The Wellesley Municipal Light Plant (“WMLP”) completed 1,000 days without a lost time accident on Wednesday, June 25th, breaking the previous record of 998 days. The WMLP’s most recent streak began on September 30, 2005.
WMLP employees were recognized for their accomplishment with a small luncheon at the Wellesley Community Center. Former WMLP Board Member, and current Selectmen, Owen H. Dugan presented Donald H. Newell with the 2007 American Public power Association (“APPA”) First Place Award. Also in attendance was former Board Member Gordon F. Kingsley who presented the 1,000-Day plaque to WMLP staff members: Peter Bracken, Stephen G. Neshe and David A. Bousquet. Current Board Chairman Thomas E. Peisch and Vice Chairman Michael D. Humphrys recognized individual employees for their years of service and contributions. During this period less than 4 hours out of a total of 240,000 work hours were lost to work injury and even more noteworthy is the fact that
more than two-thirds of the WMLP employees never took a sick day during these 1,000 days.
The APPA Safety Award is the second national award the WMLP received recently. Last year APPA recognized the WMLP’s reliability record with the RP3 (Reliable Public Power Provider) Gold Award.
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Electric line working is consistently rated in the top 10 of most dangerous jobs*. With this in mind the Wellesley Municipal Light Plant is fully committed to the safety of our employees as well as the safety of the public and the WMLP was honored by American Public Power Association ("APPA") in April 2007 for its commitment. (See the Award Notification above)
The Municipal Light Plant Board of Commissioners incorporated safety into the Mission Statement in 2004. In the last five years, the Municipal Light Plant has had streaks of 568 days and 998 days without a lost time accident (“LTA”) and we are currently at 1,082 days since our last LTA.
All Wellesley Municipal Light Plant employees, including supervisors, substation operators, customer service representatives, management, administration personnel and line crews attend various safety meetings.
Linemen, sub-station operators and electricians are required to attend defibrillator, CPR and First Aid re-certification each year. All other employees are given the option to be CPR and First Aid Safety trained. An American Heart Association certified instructor conducts this training. In addition to the line operations staff there are members of each department, including Superintendent, Supervisory Electrical Engineer, Construction Engineer, Electrician, Substation Operators, Customer Service Supervisor, Accounting Supervisor, Senior Customer Service Representatives, and Operations and Financial Assistant who are certified.
All employees were offered defibrillator training when defibrillators were installed in all public buildings in 2004. The Wellesley Fire Departments training officer conducted this training. Defibrillators are located in the office of the Wellesley Municipal Light Plant and on all bucket trucks. Retraining on the defibrillators has been conducted each year.
Pole-top, man-hole rescue and bucket rescue training are required of all line workers and supervisors annually.
The Wellesley Municipal Light Plant has a safety committee made up of management, supervisors and line operations staff. This committee meets monthly to ensure the safety aspect of the WMLP mission statement is fulfilled and to empower all employees to take ownership of safety
Safety Committee Members
Peter Bracken
Jonathan S. Cliff
Michael Eld
Dennis Furbush
Debra J. Healy
Donald H. Newell, Chairperson
James W. Verner
Also, WMLP staff has done Electrical Safety for Firefighters presentations to the firefighters in Wellesley. We would be happy to work with any civic organizations to produce and present an electrical safety demonstration. If you are interested in a demonstration please contact Donald H. Newell at dnewell@wellesleyma.gov.
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