JEA Receives Safety Award and Places in Lineman Rodeo

2012-04-03

Jacksonville, FL - JEA has received a safety award from the Florida Municipal Electric Association (FMEA) for its continued commitment to safe work practices during the past year.

JEA was awarded special recognition for low incidence of accidents reported on the job with over 2,500,000 man-hours worked. This recognition reflects JEA’s commitment to protecting workers’ safety, while also ensuring reliable electric service to the customers. In an industry with a high potential for injuries and fatalities, safety training is the best line of defense in preventing accidents and saving lives.

For the past 25 years, FMEA has recognized the efforts of Florida’s municipally owned utilities to stress worker safety as the No. 1 priority. Utilities are placed into categories according to their total man-hours worked, and rewarded for the most incident-free records. The incidence rate used to judge utilities was based on the number of work-related reportable injuries or illnesses compared to the total number of worker-hours during 2011, as defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Awards were presented on March 31 at the FMEA Annual Safety and Florida Lineman Competition Awards banquet in Gainesville. The banquet was the culmination of a two-day event that included technical skills training and the twelfth annual Florida Lineman Competition. More than 100 linemen from municipal utilities around the state participated in the competition. 

JEA apprentices Clay Cook and Thomas Hayes won first and second place respectively in the Apprentice Hurtman Rescue. JEA Journeymen Mike Corbitt, Robert Hess, Brian Gregg and Joshua Price won first place in the Journeyman Hurtman Rescue. JEA teams also placed in six other categories. 

The Florida Municipal Electric Association (FMEA) represents the unified interests of 34 public power communities across the state that provide electricity to more than 3 million of Florida’s residential and business consumers.

JEA is the eighth-largest community-owned electric utility in the United States and one of the largest water and sewer utilities in the nation providing electric, water and sewer service to more than 875,000 accounts in northeast Florida. 

Category:

• corporate
• electric