TILI ONNECTIONS U C Spring 2017 Expert Storm Response TILI ONNECTIONS U C Spring 2017 In This Issue The Dispatch 1 The Safety Scene 2 Asplundh Construction 3 Utility Lines Construction Services 4 Hurricane Hermine September 2016 — After Hurricane Hermine made landfall in the Florida Panhandle on September 1, 2016, American Electrical Testing Co. 6 this impressive Utility Lines Construction Services (ULCS) team American Lighting and Signalization 7 gathered at a Duke Energy staging area in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, ready for deployment. Overall, more than 230 Grid One Solutions 7 ULCS lineworkers and supervision were called into action to assist Management Update 8 four Florida utilities in restoring power after Hermine. In addition, over 200 Asplundh Construction employees stayed mobilized on Positive Connections 9 planned work over the Labor Day weekend in order to respond to the storm’s remnants in the Northeast, if needed. On The Cover See pages 4-5 to learn more about an Exelon/BGE 230kV transmission line rebuild project by a ULCS team from the Tim Jahnigen Region in Maryland, assisted by crews from the Bryan Beadle Region in Louisiana. Family Corner Hurricane Matthew October 2016 — Pictured above is another show of UtiliCon’s strength and readiness, this time in Daytona, t Congratulations to Florida, just before Hurricane Matthew paralleled the coast and Alexandra Blizard who then made a final landfall in South Carolina on October 8, 2016. recently received the Over 160 ULCS and Musgrove Construction employees in Florida 2016 Intercollegiate were part of the 1,200-strong team of power restoration workers Tennis Association Scholar from four UtiliCon companies throughout the eastern U.S. They Award for outstanding assisted five utilities from Florida to the Carolinas for about a week. scholastic achievements. New Orleans East Tornado Her dad, Charley Blizard, February 2017 — An EF3 tornado president of American struck the community of New Electrical Testing Co. is Orleans East in Louisiana on rightfully proud of his February 7. Regional Safety daughter’s academic and Supervisor Keith Ruddell of the athletic performance. Now Bryan Beadle Region of ULCS finishing her sophomore (dba Highlines) sent in this photo year at Babson College in of the 115kV Entergy transmission Wellesley, Massachusetts, line that was rebuilt by four of the Alex currently holds a 3.72 grade point average and was region’s transmission crews in recently accepted in the Ernst and Young Emerging Leaders two weeks, without incident. They removed, replaced and tied in Program. Well done! line for about 60 structures over two miles of right-of-way. The Dispatch elcome to the latest edition of UtiliConnections. when faced with change. Adherence to safety policies comes The goal of this magazine is to share some of the first, but compliance with all federal, state and local laws is W personal and business activities of the UtiliCon family of also an absolute must. The importance of knowing the rules companies. I am very proud of the accomplishments of our team, and always doing the right thing on and off the job cannot be in both business and personal successes, over the past year. emphasized enough. As always, safety — or better yet SafeProduction® — is the Finally, our customers are the reason we all have a job. We foundation of what keeps us on the job each day. It is our must have effective communication with them to exceed their responsibility as employees to provide our fellow team expectations. Let’s continue to keep communication flowing members with the proper training, equipment and tools smoothly. By providing a productive, quality job, at a fair price necessary to perform the tasks at hand safely. If anyone feels in a safety-focused environment we will bring home the that they are not being provided with these items, please reach successful year we are all looking for. out to the next level of management for support. There is Thanks for everything you do, nothing more important than safety on the job. However, equally important is safety off the job. If we are not practicing good safety procedures at home, a family member, friend or possibly ourselves could be hurt and unable to live the life we all want for ourselves and others. Please remember that creating a proper safety culture occurs both on and off the job. Steven Asplundh Our country, our customers and society continue to evolve President at an ever-increasing rate. It is sometimes overwhelming, but UtiliCon Solutions we must think and react quickly to the challenges at hand Speaking Of Success ... Meet Our Newly-Elected Senior Vice Presidents! Joe Garvey Frank Giordano James Hardiman Senior Vice President Senior Vice President Senior Vice and Line of Business for Asplundh President and Line Lead for Utility Construction (AC), of Business Lead for Lines Construction Eastern Operations American Lighting Services (AC-East) and Signalization Safety Operations Update By Bill Whelan, Director Of Safety And Health mong my responsibilities, as