Poignant videos told the stories of co-op employees who won Lifesaving Awards: Robert Pippin at Big Coun- try EC; Jon Minter at Bowie-Cass EC; Isabel Cavazos at Nueces EC; and Mitchell Culpepper, Logan Fritchen, Bill Liedtke and Michael Whitt at Tri-County EC. Special events at the conference—a golf tournament, raffle and auction of donated items—served as fundrais- ers and helped the TEC Loss Control Scholarship pro- gram collect $45,785. Mike Williams, president/CEO of TEC, spoke about many changes on the horizon in the electric utility indus- try. The Texas Legislature could consider establishing competitive electric retail markets statewide, which Y ou know a safety conference is zealous about its mission when, before it even kicks off, the presider tells attendees where they will exit the building in the event of an evacuation, where the nearest fire extin- guishers are, and that their company trucks provide the quickest access to first-aid kits and automated external defibrillators should they be needed. It’s as if a line crew tailgate meeting took place before the business at hand—just another day at work for lineworkers, safety supervisors and general man- agers attending the 72nd annual TEC Loss Control Conference & Exhibit Show in March in San Marcos. The conference featured three days of general ses- sions and smaller breakout sessions, and award pre- sentations recognizing organizations and individuals for safety achievements. A reception gave attendees an opportunity to meet with 46 vendors about indus- try products and services. Wendy Regan, who recently retired as the supervi- sor of risk management after 20 years at Farmers EC, won the Ray Pantel Award, the highest honor in the TEC Loss Control program. “Make safety yours,” said an emotional Regan, the first woman to win the award. The Unsung Hero Award went to David McDowell, a veteran lineworker who has been at Farmers EC since 1985. He’s a frequent instructor at TEC Loss Control schools and is “always challenging linemen to work outside of their comfort zone,” said Danny Williams, TEC Loss Control manager. For the third year in a row, San Patricio EC won the GE Safety Award, which is based on organizations’ injury incident reports submitted to TEC. Two coop- eratives accepted Million Man Hour Awards for work- ing more than 1 million hours without a lost-time accident: South Texas EC (1,255,178 hours) and United Cooperative Services (2,091,976 hours). SAFETY WATCH TEC LOSS CONTROL TEC LOSS CONTROL APRIL/MAY 2018 SAVE THE DATE April 10 Transformer Banking Webinar April 17–18 Basic Electricity School Georgetown, TEC Training Facility April 17–20 Transformer School Tahoka, Lyntegar EC April 17–20 Introduction to System Operator/Dispatcher School McGregor, Heart of Texas EC April 24–27 Transformer School Corinth, CoServ April 25–27 NRECA Safety Leadership Summit Atlanta, Georgia May 1–4 Basic Pole Climbing School Merkel, Taylor EC May 15–18 Metering School Tahoka, Lyntegar EC Find photos from Loss Control schools on the TEC website. Continued on next page ‘Make Safety Yours’ ABOVE: Wendy Regan, retired supervisor of risk management at Farmers EC, wins the Ray Pantel Award. LEFT: Jeff LeDuff, former police chief in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, talks about ways to escape or avoid harm when threatened. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Use the TEC Safety and Loss Control discussion list on the TEC member website to share and gather information. ALWAYS THINK SAFETY Gloves | Grounds | Cover Up A BIMONTHLY PUBLICATION FROM TEC LOSS CONTROL TAYLOR MONTGOMERY | TEC Safety Watch won second place in the 2018 Spotlight on Excellence Awards, which recognize work pro- duced by electric co-op communications and market- ing staffs nationwide. The TEC Loss Control newsletter is published bimonthly and distributed by email. Some co-ops print it out and share the information by posting it in meeting rooms, on doors and even in bathrooms. “I think that at times we get so focused on our own little world that we can lose sight of the big picture,” says James Busby, TEC Loss Control regional supervi- sor. “Safety Watch can bring our attention back to some things that are exceptionally important. So many times, we focus on what we are accomplishing when in reality the most important thing is the safety of ourselves, our family and our co-workers.” Safety Watch Wins Silver
Transcript
Poignant videos told the stories of co-op employeeswho won Lifesaving Awards: Robert Pippin at Big Coun-try EC; Jon Minter at Bowie-Cass EC; Isabel Cavazos atNueces EC; and Mitchell Culpepper, Logan Fritchen, Bill Liedtke and Michael Whitt at Tri-County EC.
