Reader Profiles

A fully integrated utility, Grand Bahama Power Company supplies electrical power to the 45,000 residents of the island of Grand Bahama. Founded in 1964 as the Freeport Power Company, the electric utility operation was originally a department of the Grand Bahama Port Authority Limited, the founders of Freeport in 1956.

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As Safety & Health Director for CMS/Consumers Energy, Tom Taylor
discusses his role in developing, maintaining and auditing all safety
and health programs.

Headquartered in Jackson, Michigan, Consumers Energy is the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy Corporation, an integrated energy company that also includes CMS Enterprises, whose primary businesses are independent power production and natural gas transmission. Consumers Energy, Michigan's second-largest electric and natural gas utility, is the 13th-largest investor-owned electric company in the U.S. The company provides service to more than six million residents in all 68 of the state's Lower Peninsula counties. As the 5th-largest investor-owned natural gas utility in the country, it delivers more than 360 billion cubic feet of gas through a system of 26,400 miles of pipelines.

David Jones, Field Safety Coordinator, Kansas City Power & Light, explains how, in 2006, the utility attained the lowest OSHA incident rate in its history.

Founded in 1882, Kansas City, Missouri-based Kansas City Power & Light has evolved over the past 125 years into a full-service energy provider. Today, KCP&L services nearly 500,000 customers in 24 western Missouri and eastern Kansas counties, covering a territory of about 4,600 square miles. Delivering that power requires 1,700 miles of transmission lines, more than 10,000 miles of overhead distribution lines, and approximately 3,400 miles of underground distribution lines. The company also operates eight stations with 25 generating units to provide power to its customers and for sale into the wholesale market, and has over 4,000 megawatts of generation assets in operation or under construction.

Joe Murphy, Manager, Safety & Training-South, explains how striving for excellence is a daily affair for the safety team at Dominion Delivery

One of the nation's largest producers of energy, Dominion's asset portfolio consists of about 28,000 megawatts of power generation, 6,000 miles of electric transmission, about 6.3 trillion cubic feet equivalent of natural gas reserves, 7,800 miles of natural gas pipeline and the country's largest natural gas storage system with about 950 billion cubic feet of storage capacity.
While headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, through a number of operating companies in its Dominion Delivery operation, the company provides energy for 20 million people in 20 states. Included are electric customers in Virginia and northeastern North Carolina who are served through more than 54,000 miles of distribution lines, as well as natural gas customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia who are serviced by approximately 27,000 miles of distribution pipes. The company also provides competitive energy and related services to residential and commercial accounts in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest.

An interview with Gordon Baldwin, Director, Safety & Security for West Division of Charter Communications 

Founded in 1993, Charter Communications has grown considerably. Today, the Fortune 500 company is the third-largest publicly traded cable operator in the U.S. The company provides a full range of digital video entertainment programming, high-speed Internet and telephone services for residences, as well as broadband communications solutions to businesses, such as Internet access, telephone, data networking, and video and music entertainment.

An interview with Jack D. Sahl, Director - Corporate Environment, Health & Safety, Southern California Edison

One of the largest electric utilities in the U.S., and the largest subsidiary of Edison International, Southern California Edison (SCE) has provided electric service for more than a century to some of the most dynamic and growing areas of central, coastal and southern California. On an average day, SCE provides power to13 million people in a 50,000 square mile area encompassing 11 counties with 430 cities and communities.

An interview with ken Flechler, Vice President of Safety and Compliance, Comcast Corporation

"Safety has always been my focus," says Ken Flechler, whose career began in Louisville, Kentucky as a Water Safety Instructor and Lifeguard Instructor for the American Red Cross. Other roles related to safety that he has held over the years include serving as the Safety Administrator for a local cable television market in Louisville, and positions as the State Safety Manager for TCI of Kentucky, and Divisional Director of Safety and Security for TCI – Atlantic Division. In early 1999, he joined Comcast as Director of Safety and now serves as Vice President of Safety and Compliance for Comcast Corporation.

"At SM Electric Co., Inc.," says Bill Hering, Corporate Safety Director, "our whole philosophy is that safety is the right thing to do for everyone. Safety issues are a top priority on every job. By the direction of our president, if there is an issue between safety and productivity, safety will win, period. No contest."

Indiana's electric cooperatives serve more than 80% of the state in all or parts of 89 counties. Collectively, they provide energy to more than 450,000 homes, farms and businesses through a system comprising 53,000 miles of distribution line.