Today, the Partnership includes 13 ET&D construction UtiliCon’s Corporate Director of contractors, including UtiliCon, representing the vast A Safety and Health, is representing majority of total workers in the line construction industry. A the company on the Steering Team of the collaboration in the truest sense of the word, the Partnership’s Electrical Transmission and Distribution goals include: (ET&D) Strategic Partnership. In case you • Performing data collection and analysis to establish haven’t heard of the Partnership, it is a group causes of fatalities, injuries and illnesses for electrical of representatives from all aspects of the work in the industry. industry, all committed to protecting employee safety and health. • Developing and evaluating the effectiveness of Best Currently led by Chairman Scott Asplundh (CEO of UtiliCon’s Practices to reduce the number of fatalities, injuries, parent company), the Partnership is made up of the CEOs of illnesses and any other significant hazards identified by all major transmission and distribution contractors, as well the industry partners. as professionals from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the International Brotherhood of • Ensuring that the industry partners’ employees are Electrical Workers (IBEW) and industry trade associations. effectively trained to follow safety and health rules, to This group first came together over 12 years ago to set aside utilize the established Best Practices and to change competitive differences in the name of safety for all employees. safety culture. 1 UtiliConnections – Spring 2017 The Safety Scene • Communicating information to improve the safety and health culture within the electrical transmission and Into The Future distribution industry. The Partnership continues to meet and thrive, not just to share Best Practices already created, but to continue exploring ways to make According to the partner companies, the impact of this effort the industry even safer. New strategies were added to the renewal has reached more than 239,000 workers between 2005 agreement that will continue until December 31, 2018. These will and 2016. The results speak for themselves with dramatic enable the Partnership to better identify the effectiveness of Best reductions in fatalities and serious injuries across the country. Practices implementation and use by workers. The partners’ data shows that the number of fatalities caused by electrocution from contact between 2004 and 2013 declined For more information, please visit: http://www.neca-neis.org/ from a high of 11 in 2004 to just one (electrocution) in 2013. powerlinesafety/ Safety Recognition t A positive performance notice t In March, was presented in September 2016 Underground to Journeyman Lineworker Bronson Foreperson Nick Dean (L) by RSS Denise Dudek Merryman (R) (R) and General Foreperson Dave received a Lien (center) from the Brett Martin handshake of Region of Asplundh Construction congratulations (AC). Bronson was recognized for from General his role in protecting and rendering Foreperson Todd first aid to a police officer who was Sommer (L) who presented him with the Quarterly hit by a car near his work site in East Safety Award from the Ted Fiala Region of AC in Hampton, Connecticut on the Labor Maryland. Nick, whose crew works on the BGE gas Day weekend. The officer was on a police detail supporting Bronson’s crew system, was recognized for his exceptional safety working on an Eversource Energy trouble call. When the incident occurred, leadership and observed safe work practices. Great job! Bronson immediately called 911 and the police dispatcher while he blocked the busy intersection with traffic cones. Unconscious at first, the officer was kept calm and protected from further injury until the ambulance arrived moments later. Quick action stopped a bad situation from getting worse. Kudos! u Overhead Distribution Foreperson Richard Davis (R) of the Bryan Beadle Region of ULCS (dba Highlines) received positive reinforcement of his safe, courteous driving behavior from Supervisor Chevy Melancon (L) at a monthly foreperson meeting in February. A complimentary Motorist Observation Report (MOR) was generated on February 8 when a driver on Highway 270 West in Sheridan, Arkansas called the SafetyFirst 1-800 number on Richard’s truck to express appreciation for keeping the speed limit, maintaining a safe distance and allowing vehicles to safely enter and exit the roadway. Richard and his crew work on the Entergy system in Arkansas. Congratulations! Leadership Training for AC-East t Leadership, like having a commitment to safety, is an important quality for many positions. AC-East, under the leadership of Senior Vice President Frank Giordano, devoted a full day to it last September when Chuck Hitzemann and Denny Leach of Positive Growth International led a workshop in Bellport, New York. Participants, who came in from four AC-East regions, were: (kneeling L to R) Chuck Hitzemann, Bo Maryyanek, Mike Knott, Frank Marinelli, Denny Leach and Sean Konert.