Special events at the conference—a golf tournament,raffle and auction of donated items—served as fundrais-ers and helped the TEC Loss Control Scholarship pro-gram collect $45,785.
Mike Williams, president/CEO of TEC, spoke aboutmany changes on the horizon in the electric utility indus-try. The Texas Legislature could consider establishingcompetitive electric retail markets statewide, which
You know a safety conference is zealous about itsmission when, before it even kicks off, the presidertells attendees where they will exit the building in
the event of an evacuation, where the nearest fire extin-guishers are, and that their company trucks provide thequickest access to first-aid kits and automated externaldefibrillators should they be needed.
It’s as if a line crew tailgate meeting took placebefore the business at hand—just another day at workfor lineworkers, safety supervisors and general man-agers attending the 72nd annual TEC Loss ControlConference & Exhibit Show in March in San Marcos.The conference featured three days of general ses-sions and smaller breakout sessions, and award pre-sentations recognizing organizations and individualsfor safety achievements. A reception gave attendeesan opportunity to meet with 46 vendors about indus-try products and services.
Wendy Regan, who recently retired as the supervi-sor of risk management after 20 years at Farmers EC,won the Ray Pantel Award, the highest honor in theTEC Loss Control program. “Make safety yours,” saidan emotional Regan, the first woman to win the award.
The Unsung Hero Award went to David McDowell,a veteran lineworker who has been at Farmers ECsince 1985. He’s a frequent instructor at TEC LossControl schools and is “always challenging linemen towork outside of their comfort zone,” said DannyWilliams, TEC Loss Control manager.
For the third year in a row, San Patricio EC wonthe GE Safety Award, which is based on organizations’injury incident reports submitted to TEC. Two coop-eratives accepted Million Man Hour Awards for work-ing more than 1 million hours without a lost-timeaccident: South Texas EC (1,255,178 hours) andUnited Cooperative Services (2,091,976 hours).
SAFETY WATCHTEC LOSS CONTROL
TEC LOSS CONTROL
APRIL/MAY 2018
SAVE THE DATEApril 10Transformer BankingWebinar
April 17–18Basic Electricity SchoolGeorgetown, TEC TrainingFacility
April 17–20Transformer SchoolTahoka, Lyntegar EC
April 17–20Introduction to System Operator/Dispatcher SchoolMcGregor, Heart of Texas EC
April 24–27Transformer SchoolCorinth, CoServ
April 25–27NRECA Safety LeadershipSummitAtlanta, Georgia
May 1–4Basic Pole Climbing SchoolMerkel, Taylor EC
May 15–18Metering SchoolTahoka, Lyntegar EC
Find photos from Loss Controlschools on the TEC website.
LEFT: Jeff LeDuff, former police chief in Baton Rouge,Louisiana, talks about ways to escapeor avoid harm whenthreatened.
JOIN THE CONVERSATIONUse the TEC Safety and LossControl discussion list on theTEC member website to shareand gather information.
ALWAYS THINK SAFETYGloves | Grounds | Cover Up
A BIMONTHLY PUBLICATION FROM TEC LOSS CONTROL
TAY LO R M O N TG O M E RY | T EC
Safety Watch won second place in the 2018 Spotlighton Excellence Awards, which recognize work pro-duced by electric co-op communications and market-ing staffs nationwide.
The TEC Loss Control newsletter is publishedbimonthly and distributed by email. Some co-opsprint it out and share the information by posting it inmeeting rooms, on doors and even in bathrooms.
