The American Gas Association recognized UniSource Gas as a top safety performer in 2020.
Our safety scores for employees and vehicular safety place us among the safest of all gas companies of our size in Canada and the United States. Companies are recognized for achieving the lowest incident rate for the number of days away from work, restricted, or transferred – or DART for short – based on OSHA recordable injuries and reportable vehicle incidents.
The American Gas Association represents more than 200 local energy companies committed to the safe and reliable delivery of clean natural gas to more than 72 million customers throughout the nation.
“It’s a great honor to be recognized, but what’s even more remarkable is that we were able to achieve this recognition under COVID-19 conditions and in a year when we had employees retire with 300 years of tenure,” said Martin Anaya, Director of UniSource Gas.
The award in part recognizes safe driving, and the company had significantly more exposure as a result of pandemic precautions designed to limit the spread of the virus at our company and as a result of training protocols, he said.
Single occupancy vehicles were required to reduce the risk of infection, but that also meant more road miles – and more risk.
And since UniSource has strict training requirements before someone can be certified to work exclusively on their own in our craft positions, that also required separate trucks for trainers and trainees. Compliance with restrictions on overnight travel also resulted in long day trips throughout our vast service territory, including from the Flagstaff, Prescott and Verde districts to the Mojave district and back throughout the winter to provide field service coverage.
“All of these elements added up to additional risk and our employees should be proud of their safety record,” Martin said. “This award really highlights our commitment to safety and excellence.”
The Association’s President and CEO Karen Harbert said it is important to recognize the industry’s commitment to the safe delivery of natural gas. ‘Promoting safe practices and a safety culture that holds the protection of customers, communities and employees at the highest level is essential, and our Safety Award recipients are leaders in upholding and exemplifying this at its best. I applaud their staunch commitment to safety and congratulate them for this outstanding recognition.’
AGA will formally recognize the 2020 Safety Achievement Award recipients during the AGA 2021 Operations Conference General Session in October in Kissimmee, Fla.
