workers come in out of the field and gather at a centralized location for a safety training day. They talk about — and sometimes put into practice — everything from how to handle a chain saw correctly to crane safety to being sure their protective gear is in good condition. They even check their protective gloves to be sure there aren't any holes or worn spots, Graber said.
On Wednesday, for example, before the meal, line crews were out at the yard in Girard, practicing pole-top rescue techniques. A mannequin is raised to the top of an electrical line pole to simulate an injured or unconscious worker. Line crew members have to climb the pole and safely lower the mannequin to the ground with rope.
Particularly in an industry where a single mistake can cost an employee a limb or even their life, safety is of primary importance, Coomes said. The workers have to be on their toes all the time, and that's where the ongoing safety training comes in to play, he said. And he placed the responsibility and the credit for that three-year safety record squarely on the shoulders of the employees.
"The most important thing is that our employees are safe," Coomes said. "By establishing this (safety-conscious) culture, we make sure everybody goes home safe, every day.
"The bottom line is, we have the best employees of any cooperative in the state. That's the end of the story, right there."