“I think that at times we get so focused on our ownlittle world that we can lose sight of the big picture,”says James Busby, TEC Loss Control regional supervi-sor. “Safety Watch can bring our attention back tosome things that are exceptionally important. Somany times, we focus on what we are accomplishingwhen in reality the most important thing is the safetyof ourselves, our family and our co-workers.”
361Total number of years worked in the electric utility industry byTEC’s 10-person Loss Control staff.
BY THE NUMBERS
TAM
I K
NIP
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TEC
ABOVE: Attendees meet with one of the 46 vendors about industry products and services.BOTTOM LEFT: Bruce Jones of TEC, left, and Jeff Harvey of Fort Belknap EC celebrate a fineshot during a glorious day of golf. The golf tournament contributed $6,830 to the TEC LossControl Scholarship fund. BOTTOM RIGHT: David McDowell, a lineworker at Farmers EC, winsthe Unsung Hero Award.
Martin Bevins, VP, Comm. & Member Services(512) 486-6249, [email protected]
Danny Williams, Loss Control Manager(512) 413-0509, [email protected]
James Busby, LC Regional Supervisor(325) 451-7238, [email protected]
Scott Corley, Loss Control Specialist(512) 713-4606, [email protected]
George Flournoy, Loss Control Specialist(512) 942-9351, [email protected]
Phillip Henricks, CLCP, Loss Control Specialist(806) 438-0067, [email protected]
David Nance, CLCP, Loss Control Specialist(512) 804-6748, [email protected]
B.J. Varnadore, Loss Control Specialist(512) 573-9333, [email protected]
Ronnie Wiggins, CLCP, Loss Control Specialist(512) 709-1177, [email protected]
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would affect the 67 distribution co-ops in Texas. Dis-tributed generation and continued advances in batterystorage could change the way co-op members obtainand use electricity. And the current administration inWashington, D.C., is working to roll back stringent envi-ronmental regulations.
Williams said co-ops can be proactive and meet thechallenges of these changes: “I am always very, veryoptimistic about our future in the world.”
Jeff LeDuff, former police chief in Baton Rouge,Louisiana, led one of the conference’s more engagingsessions, Workplace Violence and Personal Safety.Vigilance and awareness of one’s surroundings areimportant, proactive measures everybody can prac-tice, he said. He recommends minimizing the distrac-tions of cellphones in public and using reflectionsavailable on vehicles and glass buildings to avoid hav-ing to turn around while walking.
In a breakout session, LeDuff pointed out that thenumber of people being robbed while on the job in theelectric utility industry is growing. He offered tips onhow to defuse situations.
“Pain is the best distraction,” he said, adding that akick to the ankle with your knee locked is a great wayto distract and temporarily disable a threatening per-son, giving you time to run away.
Phillip Ragain of the RAD Group spoke about thetendency of people to fail to intervene—during anemergency or in the face of safety violations. “Webelieve we would, believe we should, but when oppor-tunity arises, we don’t,” Ragain said, explaining thathardwired inhibitions keep humans silent.
In November, 17 lineworkers from six Texas co-opswent to Bolivia and built 5 miles of line to serve threevillages in the northern part of the country throughNRECA International. Several linemen from thatgroup spoke at the conference, encouraging others toparticipate in such projects if the opportunity arisesand explaining how moving it was to be among the Boli-vians when the first lightbulb in their village came on.
Among the dozens of door prizes given away at theconference was an AED valued at $1,795, donated byCardiac Science.
ROBERT PIPPINBig Country EC Pippin was on a church mission trip to Concepcion,Belize, when a young boy started choking on apiece of fruit. Pippin performed the Heimlichmaneuver, dislodging the fruit from the boy’s air-way and allowing him to breathe. None of the resi-dents of the town had heard of the Heimlichmaneuver, so Pippin taught it to many peoplebefore he returned to Texas.
JON MINTERBowie-Cass ECA friend of Minter’s was standing beside a disabledvehicle on the side of the road when another carhit the friend, severing his right leg below theknee. Minter arrived on the scene within minutesand helped put a tourniquet on the injured leg. Healso called his dispatcher at Bowie-Cass EC, who isa volunteer first responder for a fire department,and requested an ambulance and air transport.
