Bridging the Experience Gap: The Case for Third-Party Safety Oversight Programs
Across the country, electric utilities and contractors are experiencing one of the most significant periods of growth and transformation in the industry’s history. Aging infrastructure, grid modernization initiatives, renewable energy integration, storm-hardening projects and increasing customer demand have created an unprecedented amount of work. Trade professionals are being asked to build, maintain and restore more infrastructure than ever.
At the same time, the industry faces an ongoing shortage of skilled safety professionals who have frontline work experience. Utilities and contractors have long relied on seasoned journeymen, supervisors and safety specialists to provide field mentorship, guidance and oversight. Yet a great number of these employees have reached retirement age, intensifying the need for qualified safety oversight while the work requests keep pouring in. Organizations are now competing to hire a limited number of qualified safety personnel who understand transmission, distribution, substations, storm restoration and contractor operations.
To address this challenge, some organizations have opted to hire and train employees at a pace unseen in previous generations. These individuals often possess the potential for success but typically lack the experience earned through years of energized work and emergency response operations in complex construction environments.
Third-Party Solution
Other organizations, however, have begun investing in third-party safety oversight programs. A well-implemented program can be a critical operational resource, one that enhances workforce development, strengthens organizational safety culture, increases personal accountability and provides management with valuable operational intelligence.
Many safety oversight programs put seasoned professionals in the field to observe crew work practices, assist with hazard recognition, provide real-time coaching and reinforce safe decision-making. These adept individuals serve as mentors as much as safety specialists, sharing their industry wisdom with crews and identifying training opportunities, procedural gaps and emerging risks before they can cause harm. Consider that one conversation between a skilled safety observer and a junior frontline worker could make the difference between a crew that goes home safely tonight and one that experiences an incident in the field.
Third-party safety oversight can also accelerate professional development for the industry’s greenest employees. Given the number of veteran trade workers who have retired in recent years, effective knowledge transfer methods are essential to worker well-being. Safety professionals with field operations experience play a vital role in preserving and sharing relevant information with the next generation.
Even organizations with dedicated safety staff must acknowledge that those men and women often cover large geographic territories, support myriad crews and manage ever-expanding administrative requirements. As the volume of work grows, so does the need for additional, qualified safety oversight.
Conclusion
More skilled workers and greater operational capacity are necessary to meet the demands of today’s infrastructure investments, grid reliability initiatives, renewable energy projects and storm response efforts. Meanwhile, industry employers still have an obligation to provide their employees with a workplace free from recognized hazards that could cause death or serious harm. Implementing a robust third-party safety oversight program can help employers address these needs while also enhancing risk management, workforce development and knowledge transfer during a period of unprecedented change.
About the Author: Kirk Coffey, CUSP, is director of safety solutions for ATK Energy Group, parent company of Victory Powerline Services. With more than 26 years of experience in the electric utility industry, he specializes in safety oversight, workforce development, operational performance and utility contractor support services. Reach him at kcoffey@atkenergygroup.com.