Today, AltaLink is celebrating a significant achievement when it comes to employee safety because we have gone one full year without an employee injury. In a year that had our employees adapting to additional safety protocols and working arrangements due to COVID-19, this accomplishment means more than ever.
“This milestone is thanks to the commitment of our employees to keep themselves, and each other, safe each and every day,” said Gary Hart, President and Chief Operating Officer. “This past year, our employees have had to navigate a new world brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, and I am very proud of the way the AltaLink team has remained focused on keeping themselves and their fellow employees safe.”
A culture of safety
At AltaLink, the pursuit of safety has always been what drives employees in the field and in the office. Our employees know that there is nothing more important than the safety of themselves, and each other.
AltaLink has a number of programs and procedures in place to reduce risks and hazards in the workplace.
Removing hazards and taking action on near misses: We don’t wait until an incident happens to review safety protocols. Instead, we have set company-wide goals to report hazards and near misses so that we can learn where incidents might happen and why. Last year, AltaLink launched a new mobile reporting app for reporting hazards and near misses. In 2020 we surpassed our target of 3,000 with 3,145 hazards and near misses reported, making sure they didn’t become safety incidents. As an organization, AltaLink hit a corporate participation rate of 22 per cent for hazard near miss reporting, with the goal of getting all employees involved in protecting others from hazards and taking action on near misses.
Focusing on overall health and wellness: AltaLink also rolled out a new health and safety initiative, called MoveSafe. MoveSafe is a program aimed at improving the overall health and wellness of all employees. Since starting the program, 506 employees have gone through the full MoveSafe training and have started implementing the principles into their daily routines.
Keeping safety top of mind at work and at home: Through our LiveSafe program, AltaLink employees bring the culture of safety into each meeting by sharing a safety moment that can apply at work or at home. These can be as simple as safe lifting techniques, walking like a penguin on slippery surfaces, or tips on how to create a home emergency exit plan.
These are just a few of the programs in place that help employees stay safe.
Our employee safety performance has been recognized by our industry peers and in 2020, for the fourth consecutive year, AltaLink was awarded the Canadian Electricity Association (CEA) President’s Award of Excellence for Employee Safety—Transmission.
The award is given to corporate utilities that achieve the top ranking in Total Recordable Injury Frequency (TRIF) among utilities of comparable size in generation, transmission, or distribution operations. AltaLink was awarded the CEA President’s Award of Excellence for Employee Safety for transmission companies with 300-1,500 full-time employees.