ISABEL CAVAZOS Nueces ECCavazos was working at the Orange Grove substa-tion when she was alerted that a landscape workeron the property had passed out in his vehicle. Shecalled 911 and reported that the victim was turningblue. Cavazos then applied patches of an auto-mated external defibrillator and began chest com-pressions. The victim had a pulse but remainedunresponsive until an ambulance arrived.
MITCHELL CULPEPPER, LOGANFRITCHEN, BILL LIEDTKE ANDMICHAEL WHITT Tri-County ECWhile stopped at a light, the crew heard a crashand saw an 18-wheeler plowing through traffic
stopped on Interstate 35. The collision started afire, which quickly spread, and knocked an SUVonto its side. While they worked to remove theelderly occupants from the SUV, paint cans in acargo trailer full of them began to explode. Inaddition to helping rescue others involved in thecollision, they performed first aid and spinal immo-bilization on the elderly couple until medics arrivedand took over.
Good Samaritan AwardsGILBERT MORALES AND DANNY YELVERTON Jackson EC Morales and Yelverton came upon a home severelydamaged by a tornado in Van Vleck; a disorientedman coming out of the back of the home toldthem he couldn’t find his sister. Yelverton called911, and Morales went into the home and found herunharmed under furniture and debris.
BRAD JACKSON Lighthouse ECJackson rushed to a Floyd County farm where aman was trapped by a rotating floor auger of agrain buggy. Jackson positioned himself in hisbucket over the buggy and helped transfer equip-ment to firefighters and paramedics inside thebuggy. He also held IV bags from the bucket thenleapt into the buggy to help free the victim fromthe auger.
JOHN PAUL JONES United Cooperative ServicesJones witnessed a collision near Glen Rosebetween a car and a pickup truck and helped freethe two occupants of the truck. The two occupantsof the car were killed in the wreck.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Journeyman lineman TreyCarper and first-class lineman Bud Boenisch accept a MillionMan Hour Award from James Busby, TEC Loss Controlregional supervisor. Cory Hughston accepts a Million ManHour Award from B.J. Varnadore, TEC Loss Control specialist.San Patricio EC wins the GE Safety Award for the third year ina row. Accepting the award, from left in front, are JesseRivera, journeyman lineman; Marcos Garcia, safety coordina-tor; and Albert Gaitan, operations manager. GE’s Dan Morganand Oscar Rochin presented the award.
TEC LOSS CONTROL SAFETY WATCH
MITCHELL CULPEPPER LOGAN FRITCHEN BILL LIEDTKE MICHAEL WHITT
ROBERT PIPPIN JON MINTER ISABEL CAVAZOS
Lifesaving Awards
Darrell Burns is the winner of the Photo Challenge as votedon by participants at the Loss Control Conference. Burnsworks for Sendero, a contractor that helped Victoria ECwith its recovery from Hurricane Harvey. The photo, takennear Loop 463 at the Guadalupe River in Victoria, reached208,354 people on Facebook.
