Incident Prevention Magazine

Clearly a key component of the safety program at any facility, and particularly at a complex installation such as a nuclear power station, is its energy control policy. Commonly referred to as "lockout/tagout," it is the plan developed by an employer to protect workers from serious injury or death resulting from the unexpected start-up of machines or equipment or the release of stored energy.

How the Interagency Snow Rescue Task Force was well positioned to meet the challenges of Colorado's recent snowstorms and save many lives.

Inspired by life altering events, Art Seely of Safety One, Inc., has formed a unique team. The Interagency Snow Rescue Task Force (ISRTF) was initially conceived when EMS rescue attempts failed to reach a Denver victim stranded in less than one foot of snow. This was Seely's nightmare while he was a young paramedic in 1975, and it was this event that changed his life.

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.

Part 1 of a 2-part article.

In the high-risk world of utility operations, safety depends greatly on the choices that are made at all levels of an organization. The decisions that are made as to how we will handle a particular situation determine how safe everyone involved will be.