Maricopa’s public power utility, Electrical District No. 3, has been awarded the Diamond Award in the 2024 Safety Awards of Excellence by American Public Power Association.
It is the public utility group’s highest workplace safety honor.
ED3’s took the award for utilities with between 110,000 and 249,999 worker-hours of annual exposure. The APPA relies on OSHA safety performance data, including incident-free records.
“Safety is a core value for ED3 and part of our everyday culture,” said Brian Yerges, general manager of ED3 in a news release about the award. “This award is a testament to our employee’s safe work practices and living our safety culture on a daily basis.”
ED3 employees adopted a safety slogan a few years ago: “You ARE Safety – First, Last, and Always.”
“I am really proud of the work we have done around safety,” said Yerges.
More than 200 utilities nationwide participated in the 2024 competition. Entrants were categorized based on the number of worker-hours and evaluated for the lowest incidence of work-related injuries and illnesses.
“Harnessing electricity to keep our communities powered is vital work that can be dangerous, even deadly, if the proper attention isn’t paid to tried-and-true safety practices,” said Jon Beasley, chair of APPA’s Safety Committee and vice president of Electric Cities of Georgia in the award announcement. “This award honors utilities that hold fast to these practices and — in doing so — put the safety of their personnel and their customers above all else.”