Kerrville Public Utility Board South Texas EC Victoria EC Wood County EC
1 YEARBryan Texas Utilities Central Texas EC Concho Valley EC CoServ Electric Grayson-Collin EC Heart of Texas ECHouston County EC Mid-South Synergy Navasota Valley EC San Bernard EC
Concho Valley EC HILCO ECMedina EC Mid-South Synergy
Rusk County EC San Bernard EC Trinity Valley EC Victoria EC
George Luker, Hamilton County EC Chris Martinez, Wise EC
50 YEARSShirley Kresta, Jackson EC
45 YEARSJanie Gomez, South Plains ECRobert McClelland, Jasper-Newton EC
40 YEARSDarrell Bertsch, Fayette ECAllen Boehme, Medina ECJoe Brady, Wood County EC Debbie Duecker, Central Texas EC Rolando Falcon, Medina ECDennis Ferguson, Grayson-Collin EC Kenneth Fikes, Heart of Texas EC Steve Fitts, Bowie-Cass EC Lynn Fussell, Jasper-Newton ECLarry Gray, Concho Valley ECRichard L. Jalowy, Wharton County EC Jerry Koenig, Deaf Smith EC
35 YEARSJose Arreguin, Rusk County EC Robbie Autry, Lyntegar ECBarbara Benavides, Karnes ECLarry Bills, Lamar County ECKim Black, Bailey County ECBryan Boehl, Guadalupe Valley EC Michael Bridges, Deep East Texas EC Arlen Buchhorn, South Texas EC Alton Cantrell, Concho Valley EC Derly Carrizales, Medina EC Tim Chew, Central Texas ECMichael V. Curry, Coleman County EC Glen Davis, Central Texas ECWilliam Keith Davis, Deep East Texas EC Tommy Earnest, Concho Valley ECMark Edwards, Brazos EPC Allen Elrod, Lyntegar ECCharlie Engle, Lyntegar ECBlaine Fancher, Rusk County ECDonna Freeman, Rusk County ECCliff Furtick, Rusk County ECRobert Garza, Jackson ECNancy Gottschalt, Guadalupe Valley EC Charlene Ham, Rusk County EC
30 YEARSRichard Arnett, Wharton County EC Chuck Baucum, Wood County EC Robert Bazan, Karnes ECHershel Blevins, Tri-County EC Ray Box, Lyntegar ECCindy Bures, Jackson ECFrankie Clayton, Bowie-Cass ECPaula Cupps, United Cooperative Services Carl Greenstein, San Bernard EC Jorge Guerrero, Medina ECJames Henderson, Grayson-Collin EC Sandra Herrera, Magic Valley EC Linda Key, Big Country EC
ADDITIONAL 2018 TEC LOSS CONTROL CONFERENCE AWARD RECIPIENTS
ORGANIZATIONS WITH NO LOST TIME
RESAP SAFETYACCREDITATION
CERTIFIED LOSS CONTROLPROFESSIONAL (CLCP)ACHIEVEMENT
Terry Joe Young, Grayson-Collin EC
Janet Scheffler, Karnes EC
Lawrence Martignoni, Victoria EC Danny Nixon, Lighthouse EC James Proctor, Brazos EPC Dean Reinart, Deaf Smith EC Joe Salinas, South Plains EC Jimmy Sealy, Bailey County EC Joel Sinclair, Bailey County EC Chuck Smith, Bailey County EC Pat Stahl, Central Texas ECMelvin Strey, Guadalupe Valley EC Ricky Trull, Navarro County EC Doug Yates, Grayson-Collin EC
Chris Hemphill, Brazos EPCDiana Hill, Guadalupe Valley ECWayne Hill, Guadalupe Valley EC Royce Knuppel, Jackson ECTim Landes, Bandera ECBill Lange, Guadalupe Valley EC Leonard Malota, Fayette ECLaRae Martin, Nueces EC Justin McEuen, Brazos EPC Ken Price, Central Texas EC Don Roberts, San Bernard EC John Rush, Bandera EC Ann Sanchez, Big Country ECTommy Strong, Rusk County ECLarry Tatsch, Central Texas ECTerry Thornhill, TLT ConstructionBetty Tice, United Cooperative Services Jackie Wade, Concho Valley EC David Walla, Fayette ECBob Warren, Concho Valley EC Charlotte Weaver, Navarro County EC Jon Whitton, Deep East Texas ECSusan Wilson, Guadalupe Valley EC Frank Wooten, Central Texas EC
Tami Murphy, Tri-County ECSam Neill, Victoria ECRonald Poston, Heart of Texas EC George Savage, Farmers ECCarol Schumaker, Jackson EC Gary Sherrard, Trinity Valley EC Stevie Splawn, Trinity Valley EC Leland Tarpley, Brazos EPC Hugo Villarreal, Medina EC Joseph Wieser, Central Texas EC Tim Wiley, Bowie-Cass EC Quintus Woelfel, Karnes EC
